blackness

At the 2012 Poetry Off the Page Symposium, Black Took Collective presents a multimedia performance exploring interrogations of a Black unconscious, using written and aural language, sound, video, and image.

Khadijah Queen reads from her collections Conduit (2008), Black Peculiar (2011), and Fearful Beloved (2015); she also shares drawings, photos, and video and sound clips. This reading was given as part of the Spectacular Poetics series. 

Adrian Matejka intersperses thoughts on spectacular poetics with readings of poems from Mixology (2009) and The Big Smoke (2013); he also reads new and uncollected work. This reading was given as part of the Spectacular Poetics Series. 

Tiana Clark reads from her poetry collection I Can't Talk About the Trees Without the Blood (2018) as well as two uncollected poems. This reading was originally given alongside Monica Sok. 

Aisha Sabatini Sloan, an alumna of the UA MFA Creative Writing program, reads from her book-length essay Borealis (2021). In this excerpt from the book, Sabatini Sloan details her travel to Homer, Alaska, and how the stark landscape interacts with her identity as a Black, queer woman. Sabatini Sloan's writing also incorporates references to pop culture and Black artists. This reading was originally given alongside Cara Blue Adams and Alberto Ríos to celebrate the MFA program's 50th anniversary.

Shayla Lawz reads from her book speculation, n. (2021), which revolves around survival and Black life amidst police violence within the age of social media and the 24/7 news cycle. Lawz creates a unique performed version of her book through repetition and distortions not present on the page. This reading was originally given alongside Aria Aber as part of the Morgan Lucas Schuldt Memorial Reading Series.

Nicole Sealey reads from her first full-length collection, Ordinary Beast (2017), sharing poems that approach the embodied experience of mortality and the violence-haunted reality of being a Black woman in contemporary America. Her selections include an ekphrastic poem and a true cento, composed of one hundred lines collected from other poets.