Poetic Perspectives: Identity, Adversity, and Love
Free Chigger Matthews presents Poet Emery Diercks and Eric “Cire Luey” Maldonado at the Deep Vellum Bookstore, with local favorites Ofelia “MexMama” Faz-Garza, Niko Ortiz, and Nadia Wolnisty. Join us in solidarity for an evening of poetry and fellowship. Event starts at 7pm.
Ofelia “MexMama” Faz-Garza is an {art}ivist from Oak Cliff. She’s inspired by the subtleties of life and uses her writing as a way to celebrate the rituals that root us. Her work crosses genres and has been included in Women in Nature: An Anthology, Outrage: a Protest Anthology for Injustice in a Post 9/11 World, and BASTA! 100+ Latinas Speak Out Against Violence Against Women. She’s performed with Dark Moon Poetry and Arts, The Lost Poets Society, Poets on X+, and Voces del Norte de Tejas. She’s a member of the DFW Latinx Writers and the Espinas Collective and her latest project, El Tallercito, focuses on creating space for local writers to come together to build community.
Niko is a poet from California who's style has been described as raw, having an open relationship with the reader with no frilly metaphors and absolutely truthful, visceral exposure and having your raw nerve endings stripped of all protection. He's had the honor of representing Poets on X+ at Deep Ellum’s 2017 Lithop, he's also represented El Tallercito’s writers collective at Verse and Rhythms open mic. You can find some of his work on Madswirl.com. In all honesty "I write exactly what I feel when I feel it, this is my truth and I know someone somewhere can relate."
Nadia Wolnisty is a poet, artist, and performer in Dallas, Texas. Her poems have appeared in MadSwirl.Com, Apogee, Spry, Haggard and Halloo, Essay Daily, White Rock Zine Machine, and the Art Uprising anthology “Desolate Country,” among others. Her debut chapbook “Manual” was published 2017 by Cringe-Worthy Poets. Her line illustrations for James Barrett Rodehaver’s chapbook “Time Travel for Daydreamers vol. 1 and 2” is was published in 2017, also from Cringe-Worthy Poets. Her second chapbook “A Zoo” is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press.
Eric aka Cire Luey is a poet from Western New York & friend of Poet Emery. When he began writing and reciting his own poems in Winter 2014, he hardly expected to perform across four midwestern states within the next year; he's competed in KCMO's former Pound Slam, now Kansas City Poetry Slam, and performed for Salina's premier open mic series, One Mic. He's founded/hosted a winter open mic series in Buffalo, NY, entitled Mic Da Network in collaboration with local business Rudeboyz Artworks, and even traveled to Salina to host an all-woman show featuring Poet Jen Harris, Eve Williams Wilson, & Poet Emery. For Eric, art is about building bridges and having the courage to walk across them. He hopes to bring that to every audience and every performance.
Emery Diercks is a spoken word artist. Whose prose reflects her perspective and personal experiences. She is raw, irreverent and purposeful with her voice and dynamically bold deliverance. Her debut book "this is not a love note" led to several appearances including: The Midwest Word Fest in Kansas City, Missouri, Speak Easy Poets in Topeka Kansas, she served as resident poet at the LidOff Film Festival Lucas KS, and she also appeared at Cypher 120 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Emery defies convention with her stark approach, exploring love, anger, current event issues and the plight of the disadvantaged.