If saying this ends my career, then I don’t fucking want it anymore.

On June 6th a child was murdered in Garfield High School. A little over a half mile down the road, the head of the African American writers alliance demanded the community apologize to an unrepentant murderer. This isn’t about my “poetry career” and my small slice of northwest history. This isn’t about the whims (not sensitives or feelings, whims) of a group of mostly upper class people who have finessed the internet to get a megaphone in the northwest bigger than their influence. There has been no love lost between me and Langston, Africatown or the African American writers alliance, but we have aesthetic beefs within a literary community, something remarkably small in the scope of life. What is not small in the scope of the community is the safety of the young and the safety of the community, and The Genius Conference stood in the way of that on June 7th. If you are offended by me mentioning this, I welcome your rage and the time I'm living rent free in your head.

Again, I was agonistic about having a public voice about how horrible black Seattle art scenes can be, because they are art scenes. I abandoned them in 2021, and became a caregiver and a cat dude. I touched grass and connected with people who are trying to fight the good fight to add something to their communities. I saw so many people who were still trying to make poetry out of pragmatism, and I decided to play the tambourine in their band. I grew as a person, became more open, and became a better friend.