This Tuesday at the Museum of Contemporary Art I will be reading a series of poems on black hair inspired by this piece “Flipside” by Lorna Simpson.

If you are wondering why the museum is letting me read my black hair poems to unsuspecting patrons, the answer is because Krista Franklin & Fo Wilson are awesome! #Ekphest is a festival of visual art & poetry curated by Krista & Fo, inspired by a poem I wrote about Georgia Okeefe’s paintings. “Ekphrasis” is a fancy word for any kind of writing that responds to a work of art from another genre, usually visual art. There are 4 events left in the festival, including the reading at the MCA this Tuesday (details below) — check out the other events here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1584064958511649/

Tuesday April 21, 6 – 7pm
Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) with Jamila Woods, RJ EL and Fatimah Asghar

Jamila Woods will read from her work inspired by Lorna Simpson’s “Flipside” (1991), as a part of the museum’s MCA LIVE programming. She will be joined by Fatimah Asghar and RJ EL of the Young Chicago Authors’ Teaching Artist Cohort who will read poems inspired by the Doris Salcedo exhibition currently at the museum running through May 24. The event is free with museum admission or to Illinois residents.

For a sneak preview of some of the work I’ll be reading, peep these 4 nappyheaded poems in Winter Tangerine