SPIT, POET! 5 Spoken Word Collectives You Should Know
By: Taylor Steele
Tags: Slam Poetry, Poetry, Spoken Word, Featured

divine fabrics collective

photo: http://divinefabrics.tumblr.com/

Who They Are

divine fabrics collective (DFC) was founded in the fall of 2012 at an iHop on the Lower East Side. Safia Elhillo, Camonghne Felix, Sean Des Vignes and Aziza Barnes make up this crew of young blk poets, whose aim is to write with nuance, artfully shit-talk and deliver new work at high octane levels.

What They Say

Divine Fabrics Collective Interview

Safia Elhillo — Self Portrait With a Yellow Dress

Camonghne Felix — Meat: A Reflection on Street Harassment

Sean Des Vignes — Mother

Aziza Barnes — Aunt Jemima

Why I Like Them

These young blk/brown poets are inspirational, how they hold fast to their truths and speak them unapologetically.

Where To Find Them

http://divinefabricscollective.tumblr.com

http://thestriversrow.com/divine-fabrics-collective/

Dark Noise Collective

photo: https://fatimahasghar.com/projects/

Who They Are

Dark Noise Collective is a nationwide, multiracial, multi-genre collective featuring some of the most exciting, insightful, and powerful poets writing today. Dark Noise is comprised of Fatimah Asghar, Franny Choi, Nate Marshall, Aaron Samuels, Danez Smith, and Jamila Woods. These poets, diverse in content and form, find common ground in their commitment to using art as a site for radical truth telling. They explore themes of identity, intersectionality, trauma, and healing in accessible forms without sacrificing the highest standards of poetic craft. Dark Noise explodes archaic notions of page vs. stage with their dynamism in all arenas of verse. Dark Noise poets have been featured on film and television projects including HBO’s Brave New Voices, TV One’s Verses and Flow, and Louder than a Bomb. They are also well-published poets who have garnered honors such as Ruth Lilly Dorothy Rosenberg Fellowships, Pushcart nominations, and a host of publication awards.

What They Say

Fatimah Asghar — For Jonylah Watkins

Franny Choi — For Peter Liang

Nate Marshall — Prelude (R.I.P)

Aaron Samuels — Covered in Grass

Danez Smith — Genesissy

Jamila Woods — Black Girl Soldier

Why I Like Them

They’re like Avatars the way they genre-bend. From poetry, to prose, to music, they are killin’ the game.

Where To Find Them

https://www.facebook.com/TeamDarkNoise/

https://twitter.com/teamdarknoise

Reparations

Who They Are

Reparations is a poetic performance collective who will take over the world without the help of white folk. They don’t need you. Unless it’s monetary. Then, give it to them. These radical, black, queer poets perform and teach workshops around identity, activism, trauma, and healing. Reparations, comprised of Ashley August, Timothy DuWhite, Roya Marsh, and Taylor Steele (yours truly!), became a collective after winning the 2015 Northbeast Underground Tournament Slam.

Individually, they have performed at The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, The Bowery Poetry Club, The Triad Broadway House, The Apollo, Cherry Lane Theatre, BAM, the United Nations, and many slam venues and universities across the nation. They have been published by such distinguished journals as Apogee Journal, Huffington Post, Blavity, The Body is Not an Apology, Blackberry: a magazine, The Rumpus, and many more. Their faces have been featured on Button Poetry, SlamFind, Def Jam, and “Orange is the New Black” — well, only one of them. They are ready to start a revolution. As a wise woman once said, “Pay me what you owe me!”

What They Say

Ashley August — The Game

Timothy DuWhite — Auntie Pearl

Roya Marsh — Blk Grl Puns

Taylor Steele — All These Bodies

Why I Like Them

I’m a little biased. So, I’ll leave it to you to decide.

Where To Find Them

teamreparations@gmail.com

Mayhem Poets

photo: mayhempoets.com

Who They Are

“Let’s go see a poetry show.” That is a sentence rarely proclaimed and usually responded to with cringes and excuses. The Mayhem Poets is comprised of writer/performers Mason Granger, Scott Raven, Mikumari Caiyhe, and Kyle Rapps. They are on a mission to change that. Having been dubbed “an amazing ride” by the New York Times, this mind boggling performance has been described as “The Simpsons meets Malcolm X at a Notorious B.I.G. concert”. These theatre-trained, comedically-gifted, lyrical virtuosos seamlessly blend raw elements of hip hop, theatre, improv and stand-up comedy to tell gut-wrenching truths that leave audiences forever changed.

What They Say

My Name Is

Martin Luther Queen

Mikumari Caiyhe — Sunshine

Why I Like Them

Their work transcends age. I’ll be laughing at them when I’m 50 and when, somehow, I’m 12 again.

Where To Find Them

http://www.mayhempoets.com/

https://www.facebook.com/MayhemPoets

The Other Black Girl

photo: http://www.otherblackgirl.com/Media

Who They Are

The Other Black Girl Collective is a Brooklyn-based black feminist poetry duo comprised of nationally acclaimed award winning authors Angel Nafis and Morgan Parker. Despite popular belief, we are not actually the same person. We aim to celebrate black female expression and sisterhood, honor and highlight the multiplicity of the black female experience, and push against tropes and stereotypes that smother and limit us, from Pootie Tang to Olivia Pope. Our work, deeply personal and individual, explores 21st century black American womanhood and its complexities: performance, depression, isolation, exoticism, racism, pop culture, femininity, family and politics. With energy, brutal honesty, dark humor, anger and pride, we aim to create a new Black Girl mythology– one centered around possibility and freedom.

We are finished being the only black woman– or worse, the only person of color– in a lineup for a poetry reading. We’re finished being the alternative to each other. We want to be called by our names.

What They Say

Angel Nafis — Conspiracy: a Suite

Morgan Parker — Brooklyn Is Masquerading As The World

Why I Like Them

Black Girl Realness Factor: 100

Where To Find Them

http://www.otherblackgirl.com/

https://twitter.com/OtherBlackGirl