Poetry in Motion

Lyrical Ley
Dr. Ashley Crooks-Allen, also known as Lyrical Ley, is the Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Sociology department at Grinnell College. They hold a PhD in sociology from the University of Georgia, specializing in Black ethnic identity and social media activism. They hold a BA in creative writing from Emory University.  Their research and poetry are deeply intertwined, exploring Afro-Latinx identity and the Black Lives Matter movement. Ley continues to dedicate time to spoken word poetry and artivism, with over 10 years of performance experience, including venues like NYC’s Bowery Poetry and Northampton's Poetry Slam. They are also a 2023 winner of the Philosophy Media Group’s publishing competition and their debut collection of poetry, The Hot Glue Gun Chronicles, was published in October 2024.

Alta Medea
Using words, Alta explores the relationship of self to the world, our feelings, and the identities we create of ourselves to match the unique challenges of being human in a complex world. Ms. Medea has worked for over 20 years strengthening her community and supporting those most vulnerable through direct action, volunteerism, service, and advocacy. Her most recent collection of work was accepted into the "Where Ya' At" competition in New Orleans. In her spare time, she seeks to find joy in the ridiculousness of life. She lives in Iowa City, IA, with her two hilarious kiddos, an overly active dog, and a lovely, sassy cat.

C?ue
Sabur Muhammad, known on stage as “C?ue”, began his poetic journey at just 8 years old. By 12, he was refining his craft, leading to multiple victories in Boys and Girls Club Youth of the Year competitions. Sabur’s talent blossomed as he competed with the Waterloo Writing Project. Performing extensively with their youth state slam teams competing statewide, taking home 2nd place years in a row. His dedication paid off when he became a 2x IPA's state slam champion in years 2024 and 2025. Has a place in the top 10 nationally. Within a couple months he then won a Tri-State competition between Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. To add onto that he represented Iowa city to compete in the 2024 UNESCO City of Literature slam completion. Ranking 4th internationally. Now  Sabur's is a member of Io-What state slam poetry team. His unique voice continues to resonate, marking him as a rising star in the poetry community. As a spoken word artist, his goal is to blend his battle rap and public speaking styles, In hopes to address inequity, the challenges faced by Black poets, and themes of love. All so he can so he can inspire his community and fellow artists.

Reuben Thomas
Reuben Thomas is a poet, lunch lady, and Iowa City Local. Originally a fiction writer, with work previously published in Ice Lolly Review and Aster Lit, she was introduced to spoken word poetry in 2019 through IC Speaks and has been a part of the space ever since. They have competed in local, state, and national slams, as well as coaching for the IC Speaks Youth Slam Team since 2023. She has opened for poets such as Patricia Smith, Ebony Stewart, Rudy Francisco and Outspoken Bean. When not behind the mic, she still loves to be on stage acting, where she has received two nominations for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship. She has, and always will have, a soft spot for art in all its forms, cats, boba, and madly loving those around her.

Warren C. Longmire
Warren C. Longmire is a Negro poet, performer, and educator from North Philadelphia. He is a co-founder of the Excelano Project Spoken Word collective, a CUPSI grand slam and National Poetry Slam group piece finalist, and a former coach for the Philly Pigeon and Fuze Slam Teams. Warren has performed in venues including the Kimmel Center and the Nuyorican Poetry Cafe in New York City and has performed on stage with artists including Ursula Rucker, Sonia Sanchez, Major Jackson, and Staceyann Chin. 

Warren's work was featured in the 2022 edition of the Best American Poetry Anthology, selected by Tracey K. Smith. His latest book, Bird/Diz [an erased history of bebop], was published in 2022 by Bunny Presse. He is pursuing his master's in poetry at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
 

Yabsira Tekle
Yabsira Tekle's first experience with spoken word poetry was in a classroom in her junior year of highschool.  She started writing poetry in the hopes of improving her enunciation of English words but ended up falling  in love with the stage. Since then, Yabsira has competed in various slams throughout her highschool and college career, and performed at events such as the Black History month celebrations at the capitol and World Refugee Day Celebrations. In 2023, Yabsira ranked 6 Nationally at the Black Berry Peach Slam. She is currently completing her Masters in Clinical anatomy and when she is not studying or writing poetry, she enjoys taking long walks and trying new coffee shops. 

Vincent Ali
Poet. Writer. Performer. 1st Place winner of the Iowa Poetry Association’s Cedar Falls/Waterloo Qualifier.Performing artist in “The Naked Truth: A Spoken Word Experience, featuring Nicole Sallis + Friends” Vincent is a Waterloo Native who's been performing, writing, and publishing original work for over the past eight years. Tackling topics like gender, sexuality, race, and political framework; Vincent enjoys connecting with others to make these topics accessible to all.

Lisa Roberts
Originally from Michigan, Lisa Roberts has taught literature and composition in Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Charlottesville, Virginia, and Lincoln, Nebraska. After moving to Iowa City, she worked as Assistant Director of the Iowa Youth Writing Project to bring free creative writing workshops to children and teens. Today she serves as Director of Iowa City Poetry, a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to redistributing poetry resources with writers of all ages, incomes, identities, and experience levels. In this role, she co-produces The Free Generative Writing Workshops, IC Speaks Slam Team, Iowa City Poetry Al Fresco, Write at the Stanley, and Mic Check Poetry Fest. Her poetry has been published in Plainsongs, The Untidy Season, Little Village, Backchannels Journal, PromptPress, and she has been a featured spoken word performer at various venues, including Voice Box, Was the Word, NewBo PoJam, and Poetry in Motion.

Caleb “The Negro Artist” Rainey is an author, performer, and event 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 produced his first short film, Willing to Grow, as a part of the Brucemore Artistan in Studio program. In 2024 Caleb was the recipient of the Iowa Author Award for Poetry. Within the same year, Nik Heftman and The Seven Times production company created an award winning documentary about Caleb titled, The Negro Artist. Caleb 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. Videos of his performances can be found on his youtube channel, Write About Now, and Button Poetry.

When he is not writing and performing he is actively curating a community of spoken word poets in Iowa City through his high school program, IC Speaks, and producing events like the Mic Check Poetry Fest.