poem

the vast stretch of city lights on
the horizon
forms an unnerving necklace
for the
rising
orange Moon

this is not a "dream" post

i can tell that i am still depressed
when i don't have the energy
to write
even though
my last dream was very detail-rich
and interesting

i'm looking at you, Hanif

when you read an
astounding
poet
and all of your subsequent thoughts
are in
lyrical cadence/
it is the inspiration that
centers you

quoting truth

"But I can say right here and now that the absence of a day in honor of the end of slavery in this country is shameful, which to my mind makes it unjust - the opposite of justice." - Ntozake Shange in the essay 'justice', from lost in language & sound. *POW*

Craft Beer: 2017

• “Brrr Hoppy Red” ale – Widmer Brothers Brewing, Portland OR
• “Unearthed”barrel-aged stout – Long Trail Brewing Co., Bridgewater Corners VT
• “Christmas Morning” coffee bean conditioned gingerbread stout- Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Richmond VA
• “Autumn Maple” brown ale – The Bruery, Placentia CA
• “Sunday Mole” Imperial stout – Weyerbacher Brewing Co., Easton PA
• “Orange Is The New Stout”Imperial chocolate stout – collaboration: Center Of The Universe Brewing Co., Ashland VA & O'Connor Brewing Co., Norfolk VA
• Bourbon Barrel German Chocolate Cake lager- Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery, Goochland VA
• Shiner Cold-brew Coffee Ale – Spoetzl Brewery, Shiner TX
• “Promise Gone Aw-Rye” red rye IPA – Rogue Ales, Newport OR
• “Live Wire”IPA – Ocelot Brewing Co., Dulles VA
• “Invisible Art” bourbon barrel-aged black IPA – Adroit Theory Brewing Co., Sterling VA
• “6^th Seal” chocolate stout – Apocalypse Ale Works, Forest VA
• “People's Porter” - Foothills Brewing, Winston Salem NC
• “Evil 8” Belgian-style Dubbel – Blue Mountain Brewery, Nelson County VA
• “Hotbox Coffee Porter” - Oskar BluesBrewery, Longmont CO
• “Ripper” pale ale – Stone Brewing, Escondido CA
• “Rabid Duck” Russian Imperial stout – The Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery, Farmville NC
• “Dark Hours” Genius Loci Series: Imperial stout – Lost Rhino Brewing Co., Ashburn VA
• “Fresh Tracks” pale ale – Harpoon Brewery, Boston MA & Windsor VT
• “Roundhouse” India red ale w/honey – Bell's Brewery, INC., Comstock MI
• “Devil's Tramping Ground Tripel” unfiltered ale – Aviator Brewing Co., Fuquay-Varina NC
• “Partner Ships: Imperial Brown IPA” - collaboration: Clipper City Brewing Co., Baltimore MD & Stone Brewing...
• “Frootwood” maple syrup bourbon barrel-aged cherry ale – Founders Brewing Co., Grand Rapids MI
• “Selassie” Imperial stout w/Ethiopian coffee beans & vanilla – Omnipollo at Crazy Mountain Brewing Co., Denver CO
• “Hopfen Ale” German-style IPA – Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Mills River, NC
• Peach IPA – Sierra Nevada...
• “Dark Hollow” Bourbon barrel-aged Imperial stout w/Chocolate & coffee – Blue Mountain Barrel House, Arrington VA
• 2016 “Black Note Stout” Bourbon barrel-aged – Bell's...
• “Uber Home” DIPA – Ocelot...
• “Pounding Trees” DIPA – 3 Stars Brewing Co., Washington D.C.
• “Headspace” IPA – Kindred Spirit Brewing, Richmond VA
• “Superb India Pale Ale” - Alewerks Brewing Co., Williamsburg VA
• “Hop Cooler” citrus IPA – Ninkasi Brewing Co., Eugene OR
• “Archdruid” red ale aged in Irish Whiskey Barrels-Clown Shoes Beer, Ipswich MA
• “Tangerine Quad” Belgian-style Quadrupel Ale w/tangerine peel aged in Bourbon Barrels-Avery Brewing Co., Boulder, CO
• “Nasty Woman” Tequila Barrel Tripel Ale – Lickinghole Creek...
• “Minute Man” IPA – Three Notch'd Brewing Co., Charlottesville, VA
• “Marshal Zhukov's” vanilla hazelnut Imperial stout- Cigar City Brewing, Tampa FL
• Coffee Stout- Schlafly Brewery, St. Louis MI
• “Hop commander IPA” - Captain Lawrence Brewing Co., Elmsford NY
• “Pernicious” IPA – Wicked Weed Brewing, Asheville NC
• “Enjoy By 04.20.17” IPA – Stone Brewing...
• Honey Rosemary Hefeweizen – The Farm Brewery, Broad Run VA
• Blueberry Hefeweizen – The Farm Brewery...
• Red IPA – The Farm Brewery...
• Coffee IPA – The Farm Brewery...
• Tangerine IPA – The Farm Brewery...
• Mosaic IPA – The Farm Brewery...
• Triple Berry Blonde – The Farm Brewery...
• Prototype: KA-1 – Adroit Theory...
• Prototype: KA-2 – Adroit Theory...
• Prototype: KA-3 - Adroit Theory...
• EBK (warning shot) DIPA – Adroit Theory...
• B/A/Y/S Bourbon Barrel Chocolate Cherry stout – Adroit Theory...
• "War Cannibal" Imperial milk stout aged in maple whisky barrels - Adroit Theory...
• Mexican Cake Imperial Biscotti Break ale w/coffee,cinnamon,almonds, cocoa nibs, vanilla & habanero peppers – Evil Twin Brewing / Westbrook Brewing Co., Mount Pleasant SC
• Freak Of Nature DIPA – Wicked Weed...
• Fresh Roast ale – Rogue Ales...

*update coming soon*

Books Read: 2017

• The Black Panthers edited by Bryan Shih & Yohuru Williams, 2016
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, 2014
• From #BLACKLIVESMATTER To Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, 2016
• The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin, 2012
• Freedom Is A Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, And The Foundations Of A Movement by Angela Y. Davis, 2016
• Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon To White America by Michael Eric Dyson, 2017
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, 2012
• Love Is Love edited by Marc Andreyko, 2016
• Universal Harvester by John Darnielle, 2017
• Paper Girls: Volume 2, by Brian Vaughn & Cliff Chiang, 2016
• The Blood Of Emmett Till by Timothy B. Tyson, 2017
• We Gon' Be Alright by Jeff Chang, 2016
• Iscariot by S.M. Vidaurri, 2015
• Giant Days: Vol. 1, by John Allison & Lisa Treiman, 2015
• Are Prisons Obsolete? By Angela Y. Davis, 2003
• A Gate At The Stairs by Lorrie Moore, 2009
• Phonogram Vol. 3 :The Immaterial Girl by Kieron Gillen, 2016
• Adulthood Is A Myth: Sarah's Scribbles Vol. 1 by Sarah Andersen, 2016
• The Sisters Are Alright: Changing The Broken Narrative Of Black Women In America by Tamara Winfrey Harris, 2015
• Invisible Man, Got The Whole World Watching by Mychal Denzel Smith, 2016
• Negroland: A Memoir by Margo Jefferson, 2015
• Parable Of The Sower by Octavia Butler,
• Leonard: My Fifty-Year Friendship With A Remarkable Man by William Shatner w/David Fisher, 2016
• Drift: The Unmooring Of American Military Power by Rachel Maddow, 2012 **re-read**
• Revolutionary Women: A Book Of Stencils by the Queen of the Neighborhood Collective, 2010
• Nightwood by Djuna Barnes, 1937
• Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman, 2017
• Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Damian Duffy & John Jennings, 2017
• Slam! : Issue #1 by Pamela Ribbon
• Slam!: Issue #2 by P. Ribbon
• Slam!: Issue #3 by Ribbon
• Giant Days: Vol. 2 by Allison, Tremain & Max Sarin, 2016
• Giant Days: Vol. 3 by Allison & Sarin, 2016
• Saga: Vol. 7 by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples, 2017
• Lumberjanes, Vol. 5: Band Together by Noelle Stevenson, Shannon Watters, Carolyn Nowak, Grace Ellis & Brooke A. Allen, 2016
• The Walking Dead, Vol. 27: The Whisperer War by Robert kirkman, 2017
• Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 by Eric Foner, 1988/2014
• The Book Of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor, 2015
• Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor, 2014
• Speed Enforced By Aircraft by Richard Peabody, 2012
• Blue Suburban Skies by Richard Peabody, 2012
• Binti by Nnedi Okorafor, 2015
• Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor, 2017
• Bitch Planet, Book Two: President Bitch by Kelly Sue DeConnick & Valentine De Landro, 2017
• The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams, 1989 (re-read)
• Stone Of Farewell by Tad Williams, 1990 (re-read)
• To Green Angel Tower by Tad Williams, 1993 (re-read)
• The Heart Of What Was Lost by Tad Williams, 2017
• The Witchwood Crown by Tad Williams, 2017
• The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore, 2017
• Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls In Schools by Monique W. Morris, 2017
• Wet Moon 2: Unseen Feet by Sophie Campbell, 2016
• The Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship by Patricia Bell-Scott, 2016
• Ruins. by Peter Kuper, 2015
• Raven Rock by Garrett M. Graff, 2017
• The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin, 2015
• The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin, 2016
• Killers Of The Flower Moon: The Osage Murders & the Birth Of The FBI by David Grann, 2017
• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, 2009
• The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 4: Rising Action by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie & Matthew Wilson, 2016
• The Wicked + The Divine, Vol. 5: Imperial Phase Part 1 by Gillen, McKelvie & Wilson, 2017
• The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin, 2017
• At Mama's Knee: Mothers And Race In Black & White by April Ryan, 2017
• The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy, 2017
• Phonogram, Vol. 2: The Singles Club by Gillen & McKelvie, 2013
• Giant Days, Vol. 4 by Allison & Sarin, 2017
• Giant Days, Vol. 5 by Allison & Sarin, 2017
• Queen & Country, Vol. 1: Operation Broken Ground by Greg Ruka & Steve Rolston, 2002
• Paper Girls, Vol. 3 by Vaughan & Chiang, 2017
• Lumberjanes, Vol. 6: Sink Or Swim by Shannon Watters, Kat Leyh & Carey Pietsch, 2017
• Descender, Vol. 3: Singularities by Lemire & Nguyen, 2016
• Descender, Vol. 4: Orbital Mechanics by Lemire & Nguyen, 2017
• Monstress, Vol. 2: The Blood by Marjorie M. Liu & Sana Takeda, 2017
• Noumenon by Marina J. Lostetter, 2017
• The Walking Dead, Vol. 28: A Certain Doom by Kirkman, 2017
• Maus: A Survivor's Tale, Vol. 1: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman, 1986
• Maus: A Survivor's Tale, Vol. 2: And Then my Troubles Began, by Spiegelman, 1992
• I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman In Guatemala by Rigoberta Menchu, edited by Elizabeth Burgos-Debray, 1984
• From Here To Eternity: Traveling The World To Find The Good Death by Caitlin Doughty, 2017
• Sourdough by Robin Sloan, 2017
• Smoke Gets In Your Eyes: & Other Lessons From The Crematory by Caitlin Doughty, 2014
• Imprisoning Communities: How Mass Incarceration Makes Disadvantaged Neighborhoods Worse by Todd R. Clear, 2007
• Shaler's Fish by Helen Macdonald, 1997
• We Were Eight Years In Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2017
• We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2012
• Reckless Daughter: A Portrait Of Joni Mitchell by David Yaffee, 2017
• Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor, 2017
• My Favorite Thing Is Monsters: Book One by Emil Ferris, 2016
• Tainted Witness: Why We Doubt What Women Say About Their Lives by Leigh Gilmore, 2017
• American Fire: Love, Arson, And Life In A Vanishing Land by Monica Hesse, 2017
• Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, 2017
• Strange Weather by Joe Hill, 2017
• Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine, 2014
• I Can't Breathe: A Killing On Bay Street by Matt Taibbi, 2017
• Lumberjanes, Vol. 7: A Bird's Eye View by Watters, 2017
• The Underground Girls Of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg, 2014
• Bingo Love by Tee Franklin & Jen St-Onge, 2017
• The Doomsday Machine: Confessions Of A Nuclear War Planner by Daniel Ellsberg, 2017
• The Inner Life Of Animals by Peter Wohlleben, 2017

poem

mine is a visual poem with evergreen raindrops
on glass
and
abandoned bicycles in
the woods

poem

brief moments spent wondering the sound
dried leaves moving across asphalt/as wind
caresses my face and
hair/ dances