If you haven’t heard of Cherry Castle Publishing, this press is a gem, where diverse voices flourish. It’s also an award-winning indie publisher. I’m honored that Publisher/Co-Founder Truth Thomas, who’s also an award-winning poet, trusted his vision for the video with Humble Bear Production and Sojournals. I want to thank the Cherry Castle Publishing fam, […]
SHE HADN’T NOTICED HIM the first time. The bookstore clerk was typing away until a customer’s questions pulled him over to the “Politics and Culture” section. He was shorter than six feet. Anyone close enough might have noticed a thick crease across his forehead from a do-rag tied too tight. Sitting at the bar […]
(view excerpts from this graphic novella-in-progress) “During happy times, pride and extravagance are dangerous. If one is not prudent in ordinary times, he will not be able to catch up. A person who advances during good times will falter during the bad.” —Yamamoto Tsunetomo, “Hagakure” THEY RAN DOWN 31st Street NW. It was midnight. Man […]
for Jazmyn King (due date: Dec. 30, 2015) You were a print of light pressed into a waxy dark sheet. Your mom framed you while I carried you in my wallet and phone. I stood in your white room — the black window trim and floor boards, the Espresso dresser and crib watched me fold your […]
This piece, which I wrote in 2006, first appeared in The Arabesque Review. Lela rises at 4a.m. to catch the W13 for 5:45 downtown. She reaches the office at 6:30 to start coffee and have a fresh pot brewed for the workers stumbling in at 7a.m. She was always known to bring in snacks and […]
Editor’s note: Several years ago, while studying Journalism at Howard University, I started to appreciate prose. Having written mostly poems up until that point, I enjoyed the freedom prose gave me that I didn’t have with poetry. Poems seemed more demanding because of the various literary devices and space. Prose opened a new world to […]
Here’s the rundown on this journal, according to the editorial team: pluck! The Journal of Affrilachian Arts & Culture, takes its name from a Nikky Finney poem of the same title which appeared in RICE. The journal features poetry, prose, and visual art from writers who identify with multicultural experiences based in the Appalachian region. The journal was founded by […]
Here’s another trailer for my poetry collection, DRIFT (Aquarius Press/Willow Books, 2012).
I wanted to try my hand at telling a children’s story in video format (at some point, I’ll start doing voice overs instead of using text in my video stories), so I made this short video for my 5-year-old niece, Anicia. With her mother’s permission, I’m posting it here:
A few years ago, I started as a writer-in-residence with the D.C. Creative Writing Workshop, and worked my way up to senior program director. I owe this nonprofit and its Executive Director Nancy Schwalb so much. I shot these clips, not sure what I would do with them. They sat on my phone for two […]
Alan W. King 