The Poetry Gods are here to show you how to not be wack in 2016 & beyond. Interviews and stories about the people behind the poems. You don't have to love poetry to love the show. Hosted by Aziza Barnes, Jon Sands, and José Olivarez. Artwork by Jess X. Chen. If you dig the show, share the link.

Life enthusiast.

The Shoulder You Lean On | Out Now!
Produced by J. Kelr

All inquiries : richjonesmgmt@gmail.com
Profile picture by: Katie Levine

We're not the best, but we're pretty good.

J.W. Basilo is a guy who never learned how to shut up. As a writer, performer, and musician, his work lives at the intersection of the poignant and perverse, the hilarious and heartbreaking. Basilo hosts and curates the weekly Busted Mouth Radio Hour, a live radio show and accompanying podcast. His stage act, a mash-up of music, poetry, comedy and storytelling, has earned him a reputation as one of the more sought-after performing artists working in Chicago, where is he is a regular contributor to shows like Paper Machete, The Blackout Diaries, This Much is True, and Write Club. Basilo is a National and Individual World Poetry Slam finalist, Pushcart Prize nominee, former Artistic Director and founder of Chicago Slam Works Ensemble Theatre, and a company member with Red Theater Chicago. His work has appeared in local and national TV and radio, in numerous literary journals, and in hundreds of theaters, dive bars, prisons, and comedy clubs across the world. In 2015 Basilo was named to Newcity’s LIT 50, a yearly list of Chicago’s most notable literary figures. All things considered, he’s doing pretty well for a guy who failed Creative Writing in high school.

J.W. Basilo is following