Winter in America (Still

When: Sunday April 19 12:30PM
Where: via Zoom & In-Person at 269 4th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215
*must RSVP above to receive Zoom link.

A collective poetry project amplifying voices that explore the nation’s challenges and shared humanity. Artists respond to the political crisis in the United States.

The first Winter in America anthology sought to be reflective and to promote compassion in the face of division. With Winter in America (Still, we continue that spirit— by creating an anthology of work by artists that looks deeply into the aftermath of the 2024 election and its ongoing social, global cultural, and personal consequences. This anthology is not about headlines, but about the quieter reverberations of political life in our daily experience—reflections that help us see not only the election’s impact, but also what it reveals about who we are, and who we might yet become. With music by DuPree & Barry Kornhauser.

This event will be ASL-Interpreted.

For more information: https://www.winterinamerica.org/wia-still

About the Host & Artists

HOST, Kim D. Brandon is a poet, novelist, artist, activist, and storyteller. A proud mother and lifelong New Yorker, she writes and performs inspirational and cultural stories that uplift and inspire. Her work has appeared in anthologies, stage productions, online journals, andpublic readings. She is a 2021 Brooklyn Poets’ Poet of the Week, a VONA alum, and her poem Love On The Front Line was nominated for Best of the Net in 2021. Kim is the founder of Wild Honey Writers Collective and is deeply involved in writing communities that center women of color and justice-driven storytelling. Follow her at Kimbrandon.com.

Roxi Power is a poet, performer, and publisher whose book, The Songs that Objects Would Sing was published in 2023. She founded the trans-genre anthology series, Viz. Inter-Arts where she teaches at University of California, Santa Cruz; she podcasts and organizes poetry events for The Hive Poetry Collective whose mission is to talk about all kinds of poetry by all kinds of people. Power received an AWP Intro Award for her poetry and has been published in American Poetry Review, Black Warrior Review, Puerto del Sol, Seneca Review, Axon, etc.  In the spirit of Open Field Poetics and Buddhist notions of emptiness, she works toward an open ethos in her work as an anthologist, welcoming work from different poetic “tribes.” As a Bay area poet, her work is inspired by experimental feminist poetics and its tradition of working across genres.  She co-founded “Neo-Benshi” (Live Film Narration) in San Francisco and continues to perform it nationally.

Paul E. Nelson is is a poet/interviewer/bioregionalist based in Seattle (Cascadia) & studied Organic Poetry in the tradition of Robert Duncan and Denise Levertov. He has interviewed over 100 poets: Michael McClure, Allen Ginsberg, Diane di Prima, Nate Mackey & Brenda Hillman among them. He founded the Cascadia Poetics Lab and his latest book of poetry is DaySong Miracle (Past 62) written on September 8, 2023.

Katie Sarah Zale believes in the power of the arts to transform and heal ourselves and the world. The Weight of a Leaf (Kelsey Press, 2024), a finalist for the Arizona Poetry Award and nominee for the social critic Eric Hoffer’s book award, offers poems about “the violence of our times…[that pave] the way to resilience.” Explain the Moon to Me (Moonstone Arts, 2022) highlights “what we do to the world—and each other.” Sometimes You Do Things (Aquarius Press’ Living Detroit Series, 2013) highlights the history and rebuilding of Detroit. The Art of Folding was inspired by her travels to Israel and Palestine (2010).  In a Buddhist sense, Zale believes in tradition and that the mind and heart are one. Poetry should make the reader feel and think deeper than they may wish. Poetry should challenge our vision about our place in the world.

Allia Abdullah-Matta is a poet and Professor of English at CUNY LaGuardia & The Graduate Center/Africana Studies Program. She writes about the culture and history of Black women and explores the presence of Black bodies and voices in fine art and poetry. She was the co-recipient of The Jerome Lowell DeJur Prize in Poetry (2018) from The City College of New York (CCNY). Her poetry has been published in Newtown Literary, Promethean, Marsh Hawk Review, Mom Egg ReviewVox, Global City Review, the Jam Journal Issue of Push/Pull, and Queensbound. Her chapbook(s) washed clean & blues politico (2021) were published by harlequin creature (hcx). abdullah-matta has published critical and pedagogical articles and serves on the Radical Teacher and WSQ (Women’s Studies Quarterly) editorial/advisory boards. Her chapbook blackprint was published by THRASH Press (2024).

About the Musicians

DuPrée, perhaps best known as one of the lead vocalists of Casselberry, DuPrée, brings to her  audience a rich legacy of musical genres. Drawing on a background of gospel, folk, and country music, her songs encompass a downhome spirituality, coupled with a deep appreciation for the Gullah narrative, a bridge to her African roots. Add some reggae and blues, mix with a generous helping of social commentary and you begin to understand the wealth of this singer/songwriter. DuPrée’s soaring contralto voice, powerful vibrato and melodious yodeling grip the listener with hope for humanity; her songs evoke the haunting quality of a longing for truth and an inquiry into the different shades of justice.

Barry Kornhauser was born in the Midwest of the Bronx and presently lives in Brooklyn. He is a composer, arranger, teacher and multi-instrumentalist (cello, guitar, bass guitar and mandola) in a wide variety of musical environments. He has performed on stages ranging from Merkin Hall and NJPAC to the Bronx Zoo and Hippo Playground. From Saint John the Divine and Trinity Church to Sing Sing Prison and Creedmoor. He has collaborated with DuPrée as an accompanist since the early 90s.