Sacramento Poetry Center Socially Distant Verse: Coast to Coast

Patrice Hill is a community-based educator who has over a decade of experience teaching in urban classrooms and writing and performing spoken word poetry. Born and raised in Fresno. Patrice uses her background as an urban, inner-city, public school educated student to develop a curriculum that is culturally relevant and meaningful to the lives of young people. Ms. Hill received her BA degree in Pan-African Studies from California State University Sacramento (CSUS). She began her career as a TA for several Ethnic Studies Professors at CSUS.

Cloudy is a 17-year-old performance poet from Sacramento California. She has been writing for 6 years and performing for 3. Cloudy graduated from Sacramento High School and will be attending UC Riverside as a Creative Writing Major in the fall. Cloudy self-published her first book, Receipts of Ungiven Gifts in November of 2019; which you can find on Amazon.
One of Sacramento’s 2020 Youth Poet Laureates and a member of The Black Artists Fund’s advisory board in Sacramento. Cloudy was also a Street Team Member with the Crocker Art Museum’s community outreach program, Block by Block.

Alexandra Huynh is a 17-year-old Vietnamese-American poet from Sacramento. She has performed at venues including the UC Davis SAYS Summit, the California Environmental Justice Alliance Congreso, and the Crocker Art Museum as an ambassador of youth voice. Alexandra earned a place on the 2019 Sacramento Area Youth Speaks Slam Team and is currently one of Sacramento’s 2020 Youth Poet Laureates. This fall, she will be attending Stanford University where she hopes to combine her passions for chemistry, creative writing, and civic engagement.

Whether sharing stages with legendary beat poets or your favorite Hip Hop emcees, Andru Defeye’s unorthodox writing and performance style has made him a fixture behind microphones around the country. 2020 saw the release of his critically acclaimed Frequency album followed shortly after by his crowning as the youngest Poet Laureate in California capitol history. From Sacramento to Staten Island and SXSW, Andru Defeye served as the Director of Communications for Sol Collective from 2009-2020. In 2014 Defeye founded Zero Forbidden Goals, a support system for creatives dedicated to innovating arts equity, experiences, and education. ZFG’s guerrilla art activations including National Guerrilla Poetry Month, Chainlink Poetry, and The Intersection have been covered and recreated around the globe.

Timely, relevant, honest, unapologetic, personal and political, Christopher Johnson’s work commands in a way that is uncomfortable and arresting. Educated in performance art through experience and mentor-ship, it has been said that his pieces touch the heart with feathers and barbed wire alike, speaking uncomfortable truths, invoking the best and worst of human emotions. Christopher’s presence demands attention in a way that leaves people captivated and eager to hear more his published work.

Ryk McIntyre has been a presence on the New England poetry scene for decades. He has toured extensively around the continental United States and Canada, appearing on stages as varied as NYC’s New School, Boston’s ICA, Portsmouth NH’s Music Hall, Lollapalooza and the very first “Legends of The Slam” Showcase, at the National Poetry Slam in 2006 in Austin, TX. He has also appeared at countless poetry venues, festivals and house parties. He has been published widely, most notably, in The Worcester Review, Off the Coast, Short Fuse- An Anthology of New Fusion Poets, and Aim for the Head – An Anthology of Zombie Poetry.