Poetry in Motion

Tracie Morris (MFA, Poetry, Hunter College, CUNY; PhD, Performance Studies, NYU). Dr. Morris was the inaugural Distinguished Visiting Professor of Poetry at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop before joining the Workshop as its first African-American tenured Professor of Poetry. Tracie has presented innovative poetry, performance art and theory in over 30 countries and is the author/editor of 10 books (three forthcoming, 2022-2023). University creative fellowships include the Woodberry Poetry Room (Creative Fellow, Harvard University), Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing (Writing Fellow, University of Pennsylvania). She is a 2021 Guggenheim Poetry Fellow. Tracie is a Cave Canem alumna and designated a Master Artist of the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Her installations and performances have been presented by the Whitney Biennial, Dia:Chelsea, The New Museum, The Kitchen Performance Space, Albertine, Furious Flower, Victoria and Albert Museum, Centre Pompidou, among others. Her debut poetic short film, Black Spring, was commissioned by the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies and the Department of Cinematic Arts of the University of Iowa.

Debra Marquart is a Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts & Sciences and teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Environment at Iowa State University, as well as the Stonecoast Low-Residency MFA Program at University of Southern Maine. Marquart serves as Iowa’s Poet Laureate and the Senior Editor of Flyway: Journal of Writing & Environment.  The author of seven books—including The Horizontal World: Growing Up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere and Small Buried Things: Poems—Marquart has been featured on NPR and the BBC and has received over 50 grants and awards including an NEA Fellowship, a PEN USA Award, a New York Times Editors’ Choice commendation, and Elle Magazine’s Elle Lettres Award.  In 2021, Marquart was awarded a Poets Laureate Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets. Her most recent books are The Night We Landed on the Moon: Essays Between Exile & Belonging (2021) and a poetry collection, Gratitude with Dogs Under Stars: New & Collected Poems(2023).  For more information: debramarquart.com  

Carnegie Hall performer, Outspoken Bean, was the first poet to perform on Houston Ballet’s main stage with their production “Play.” Appointed his own day in Houston, Texas, April 8th by Mayor Sylvester Turner; Bean has been commissioned to write and perform a national campaign on diversity for Pabst Blue Ribbon and VICE. Curated and produced his own festivals, Plus Fest: The Everything Plus Poetry Festival, BLACK IS PRIMARY with Post HTX, and the annual Woodson Black Fest with Contemporary Art Museum, Houston. Born in New Jersey and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Outspoken Bean serves as Houston’s poet laureate through 2023. In 2022, Bean received an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.

Hannah/Charlie Hall is an 18-year-old self-proclaimed storyteller, poet, and writer. Hailing from Iowa City, Iowa, they are focused on showing the real and often ugly stories of mental illness, finding your identity as genderqueer, and learning to love a hard-to-love world. Hannah/Charlie is an Iowa City, Ames, and Des Moines poetry slam winner, Between The Lines writing program graduate, and competed in Iowas’ first and second state youth poetry slam in Des Moines. Hannah/Charlie Hall has been featured on Iowa Public Radio and placed third in the 2022 IC Speaks Page Poetry Contest. She/he was also published in the 2022 October issue of “The Real MAINstream.” They performed at Iowa City Poetry Alfresco during poetry months 2022 and 2023. She/he was an opening performer for Film Scene’s 2022 film fest “Refocus” and competed in the UNESCO City of Literature global slam; Hannah/Charlie was also an opening performer for Ebony Stewart and Patrica Smith, two legends in the writing world. In February 2023, they went on The Soft Stuff tour with Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey to perform in eight cities nationwide.

Jalesha Johnson is a spoken word poet, teaching artist, activist, and author who has dedicated their life to using art as a means to make information accessible, advocate for people of marginalized identities, and do the most radical act of all – love. They have dedicated their life to shifting the culture of safety in their city through their work as Co-director of SAY poetry, and an organizer with the Des Moines Black Liberation Movement. Jalesha is Black, fat, femme, queer, and kind. They spend their time dreaming and demanding this world to be a better place. 

Gleason is a Michigan poet and performer, whose sharp tongue and soulful heart educate, encourage, and inspire. Gleason’s work has been commissioned by local and national organizations, including The Hope Network and The National Fair Housing Alliance. They have represented Grand Rapids in poetry slams on national stages and co-coached The Retort United Slam team from 2017-2019, which took home the third-place trophy for Group Piece Finals at the 2018 National Poetry Slam. Raised in a fundamental, evangelical church where their faith was often at odds with their soul, Gleason’s art is rooted in the idea that poetry is a way of seeing the world, a way of seeing god in unexpected places. They believe in pipe dreams and that words have the power to change the world. They have spoken at TEDX events, education conferences, and universities across the country and their work has been featured by NPR, Pride.com, Curve Magazine, and DivaMag UK. They love kayaking and biking and spending time with friends.

Lyssie Brown is a poet and screenwriter from Tulsa, OK. She has been writing professionally for three years and unprofessionally for who knows how many. She is the co-founder and director of the Sundays Collective and the co-creator of the comedy web series, The Ironic Feminine. Lyssie has been performing spoken word since 2021 and has since grown her collective as well as read with some of her poetry idols such as Joy Harjo. When she isn’t performing or hunched over her desk writing, Lyssie can be found indulging in anything A24 makes or dancing the night away with her best friends. 

Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey is an author, performer, and producer. His debut book, Look, Black Boy, was awarded first prize in the North Street Book Prize, and his second book, Heart Notes was published in 2019. He released two spoken word albums and in 2023, as a part of the Brucemore Artisan in Studio program, Caleb produced his first short film, Willing to Grow. He is the winner of several slams across the United States, and competed in the 2023 UNESCO Slam-0-Vision global poetry slam where he ranked 7th worldwide. He has shared the stage with spoken word titans such as Siaara Freeman, Denice Frohman, Javon Johnson, Ebony Stewart, Anthony McPherson, Danez Smith and Patricia Smith, and videos of his performances can be found on his YouTube channel, Write About Now, and Button Poetry.

Wave Cage is a jazz fusion/electronic ensemble based out of Iowa City featuring Jarrett Purdy on keys and synths, Ryan Garmoe on trumpet, Nolan Schroeder on sax, and Chris Jensen on drums. Their debut project, The Portrait EP, was described by Little Village Magazine as “an engaging, atmospheric, beautifully produced, and humorous recording”, and by the River Cities’ Reader as “evoking the smooth melodies and diverse textures of early Weather Report; the ambitious, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink arrangements of groups such as Jaga Jazzist; and the more genre-agnostic trip-hop beat decisions of such projects as Thievery Corporation and Zero 7.”