Ashanti Anderson is a Black Queer Disabled poet, screenwriter, and playwright. She holds an MFA from the University of California at Riverside, and teaches at Xavier University of Louisiana. Her debut chapbook, Black Under, is the winner of the Spring 2020 Black River Chapbook Competition and published through Black Lawrence Press.…

Andrea Carter Brown is author of no less than 4 collections of poetry: Domestic Karma, The Disheveled Bed, Brook and Rainbow, and most recently September 12, a collection of poems based on Brown’s experience as a survivor of the September 11th attack. September 12 is published by The Word Works. Brown's work can also be found in anthologies such as…

Matthew Brown is a queer, Afro-Latino poet from Albuquerque, New Mexico and author of Verbrennen as well as Among God and Other Drugs, both by Swimming with Elephants Publications. He is also a community health worker, actor, and spoken word artist. He was a 2013 Brave New Voices finalist, three time Southwest Shootout Poetry Champion, and 2015 Alb…

Sergeant George Linen Jr aka Fresh Linen is author of the poetry collection Before the Streetlights Come On. He has appeared on the TEDxUniversityofEssex stage, teaches at Airmen Leadership School, and is currently serving in the U.S. Air Force stationed in Germany. Find Fresh Linen: https://freshlinencreates.com Before the Streetlights Come On boo…

Matthew Marroquín is a Salvadorian-American slam poet, Education for Service Scholar, and student at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. Marroquín is a theatre and media performance student and author of Guanaco Binge, a collection of poetry published by Read or Green Books. You can find Matthew Marroquín and all his information here: https…

Melissa May is author of Up Is So Near and Sparklefat which was originally published by WordsDance Press. She has been featured on Button Poetry with at least one of her videos having over 900,000 views. If you'd like to be a guest on the show or have questions, you can email at penandpoet@gmail.com. To help support the show, you can visit the show…

Bracha Goetz is a poet and author of 40 children’s books written in rhyme poetry. Goetz graduated from Harvard with a BA in Psychology and Social Relations. She is also author of a memoir for grown ups called Searching for God in the Garage. You can find her work on Amazon.By Rene Mullen

Nolan P. Holloway Jr. is a poet from Atlanta Georgia and author of 3 collections of poetry including Life Between the Words. He is also cohost of a radio show called The Real Level Up and is a voice over artist with a background in business management.

Tamara Kaye Sellman is a journalist by trade and a writer of prose and poetry. She's been nominated two times for the Pushcart Prize, the John S Burroughs Prize and is first place winner of the Dr O Marvin Lewis Essay Award. She's author of Intention Tremor, of which the proceeds will be donated to the Accelerated Cure Project.…

Season 3 of Pen and Poet is being recorded as we speak and includes interviews with many contemporary poets including Tamara Kaye Sellman and Harvard Graduate and children's book author Bracha Goetz. The first episode drops August 19th!By Rene Mullen

By Rene Mullen

By Rene Mullen

By Rene Mullen

By Rene Mullen

Mela Blust is the social media coordinator for Animal Heart Press, poetry reader for The Rise Up Review, and contributing editor for Barren Magazine. Her work can be found all over the place, not the least of which is The Bitter Oleander, Rust+Moth, Califragile, Setu Magazine, and Rhythm & Bones Lit. She has one book out so far called Skeleton Para…

John Roche is a New Mexico poet. His books include Road Ghosts, The Joe Poems, On Conesus, and Topicalities. He's also edited a number of anthologies, taught at the Rochester Institute of Technology and Michigan State, and holds an MA from the University College Dublin, Ireland.By Rene Mullen

Joshua Merritt is a spoken word poet whose love of the human experience, food metaphors, and grey areas propelled him into the poetry slam scene. He has shared his work in a few slams across the country, and currently calls Portland, Oregon home. You can find his work recorded here for the first time on this podcast, and may see forthcoming work at…

For the last three years Cathy has performed slam poetry in New Mexico. She tied for second at the 2018 Southwest Shootout in the individual category and was the 2018 Lobo Slam Champion. Her work is published in Raven Chronicles and 3Elements Literary Review and is forthcoming in Roanoke Review, and Toe Good. Her poetry is inspired by the body of t…

Jack Tapestry has been a slam poet for two decades. Tapestry came from Oklahoma City, resides in Albuquerque, and his poetry is amazingly gut wrenching and powerful. He’s also a comedian and over all performance master. You can find Jack Tapestry on Youtube and at poetry and comedy events throughout Albuquerque. Tapestry is also on Facebook, Twitte…

Gina Marselle is not only a poet but a high school teacher, mother, wife, and photographer. You can find her work in many places like the Alibi, the Rag, Adobe Walls, among others. She’s author of the book of poetry called A Fire of Prayer: a Collection of Poetry and Photography. And her photography can be found, among other places, in A Fire of Pr…

I sit and speak with Jules Nyquist, traditional and spoken word New Mexico poet, about her new book "Homesick, then", about life, loss, healing, family, and of course shares some of her poetry. Jules Nyquist is the founder of Jules’ Poetry Playhouse, LLC, a place for poetry and play in Albuquerque, NM, which also is the umbrella for Jules’ Poetry P…

Zachary Kluckman is an award winning poet. Named the 2015 and 2016 Slam Organizer of the Year, 2014 Slam Artist of the Year at the National Poetry Awards. They've been on national slam stages as an individual and as part of a group, including the Rumble Room team that went to Southern Fried Poetry Slam in 2017. At SoFried, Kluckman lead 3 newbies (…

Performance poet Rowie Shebala talks about her time on many final stages representing several different cities around the US, family, her life as a Native American in the Southwest, and as always, shares some of her poetry.By Rene Mullen

Poet and managing editor for Swimming With Elephants Publishings Katrina Crespin talks about her life as a poet, an editor for an Albuquerque small press company, her growth as both a traditional and performance poet, and reads some of her poems. You can find Katrina Crespin's work under her maiden name Katrina Guarascio at SwimmingWithElephants.co…

Paulie Lipman is a performer, writer, and poet who’s been on national poetry slam finals stages, has been on the slam scene for 16 years, and recently published a chapbook with Swimming with Elephants Publications called “from below/denied the light.” Paulie is published in journals and some of their performances can be found on Youtube. Paulie is …

Performance poet Mercedez Holtry talks about her two poetry collections, what it's like to be a Chicana poet, how she got involved in poetry slam, and of course, shares some of her art. You can find her books My Blood is Beautiful and, just release in February of 2018, her newest collection I Bloomed a Resistance from my Mouth at SwimmingWithElepha…

Matthew Brown is a poet born and raised here in Albuquerque. Matthew is the author Verbrennen, a collection of poetry. He’s been on a number of slam teams and a few of his poems are on YouTube as he’s been on National Poetry Slam Finals stage, been part of top slam teams. Matthew’s poetry tends to lean toward exposing social, racial, and economic i…

Gigi Bella is an award winning poet, a musical theater actress, and teacher. She's represented Albuquerque, NM in national poetry slam competitions, is all over Youtube, and is author of "22", a book of poetry. You can find her book on Amazon. We talk about her poetry, the good the bad the ugly of moving from Albuquerque to New York, and about life…

Interview with Rich Boucher, a performance poet with roots in Albuquerque and New England. You can find his work on his Bandcamp page at richboucher.bandcamp.com as well as countless literary journals and magazines and anthologies.By Rene Mullen

Interview with poet, writer, and artist Robin Reynolds. You can find many of her poems in Rumble Room on Amazon, her short story collection Cutting Your Losses on Amazon (might still be under her old name Robin Kalinich), and find her art along with many other artists work all over the Internet by searching Ink and Alchemy. Her artist platform has …

Kristian Ashley Macaron talks about her chapbook, Storm, about life, her writing style, and reads a few poems. Kristian's chapbook, Storm, is published by Swimming with Elephants Publications and found on their website, Amazon, or local Albuquerque bookstores.

Damien Flores is an Albuquerque poet who's been a part of many national poetry slam teams, hosts the Spoken Word Hour on 89.9 KUNM, and is author of Junkyard Dogs published by West End Press. We talk about his poetry and the fact that Damien has spent half his life performing poetry.By Rene Mullen

Anna Martinez is an erotic poet from Albuquerque, NM. Hear about Anna and listen to some of her poetry. You can find her work in the Rumble Room collection Volume 1 on Amazon.By Rene Mullen