In Volume Six: Chapter Four of the podcast, we welcome Poet, Spoken Word Artist, and Author Natasha Ria.

Natasha Ria has been writing and performing poetry for three decades. Whether it is performing with live musicians in Jazz, R&B, or Hip Hop or sharing her quieter literary work, her signature voice soothes audiences and brings them closer to themselves. Personal, political, intersectional, Natasha Ria brings her entire self to her performances.

Contact Natasha:
Instagram: @natasharia
Website: natasharia.com

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Anita D – And the Psych Ward Says
Instagram: @anitadpoetry

Jae Nichelle – Friends With Benefits
Instagram: @croptopassassian Website:jaenichelle.com

Rudy Francisco – Scars To The New Boyfriend
Instagram: @rudyfrancisco Website: rudyfrancisco.com

Natasha Ria – Shine
Natasha Ria – The Secret Society of Black Mothers

In Volume Six: Chapter Three of the podcast, we welcome Poet, Spoken Word Artist, and Author Alyssa Michelle for her third appearance on the program. Alyssa, based in Albany, New York, is a mother, motivational speaker, and creative writing consultant who has authored three poetry collections: Growing Pains, The Awakening, and Blooming Season.

In our conversation, we ease in with her road trip R&B playlist, then dive into a discussion about introversion, energy, growth, and the personal work behind Alyssa’s creative evolution.

We revisit her start as a young writer who turned to poetry for safe expression and trace how her writing has shifted from chronicling trauma to embodying confidence, healing, and self-empowerment. She opens up about the importance of honoring her past without staying bound to it — particularly in her performance work, where she now feels called to reflect joy, strength, and renewal on stage.

We also discuss her latest book, Blooming Season, a personal collection of 22 poems that represents, essentially, both a closing of one chapter and the quiet beginning of another. Plus, Alyssa shares her experience participating in the LA Times Festival of Books and offers insight into her new role as a creative writing consultant, supporting writers across a wide range of genres.

Alyssa brings honesty, warmth, and a quiet wisdom that makes this conversation both comforting and energizing, and is why she is one of our favorite guests to converse with.

Contact Alyssa:
Instagram: @poetress_alyssa
TikTok: @poetress_alyssa

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Maya Mayor – Perfect
Instegram: @mayamayor

Lyrical Faith – Lay My Edges
Instagram: @lyricalfaithpoetry Website: lyricalfaithpoetry Our Conversations with Lyrical Faith: First and Second

Shawn William – Tired
Instagram: @iamshawnwilliam

Alyssa Michelle – Solitude Thoughts
Alyssa Michelle – Mis-Education of the Introvert

This week on the program, we welcomed Poet, Scholar, Educator, and Author of the poetry collection "What Had Happened Was" - Dr. Therí Pickens . Dr. Pickens is a Professor of English at Bates College, where she teaches courses in African American and Arab American literature, disability studies, philosophy, and literary theory. In our conversation, we explore the intersections of Blackness, disability, poetry, and presence — and how she weaves these into both her creative and academic work.

We begin with a fun round of word association that touches on everything from “Mad Blackness” to ‘90s R&B and Uno (yes, the card game), before diving into her creative history — from being the “young nerd” with a backpack full of books to her early dreams of publishing poetry.

Dr. Pickens shares how she began seriously honing her craft as a poet in 2017, using poetic forms to guide and discipline her creativity. We discuss how her scholarly work in disability studies, particularly Black Disability Studies, informs her poetry — and how she challenges dominant frameworks like “mutual constitution” in understanding Blackness and disability. She offers insightful distinctions between impairment and disability, and how structural barriers—not bodies—create inaccessibility.

Contact Dr. Pickens:
Instagram: @tapphd2010
Website: tpickens.org

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Ariana Brown – Supremacy
Instagram: @arianapbrown Website: arianabrown.com

Yaw – Ancestral Ghosts
Instagram: @kingyaw_

Dasan Ahanu – Conversation With God
Instagram: @dasanahanu Website: dasanahanu.com

Ayanna Florence – Boy Calls Me Pretty
Instagram: @poetnextdoor

Ifrah Hussein – Tell Us
Instagram: @ifrahhussein