"Go on, Poet!" — Visiting Poet Alexa Patrick's Spoken Word Poetry Inspires Students

“I text my exes when I'm bored,” she read from her poem “For the Girlies,” “because I like the drama of bringing the dead back to life,” to a resounding chorus of “mmhmms.” The crowd was hooked, as Patrick drew from her own high school experience, not only as a girl, but as a Black girl at a predominantly white school, with poems about prom and one titled “Ode to an Almost First Kiss,” all touching on anticipation and hope and the pain of unmet expectations. 

From there, Patrick shared poems from her time living in the Southwest Waterfront area of Washington, DC. “When you get off the metro at Southwest Waterfront,” she smiled, “there's a Safeway and outside there's this group of Black men, and they're always there. It doesn't matter the time of day, it doesn't matter the weather, they're there, and I'm obsessed with them.” Patrick has written a series of poems about these men exploring themes of community and humanity, and in her reading of "The Black Men Outside the Waterfront Safeway Catcall Me" wondered “In this city of rush hours and new buildings, of no one here is from here anymore, even the air becomes brittle with lonely; maybe, they yell 'I love you,' just to hear the echo,” eliciting a room full of nodding heads, snaps, and “mmhmms” in response. 

Patrick’s final set of poems centered on family, relationships, and memories. “If you were in my workshops earlier today, you heard me talk about pulling from your own personal archives to create a poem that only you can write.” Her poem “Sugar” is an homage to her beautiful and wild aunties, and as she read the final lines, a choir of snaps could be heard from the audience as they mourned and celebrated the women with her. “Grandma Geri went first, winked at my mother from the casket. Aunt Willa passed on her one hundred and second birthday, y'all; they all know how to make an exit. Make us mourn in confection. Their grace, not dead but heirlooms, like beauty mark or recipe. There, even in the cavities left behind. Their stories coat my teeth; until I, too, am beside them. Never alone or lost, just alive, with their names trailing like crumbs to God.“  

The readings were followed by a robust Q&A, with students receiving thoughtful, honest answers from Patrick to questions such as when she started taking her poetry seriously, how she dealt with writer's block, and how she maintained her mental health through high school. 

View video of her performance.

Earlier in the day, Patrick hosted two spoken word sessions for students as part of the Festival’s day of workshops, and after the Festival's conclusion, she offered a book signing for the community. 

A vocalist, poet, and the author of Remedies for Disappearing, Patrick holds fellowships from Cave Canem, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and more. Previous artistic partnerships include The Kennedy Center and the National Museum of Women in the Arts. In spring 2023, she made her stage production debut as Un/Sung in the opera We Shall Not Be Moved. You may find her work in Adroit, The Rumpus, CRWN Magazine, and The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 2.