Jeri Jones Sparks is a Tamil Indian-Australian poet and writer living on Wangal Country.
She is the winner of the third annual Bright Wings Poetry Contest hosted in partnership with Ekstasis Magazine.
She works as the Outreach Pastor at St James Anglican Church in the Inner West of Sydney.
In this bonus episode, Jeri shares her winning poem, January Born.
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Read MoreJoshua Luke Smith is a British rapper, poet, and producer with a dramatic, socially conscious style rooted in explorations of the Christian faith. He was born in London raised in Pakistan, and holds a degree in philosophy, which informs his music with a unique perspective on the world both from his education and experience.
In this episode, I talk with Joshua about his upbringing, his creative process as well as well as philosophy and overcoming addiction.
You can see the show notes of this episode for links to Joshua’s new book Something You Once Knew and for additional patron only interview segments in our creative collective.
Read MoreThea Matthews is a San Francisco born poet, orator and activist whose work centers on the complexities of humanity, grief, and resiliency. In this episode, Stephen Roach to talks with Thea about her debut poetry collection published by Red Light Lit titled, Unearth [The Flowers] and about her journey of finding healing and resiliency through poetry.
Thea's empowering poems provide a path to healing and illustrate how survivors can find a safe place within themselves to reclaim their own identity and sexuality.
Her book has been described as an electrifying letter to family, country, and self, Unearth [The Flowers] is relentless in its journey through stages of grief and healing while celebrating life.
Pádraig Ó Tuama is an Irish poet and theologian whose work centers around themes of language, power, conflict and religion. His poetry and prose has been published widely across Ireland, the US and the UK. For Ó Tuama, religion, conflict, power and poetry all circle around language, that original sacrament. In the context of public theology, he takes the received form of biblical texts and explores the civic and artistic dynamics of language, narrative and impact in these stories.
Pádraig is a voice for LGBT inclusion and for the value of arts in public life. He presents Poetry Unbound with On Being Studios, a podcast that explores a single poem in each episode.
In this episode, Padraig and I share a conversation on his background as a poet, theologian and how the arts and language play a central role in reconciliation and conflict resolution.
Padraig’s work in language and conflict resolution is a vital contribution to finding a way forward through our current cultural moment.
Patrons of the podcast can enjoy the full, unedited interview at: http://www.patreon.com/makersandmystics
Read MoreKhalisa Rae is an activist, poet, and educator in Durham, North Carolina, and a graduate of the Queens University MFA program. She is the winner of the 2020 Bright Wings Poetry Contest.
In this Bonus episode, Stephen Roach and Ashley Blake talk with Khalisa Rae about poetry and the importance of telling our story. Khalisa performs two of her poems, including her winning poem, The Way Out and the title poem from her upcoming collection, Ghost In A Black Girl's Throat.
You can read Khalisa's and the other winning poets at: http://www.makersandmystics.com/brightwings
Read MoreThis bonus Episode features a live performance and interview with spoken word artist La’Tasha Strother. La’Tasha threads her relationship with God throughout her life and work and creates poignant imagery about her life experiences. The poem performed in this episode is titled Love Is Not Blind and was performed live at our Art As Healing Podcast in Charlottesville Virginia.
Read MoreIn 2019, I took the Makers and Mystics podcast on the road and partnered with creative communities around the country. Together, we facilitated conversations on subjects that were close to the heart of each community and featured hand-picked, local performers and influencers from each city.
The production of this series is raw and remains largely unedited much like the conversations themselves. The length of these episodes will extend beyond our usual thirty-minute format and will highlight the work of community leaders as well as panel discussions.
I’m excited to share this series with our larger community via our Patreon page and open the door for everyone to join the discussions.
Our first conversation takes place in Charlottesville, Virginia on the two-year anniversary of the Charlottesville riots. The subject is appropriately titled, art as healing. My guests include community founder, Lauren Stonestreet, Spoken-Word Artist, La'Tasha Strother, Philosopher, Bernard Hankins, Pastor, Brendan Jamison, Neuroscientist and Jazz musician, Nadine Michel and Doctor of Osteopathy, Dr. David McDonald.
This video was produced by: Micah Lindstrom
Read MoreTinasha LaRayé is a poet, actress, and filmmaker who has an intense passion to see nations transformed through storytelling. As a spoken word artist, she incorporates her theatrical world of acting to elevate poetry from the page to an encounter. From working with inner city kids, to young women, to budding creatives, she loves empowering individuals to move in their God-given voice, purpose, and power. Tinasha also desires to see the wound of racism healed in the United States and uses her creativity and teachings to equip this generation to walk out healing, justice, and unity. She currently serves as a pastor in Creative Arts at Bethel Church in Redding.
In today’s episode Stephen talks with Tinasha about her work as a poet and actress standing at the intersections of spiritual encounter and social justice. The two also talk about her film, Hope Song which explores the historical experience of Black people in America, and paints a poetic and prophetic vision for racial healing.
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