after asking my students to take a risk and write the story that they feared to write, one of my students sent in her homework... and that's when i was inspired and this poem is me response....

For My Student Nicole And Everyone Else...

MyNAMEIs....

This! World By Audacious IAM

one of the first poems i wrote, and oh how it reflects today in 2015 

musical track by Derrick Barnes and TeeLee of Dallas, Texas 
(written 2003/recorded 2008 Dallas, Texas)


This! World!

Writer, poet, educator and activist Audacious IAM was recently named Greater Bay Area Teacher of the Year by Youth Speaks (2016), nominated for an Oakland Innovative Artist Award (2017 - 2015), a 2016 National Queer Arts Festival of San Francisco Grant recipient, named Best Literary Works of the Year (2010) and is also a founding member of the Spoken Word Collective Pr3ssPlay Poets. Audacious is the creator and chief-editor of the anthology, Blues Arrival: Stories of the Queer Black South & Migration.  

Audacious IAM was born and raised in Ruleville, Mississippi and now resides in Oakland, California. She holds her BA Degree from Rust College and MFA Degree from Mills College. Recently worked as a Literary Arts faculty member and Poetry Slam Team Coach at the Oakland School for the Arts High School.

Audacious IAM has shared the stage with writers such as Sonya Renee Taylor, LadyB Smoove, Nicole Klaymoon, Mona Webb, Prudence TheAuset, Natasha Carrizosa, Trey Amos -as well as artist such as  R&B Diva Monifah, Valerie Troutt's MoonCandy, Kevin Sandbloom, Blue Nertiti of Les Nubians and more! 

Her art is exhibited through words on the page, performance and film in the attempt to transform, dissect and explore the intersection of blackness, queer identity, fragility and being a woman in America and beyond. As a queer black female artist, she has given and hopes to continue to provide her community with a platform for dialogue, social change and transformation through artistic creation.

Her work has been published by Cooweescoowee Literary Journal (Coming 2018),  Black Napkin Press (2017),  For Harriet.org (2016) and The Womanist Journal at Mills College (2012).