A poem and a publication for Juneteenth

The Inlandia Institute, a nonprofit literary organization located in and focused on the so-called “Inland Empire” of Southern California east of Los Angeles, has published a new anthology, These Black Bodies Are…A Blacklandia Anthology, of writings and art by people of African Descent from all over the U.S. and beyond. I am honored to say that three of my poems, “Hope Fool,” “Cashier” and “Whole Numbers,” are among the written works in this new book, released on Juneteenth.

Also released on Juneteenth is an early draft of “Whole Numbers” that I wrote for the Minneapolis 2020 Census Project. I recorded this video in 2020 for the project, and then I uploaded it on my YouTube channel and set it to “private,” waiting until I could get the poem published to release the video to the public. That day has come, so click on my photo above to see me read the poem.

Happy Juneteenth!