Performance: Kim Shuck's Poem Jam Celebrates Manifest Differently
Channel: San Francisco Public Library
Date: 2024-01-17

San Francisco Poet Laureate emerita Kim Shuck invites authors Tureeda Mikell, Maw Shein Win, Lourdes Figueroa and Fuifuilupe Niumeitolu from the Manifest Differently project to read at SFPL’s monthly poetry reading.

Kim Shuck was San Francisco’s seventh Poet Laureate. Her poetry draws on her multiethnic background which includes Polish and Cherokee heritage, and her experiences as a lifelong resident of San Francisco. Her most recent book of poetry, What Unseen Thing Blows Wishes Across My Surface?, a collaboration with visual artist LisaRuth Elliott, and her new book of essays, Noodle, Rant, Tangent, were published in 2022. In her term as Poet Laureate, she hosted scores of free poetry and art workshops for all ages at neighborhood libraries and schools and worked closely with San Francisco Public Library and the San Francisco Arts Commission to launch major citywide initiatives to honor Native American Indigenous Peoples' heritage.

Manifest Differently is unpacking the expansionist ideology of Manifest Destiny, its continuing impact on the multicultural & multi-ethnic communities in the SF Bay Area and beyond, its legacies of perpetuated violence, the inherited trauma & addiction, and the outgrowth of resistance and resilience. The project was co-conceived by poet/artist Kim Shuck and artist/writer Megan Wilson. Each has a layered family history of Euro-American and Indigenous ancestry, deeply impacted by the stains, scars and strength that remain.