The Poets

Posted by Garrett Carey

Class of 2010

Alysia Harris / “First Lady”
Interests: Jesus, Lord of the Rings, stilettos, Mr. Hemingway
Favorite Excelano poem: “Dear Beach” by Chloe Wayne / “To Be” by Warren Longmire
Favorite non-Excelano poem: “When I Become A Man” by Korim
Why do you write? I’ve got a leaky soul and a loud mouth.
Posts by Alysia

Aysha El Shamayleh / “XX”
Interests: hate folding clothes, Arab and proud, tuna melts when you’re too lazy to read the menu, if Malcolm X was alive I would’ve been married to him, eyebrow piercings, Middle East politics, indifference is not cool, humanity is one tricky concept, who are you mister?
Favorite Excelano poem: “The Mouth of a Seastar” by Alysia Harris.
Favorite non-Excelano poem: “Convenience Stores” by Buddy Wakefield.
Why do you write? It makes me feel more human.
Posts by Aysha

Chloe Wayne / “Chlo-Chlo Gadget Flow”
Interests: libraries, art that makes me cry, interstices, bohemia, jazz, wine, Marx, fly wordplay/people who use arcane words in their daily lexicon.
Favorite Excelano Poem: “Rage Against The Fury” by Sruthi Sadhujan.
Favorite non-Excelano Poem: “Between Ourselves” by Audre Lorde, “Sonnet XVII” by Pablo Neruda.
Why do you write? It’s like trying to mimic gods…what Nina does with aurality, what Borges does with time, what Thelonious did to melody, etc.
Posts by Chloe

Garrett Carey / “Libertine”
Interests: aesthetics and visual arts (graphic design, photography, drawing/painting, film as art, film as film), the internet, dancing, candor, uninhibited sexuality, intelligent conversation
Favorite Excelano poem: “Lost at Sea” by Aysha El-Shamayleh
Favorite non-Excelano poem: “Raw With Love” by Charles Bukowski
Why do you write? It’s just what happens. Someone showed me a poem a long time ago and said this is something that you can make, so I made one, and then another. It’s not really something I endeavor to do; words visit me and I transcribe them. When they don’t, I dont.
Posts by Garrett

Ilana Millner / “ILL-ana”
Interests: doodling all over the page, my height in books, going places, magical realism, tingly spine moments, kindness, no shoes, unexpected connections, rooibos tea, trees
Favorite Excelano poem: “iPod” by David Warner and Garrett Carey / “A Quantum Leap” by Chloe Wayne
Favorite non-Excelano poem: “Delphiniums in a Window Box” by Dean Young
Why do you write? Why do we hug each other?
Posts by Ilana

Joshua Bennett / “All The Jawns”
Interests: postmodern literary theory, disability studies, pomegranates, the smell of her hair.
Favorite Excelano poem: “Traffic Lights” by Ben Alisuag
Favorite non-Excelano poem: “Eulogy to a Hell of A Dame” by Charles Bukowski
Why do you write? There are Truths people need to hear. I’m just trying to become a better vessel.
Posts by Josh

Justin Reilly / XXL Sized Flow
Interests: southern food, long walks on the beach, when I buy dress shoes I have to pay an oversized fee for all the extra leather, sincerity, family, ball, God, holding an infant once a week-if only we saw the world through their eyes
Favorite Excelano poem: “Roofless” by Justin Ching, Josh Bennett, Ben Alisuag, David Warner
Favorite non-Excelano poem: “My First Free-Write” by Jonathan Reilly
Why do you write? Because I can’t sing and I am terrible with a camera.
Posts by Justin

Melissa Pavri / “Double Threat”
Interests: singing, Charlie Parker, sincerity, freewrites, Tanya (my twin, she’s fly)
Favorite Excelano poem: “Still” by Alysia Harris
Favorite non-Excelano poem: “Birthday” by Andrea Gibson
Why do you write? To put technicolor dookie all over the walls. Seriously though, I write because I’m inspired by the poetic brilliance of my EP family. They are truly the most gifted artists I have ever met.
Posts by Mel

Class of 2011

David Warner / “Bless”
Interests: movies, the 90s, hiphop, words that make sense, people that don’t, sneakers, basketball
Favorite Excelano poem: “Fire and Water” by Josh & Chloe / “Alter Boy” by Suag
Favorite non-Excelano poem: “A Song of Despair” by Pablo Neruda
Why do you write? Life without creativity is death….and death is not poppin’
Posts by David

Justin Ching / “J. Chingerlake”

Interests: The 4 Pillars of Hip-Hop, Team Asia and the sweat on the back of knees
Favorite Excelano poem: “Altar Boy” by Ben Alisuag / “Tamara’s Opus” by Joshua Bennett
Favorite non-Excelano poem: “Nothing is Random” by Mark Helprin
Why do you write? JAWNS
Posts by Justin

Class of 2012

Cortney Charleston / “Chew”
Interests: girls who don’t know I exist, skyscrapers, Mac & Cheese, Michael Jordan’s Flu Game, music I was possibly conceived to, the humming of hair clippers, bus boycotts, over-sized hearts, birds tweeting to moonlight, grade-school martyrs
Favorite Excelano poem: “Carbon Copy” by Joshua Bennett / “Soul of the Entertainer” by David Warner
Favorite non-Excelano poem: “She Walks In Beauty” by Lord Byron
Why do you write? To scribble over all the wrong.
Posts by Cortney

Lauren Yates / “Maverick”
Interests: Record stores, schizophrenia, green tea, neo-noir, dark comedy, camp/kitsch, TV shows on DVD, lostateminor.com, INFJ-ness, poetic justice.
Favorite Excelano poem: “The Grandeur That Was Rome” by Alysia Harris
Favorite non-Excelano poem: “She Reads Books While She Walks” by Corey Taft / Everything by Saul Williams
Why do you write?It lets me lie. Words don’t have to be true to be real.
Posts by Lauren

Marion Smallwood / “House Shoes”
Interests: Music, sorbet, things I can make fun of, facebook stalking, harry potter, scrapbooking, thrift store shopping and hanging to the left with my EP fam–no wait, hanging straight down the middle son.
Favorite Excelano poem: “Gambling Man” by Chloe Wayne
Favorite non-Excelano poem: “The Moon Rises” by Federico Garcia Lorca
Why do you write? Because life doesn’t taste quite as great without it.
Posts by Marion

Class of 2013

Simone Stolzoff / “Judeo-Thug”
Interests: homemade chocolate chip cookies, jacksonpollock.org, italian things, the roots, matt damon movies, good company, pick up sports, laughing
Favorite Excelano poem: “Clowns” by Josh
Favorite non-Excelano poem: Poema 15 by Pablo Neruda
Why do you write? Because it forces me to use my senses.
Posts by Simone

Alumni

Amma Asare Posts
Ben Alisuag Posts
Carlos Gomez Posts
Caroline Rothstein Posts
Deepak Sambhara Posts
Ibraheem Basir Posts
Ibrahim Jaaber Posts
Lindsey Rosin Posts
Mohammed Sow Posts
Noelle Bond Posts
Pablo Sierra Posts
Sruthi Sadhujan Posts
Stephen Danley Posts
Tracey Gilbert Posts
Warren Longmire Posts

Permalink | May 21st, 2009

One Response to “The Poets”

  1. Ittai Wong Says:
    January 23rd, 2010 at 2:10 am

    Class of 2014
    Ittai Wong / “Cut Your Hair Already”

Leave a Reply