Poetry and the Summer Solstice by Xánath Caraza

 Poetry and the Summer Solstice by Xánath Caraza

 

The Summer Solstice starts today and there had to be poetry.  As such, Po’Jazz, Playdate with Poetry and Jazz will have a Poetry and Music performance on June 27 from 3 to 6 p.m. ET.  Participating are Golda Solomon, EJ Antonio, Robert Anthony Gibbons, Christopher Dean Sullivan, and me.  I’m excited to be part of Po’Jazz this summer. I hope you will be able to join us.

 

Golda Solomon is Poet –in-residence at Blue Door Art Center.  She is a Collage Artist, and Professor, Manhattan College/C.U.N.Y.  Solomon created/hosts: Po’Jazz (Playdates with Poetry & Jazz), ArtSpeak/FPTP, and Make W.A.V.E.S ekphrastic workshops.

 

She is the author of Flatbush Cowgirl, Medicine Woman of Jazz CD’s: Word Riffs, First Set, Po’Jazz ‘Takin” It To The Hollow’, and We Were Here (J&PCC). Her poems have been published in The Mom Egg Review, About Place Journal, Solo Café, Heal, among others.

 

She performs with musicians and is founder/member, The Jazz & Poetry Choir Collective. For more information visit: https://goldajazz.com/

 

As a child growing up in Harlem, NY, poet E.J. Antonio love for words encouraged her ambitions to be a storyteller and a jazz singer. Her maternal grandmother, Lucille Markum, was the Pastor of Gospel Temple Church of Christ, a small Harlem church off of 130th street and Lenox Avenue that remains there today. She believes her fascination for words and gospel influences were a result of watching her grandmother work on her sermons late into the night and listening to her preach those sermons.

 

Robert Anthony Gibbons, a native Floridian, came to New York City in 2007 in search of his muse Langston Hughes and found a vibrant contemporary poetry community at the Cornelia Street Cafe, the Green Pavilion, Nomad's Choir, Brownstone Poets, Hydrogen JukeBox, Saturn Series, and Phoenix among other venues. His first book, Close to the Tree, was published by the New York-based Three Rooms Press.

 

He is an Obsidian Fellow (2019). He is a Cave Canem Fellow (2019-2021) and has received residencies from the Norman Mailer Foundation (2017) and the DISQUIET International Literary Program (2018). In 2018 he completed his MFA at City College.

 

Robert has been published in over thirty literary magazines and in several notable anthologies. Recent publication credits include Expound, Promethean, Turtle Island Quarterly, Killer Whale, Suisun Valley Review, and the Bronx Memoir Project: Vol. 2 published by the Bronx Council of the Arts.

 

Close to the Tree was published by Three Rooms Press (2012). His chapbook, Flight, was published by Poets Wear Prada (2019), and his collaboration with Brooklyn based visual artist, Amy Williams, “Some Little Words” was published by 440 Gallery, Brooklyn (2021).

 

Bassist Christopher Dean Sullivan started his career in Pittsburgh, PA., where he attended Pitt University, Robert Morris College.  Sullivan teaches music theory for the Jazz Workshop Inc.  Christopher’s discography is varied, covering 45’s, albums and CD’s Christopher continued to receive various New York State community and arts services, municipal, congressional, NYS Assembly Merit, and Senate Proclamation awards, NAACP Community award, Boys and Girls Club Outstanding Service in the Arts Award, as well as the prestigious New York State Orange County Arts Council Champion for the Arts Award.

 

Xánath Caraza is a traveler, educator, poet, short story writer, and translator.  She writes for La Bloga, and Revista Literaria Monolito. In 2020 Balamkú received second place for the Juan Felipe Herrera Best Book of Poetry Award. In 2019 for the International Latino Book Awards she received Second Place for Hudson for “Best Book of Poetry in Spanish” and Second Place for Metztli for Best Short Story Collection. In 2018 for the International Latino Book Awards she received First Place for Lágrima roja for “Best Book of Poetry in Spanish by One Author” and First Place for Sin preámbulos / Without Preamble for “Best Book of Bilingual Poetry”.  Her book of poetry Syllables of Wind / Sílabas de viento received the 2015 International Book Award for Poetry. She was Writer-in-Residence at Westchester Community College, NY, 2016-2019.  Caraza was the recipient of the 2014 Beca Nebrija para Creadores, Universidad de Alcalá de Henares in Spain.  She was named number one of the 2013 Top Ten Latino Authors by LatinoStories.com. Her books of verse Where the Light is Violet, Black Ink, Ocelocíhuatl, Conjuro and her book of short fiction What the Tide Brings have won national and international recognition.  Her other books of poetry are Ejercicio en la oscuridad / An Exercise in the Darkness, Corta la piel / It Pierces the Skin, Balamkú, Fără preambul, Μαύρη μελάνη, Le sillabe del vento, Noche de colibríes, and Corazón pintado. Her upcoming poetry collection is Perchada estás / Perching.  Caraza has been translated into English, Italian, Romanian, and Greek; and partially translated into Nahuatl, Portuguese, Hindi, and Turkish.