On this week’s episode of the Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast we feature finalists and honorable mention poets from the recent City of Dublin Splatter Festival Poets Take the Mic celebration of poetry in the San Francisco Bay Area. This episode features performances from eleven wonderful poets.
Finalists
Cara Sennott is a young, Los Angeles-based poet with degrees from both Hofstra University and Columbia University Teachers College. Her poetry has been featured in Into the Void, Words & Whispers, Light Journal, and Trampset Mag, among others. Cara is excited and humbled to share her work with the world. She can be found on Instagram at @cspoet.
Kate McCarroll Moore served as the Poet Laureate for the City of San Ramon, California for three consecutive terms between 2012 and 2018. Her poetry chapbook, Avians of Mourning, was published in 2020, and a full collection, Alphapoetica: A Poetry Primer for the Everyday Poet, was released in March, 2022. Kate is also the author of two novels for children, Elinormal and New Girl: The Further Adventures of Elinormal. Before retiring from public education, she served as the Director of Curriculum and Instruction in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District. She currently teaches on-line writing courses and is a family literacy coach for Kristi Yamaguchi’s Always Dream, a non-profit organization that connects low-income families with access to high-quality books. Kate holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership for Social Justice from CSUEB, and she continues to promote poetry as a tool of transformation and healing. All her social links can be found here: https://linktr.ee/katemccarrollmoore
Marie-Anne Poudret is a connector. French-born, she has moved twenty-three times throughout her life, living in Africa, France, and England before settling in the Bay Area in 2005 with her husband and three children. Marie-Anne was a French major at the University of Dijon in Burgundy, France. Currently in Dublin, California, she writes poems, plays, and a Sci-Fi novel. She also gives online French lessons.
Ida Marie Beck is a scientist with a poet’s heart. A native of Denmark, trained in quantum chemistry, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her poetry has recently appeared in the California Quarterly and Halfway Down the Stairs.
Tho Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American writer and a rising senior in the Bay Area. Her work has appeared in Kalopsia Literary Magazine, Cathartic Literary Magazine, and the Bitter Fruit Review. She admires the words of Ocean Vuong and Stephanie Chang, and is always on the lookout for new authors to binge-read. In her spare time, Tho can be found in her room, typing a poem in dim lamplight, listening to artists she forgets the names of too easily, or staring at the night sky, breathing in all of what surrounds us.
Sarah Abbett is a poet who has lived in the Bay Area her whole life and is getting started sharing her poems in public.
Carissa Maddox loves going to old bookstores and bringing home as many books as she can, as if they were rescue puppies. She spends her time teaching kids and adults everything she can about poetry, literature, and comics, as well as reading and writing. She lives in Chico, CA. Facebook: @carissa.maddox.3 | Instagram: @carskar | TikTok: @haughtdaug89
Rowena is a newer poet and loves to share her work with anyone who’s interested to listen. When not writing poetry you can find her reading, sewing, or watching one of her favorite shows. Instagram @Thehermitrowena
Inge Sorensen is a poet and short story writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her subjects explore themes of loss, mythology, joy, memory, and adventures. Her pieces have been featured in the Viewless Wings Poetry Podcast, the Humans of the World blog, and the Poet’s Choice Autumn Anthology.
Honorable Mention
Ileia Thomas (AKA Black Latina Lyrics) is a poet and spoken word artist since the age of 14 and a proud mother of a second grader. She has performed for Youth Speaks and throughout the Bay Area at many open mics, has a passion for writing poetry, and is currently working on writing short stories. She loves nature as it gives her inspiration to write about her Christian faith. She also enjoys writing about her African Ancestry and is a firm believer that one should know where you came from so that you know where you’re going. Her name is Ileia but goes by the stage name, Black Latina Lyrics. TikTok @blacklatinalyrics.
Sterling Nguyen is a student of African proverbs and Japanese philosophy, with a heart for love poetry. He writes in an attempt to understand what Love truly is.
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