Six Poets Recite (Alexandra Sim, Dolapo Demuren, Morgan Stone, Reonda Thompson, Stepy Kamei, Christine Potter)

My home, a home or wherever I'm flung into the open arms of dark streets and broken lights: 
     cobblestones of dirt and dust, a collection of art unmatched in beauty shines with dusk...

Excerpt from Home, My Home

Alexandra Sim is a poet by night and student by day. Her own short bio appears in such publications as The Poet, Caterpillar Review and Rattle. She’s currently working on her debut manuscript, though she can often be found scrolling through new ways to procrastinate.

I had to play make-believe with my sister:
had to come to tea, to baking class...

Excerpt from Alton and Aaliyah

Dolapo Demuren is a Nigerian-American writer from the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. He received his B.A. in Writing Seminars from Johns Hopkins University and M.F.A from Columbia University. Currently, he is a doctoral candidate in Education at the University of Southern California. His honors include a fellowship from the Cave Canem Foundation and The Academy for Teachers, as well as scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. His poems and other writings are featured in the Adroit Journal, Frogpond Journal, Prelude Magazine, and Small Orange Journal. He teaches creative writing at the University of Maryland College Park, where he is currently the Associate Director of the Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House.

I had to play make-believe with my sister:
had to come to tea, to baking class...

Excerpt from Alton and Aaliyah

Morgan Stone has earned an MA from New York University in applied psychology and counseling, a BA from Tulane University in psychology and currently works as a school counselor. After her day job, she comes home to be a single mother of three children and spends her nights writing. She won first prize in SPS Studios Inc., Blue Mountain Arts poetry contest, and has published poetry and essays in “P.S. I Love You,” “The Coil,” “Chalkboard Magazine,” and “Lit Up.”

Brown 
Sepia 
Taupe 
Mahoghany...

Excerpt from The Color is Brown

Reonda Thompson is a native Kansas City Missourian. She is the mother of four children. She loves writing poetry and has been in several literary magazines. The Black Sunflower, The Kansas City Magazine, Bold Journey Magazine, CanvasRebel Magazine, Resolute Magazine She is a devoted Mom. sister, daughter, and friend.

I’m thinking about that Forensic Files episode
With the 28-year-old waitress who was attacked, bound and 
Gagged in her own home...

Excerpt from A Smart Girl

Stepy Kamei writes, reads, and lives in California. Her work has appeared in journals including Gyroscope Review, FIVE:2:ONE Magazine, Grim and Gilded, The Pointed Circle, and Calamus Journal. She received her B.A. in Linguistics from San Francisco State University. She can be found @somelaughingghosts on Instagram.

Absolutely nothing was beautiful about it except
the smell of bread dough tempered with a whiff
of burnt raisins from the oven floor, the sleepy...

Excerpt from Nocturne: Rockland Bakery, 3 AM

Christine Potter lives in a very old house in New York’s Hudson River Valley. Her poems have appeared in Rattle, Consequence, The McNeese Review, SWWIM, Autumn Sky Poetry Daily, ONE ART, Thimble, Roi Fainéant, Does It Have Pockets, and have been featured on ABC Radio News. She has work forthcoming in Tar River Poetry and Cider Press Review. Her time-traveling young adult novels, The Bean Books, are published by Evernight Teen, and her most recent poetry collection, Unforgetting, is on Kelsay Books.