Body Poems Writing Retreat

Aim

Help me raise $5,000 for a two-week writing retreat to complete Body Poems, my fourth book of poetry and practices for healing & liberation.

Help me raise $5,000 for a two-week writing retreat in Duluth, Minnesota, to complete Body Poems: Spiritual Liberation for the Whole Self—poems, stories, and liberation practices rooted in nearly two decades as a healing artist, activist, and cultural architect.

I’m thrilled to partner with Broadleaf Books for my fourth book, following three Sparkhouse collections supporting mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing, with nearly 25,000 copies sold.

Between building a family, serving my Minneapolis community, and working as a nationally touring speaker and educator, protecting creative time has been difficult. I haven’t been able to write the book because I’ve been doing the work.

This campaign creates the space to bring that work to the page—and offer readers tools to reconnect with their bodies, reclaim their stories, and practice freedom.

…

Poetry saved my life. 

Growing up with chronic illness, I discovered art as a way to turn my pain into power and wound into wisdom, imagining what was possible beyond my environment or circumstances. That discovery became a calling to create spaces where art helps people heal, build community, and move toward liberation.

For nearly two decades, I’ve followed that calling as a spoken word poet, musician, theater maker, educator, and community leader. But in recent years, I found a missing piece in my own healing—my body.

I needed practices that could help me more fully embody the aliveness and freedom I was speaking about.

That journey has included training with healer and bestselling author Resmaa Menakem; poetry therapist Dr. Barbara Bethea; dancer and Body Prayers founder DejaJoelle; and Peace in Practice, a Black-centered, trauma-informed yoga community. Their teachings continue to shape how I create, lead, and care for myself and others.

Body Poems brings that journey to the page as a field guide to freedom—for a growing community of us returning to our bodies, reclaiming our wholeness, and practicing liberation together. Published by Broadleaf Books, my fourth book weaves poems, stories, and accessible body-centered practices to help us cultivate mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing—and carry that freedom into everyday life. 

This past year, protecting time to write has been especially difficult while building a family, touring nationally, and supporting my Minneapolis community through the ongoing occupation of Metro Surge.

I haven’t been able to write the book because I’ve been doing the work.

Now I’m taking the initiative to make room for its next expression.

Your contribution toward my $5,000 goal will fund a two-week writing retreat at a cabin in Duluth, Minnesota, giving me dedicated time and space to complete the manuscript.

This book holds what years of creating, organizing, learning, and listening have taught me. Your support will help me turn those lessons into something others can hold, practice, and carry into their own lives.

Help me make space for the words—and the freedom—waiting to take shape.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 1st February 2027 at 6:06pm CST