Sharing works that delight, provoke, inspire and rouse, the twice monthly Poetic Tuesdays series runs from May through August, turning lunchtime into an oasis of creative expression. Lighting up the Gardens with a fabulously curated line-up of poets and musicians, Poetic Tuesdays offer a vivifying midday breather for neighborhood groups, students, office workers on break and even out-of-towners looking for respite from The City’s hustle and bustle.

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Featured Artists

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Gracia "Cianga" Mwamba (they/she) is a Congolese interdisciplinary artist based in California, by way ofSouth Africa. A former Oakland Grand Slam Champion, they have received numerous fellowships including ones from Brooklyn Poets, UC Berkeley's Poetry and Cave Canem's Starshine and Clay. Their upcoming chapbook debut was the winner of Foglifter Press's Start a Riot! contest. They were also a semi-finalist for the Cave Canem Poetry Prize and NFSPS Board Award. As a refugee based in America, Gracia's work seeks to decolonize language and knowledge. They are currently an MFA candidate and work as a teaching artist.

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Lyn Patterson is a storyteller and book art MFA student who lives in Oakland, CA. She is a deeply invigorated poet, specifically inspired to write about Black diaspora and those who have been systemically marginalized in society as a means of empowering future generations with their stories. ForPatterson, storytelling is a sacred ancestral endeavor which can be used as a tool for paying homage and building future communities. Patterson often uses visual mediums to encapsulate her words and elevate the ways in which texts exist in conversation with one another. Her work has been published in Popshot Magazine and on KQED.

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Vincente Perez is a poet and scholar working at the intersection of Poetry, Hip-Hop, and digital culture.He draws from his background as a Black Mexican-American born and raised in Kansas City. He is currently a PhD Candidate in the Performance Studies program at UC Berkeley. They are a cultural worker using poetry to imagine, think, and live otherwise His chapbook, Other Stories to Tell Ourselves is forthcoming (Newfound 2023). Their poems have appeared inPoet Lore, Poetry.onl, Snarl Journal,Digging Through the Fat, & River and South Review.

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Before retiring from teaching from public and private schools, Enid Picket served as a master teacher at Sonoma State University Department of Education and The International Studies Department mentoring teachers in several Summer Institutes and teacher trainings. She also served on the Advisory Board forLearning for Justice, formerly known as Teaching Tolerance, Southern Poverty Law Center Publication.Enid trained with the NEA Human and Civil Rights Department as a Diversity Trainer for 10 years. Enidhas always advocated for women and children rights serving as a Commissioner on the Status of Women in Sonoma County.Enid enjoys writing poetry. In 2020, she was named the first Poet Laureate for Healdsburg Jazz. She has been singing in the Healdsburg Freedom Choir for the last 12 years. She has performed her poetry with the Marcus Shelby orchestra, at the San Francisco Jazz Center, the Raven Theater in Healdsburg, TheSandBox, several live and Zoom performances with other artists such as Ginny Lin, Michael War, Tongo Eisen Martin, Kamau Daaood, Tiffany Austin, Destiny Muhammad, Stella Heath, Devorah Major, JohnSantos, Faye Carol, Tammy Hall, Kennan Webster, Writer TheThird, and Nia McAllister. Enid lives in theWine Country, Windsor, California enjoying biking, cooking, traveling to her favorite places, South Africa and the Grand Canyon. She has two books of poetry,Through the Eyes of Enid Vol. One and The Harlem of the West Poems. She is one of founding members of an Edutainment Women’s Collective, The NubianCafe Collective. Enid is currently writing new poems for her third book of poetry.

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Meet Dizzy Jenkins, also known as Dimebag Dizzy-the multi-talented singer/songwriter, bomba drummer, and heavy metal vocalist hailing from New York City now calling the Bay Area their home. With a broad range of musical styles under their belt, Dizzy has become a force to be reckoned with in the music industry. They have released two solo hip hop albums, City Baby and Algorithm & Blues, and their recent release, Skeleton Key, showcases their soulful, acoustic take on country, blues and folk featuring their signature vocals and heartfelt lyrics.Dizzy is not only a musician-they are a mother, a surfer and a visual artist. Their art has been showcased in past Trap Art events, demonstrating their artistic prowess beyond the music world.In 2020, Dizzy’s artist statement and lyrics to their original bomba composition, Agua De Esclavo, were published in Chicana/Latina studies: The Journal of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social-an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, biannual flagship publication of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS).Dizzy’s latest album, In CaseI Don’t Make it, is a collaborative effort with Women’s Audio Mission, showcasing their incredible range as a bomba composer. Additionally, they are a lead vocalist for psychedelic cumbia band Mala Grena. With their undeniable talent and diverse skillset, Dizzy continues to make waves in the music industry and beyond.

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About the Curator

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Nia McAllister is an award-winning poet, writer, and environmental justice advocate working at the intersection of art, activism, and public engagement. As Senior Public Programs Manager at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco, Nia creates participatory spaces for creative expression and literary dialogue. Nia’s writing and poetry have been featured on Poets of Color Podcast, Bay Poets | KALW Public Media, and published in Doek! Literary Magazine, Radicle Magazine, Meridians Journal and Painting the Streets: Oakland Uprising in the Time of Rebellion (Nomadic Press, 2022). She is a recipient of the 2023 San Francisco Foundation/Nomadic Press Literary Awards. Learn more about Nia’s work at niamcallister.com

Co-Presented by: Yerba Buena Gardens Festival

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This program is in-person at Jessie Square located directly across the street from the Yerba Buena Gardens and is part of Yerba Buena Gardens Festival's Poetic Tuesday series. For the full program schedule, visit www.ybgfestival.org.

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