Jive Poetic
Internationally Acclaimed Performance Poet
Author
Readings &
Lecture Topics
- Word Life: Redefining Masculinity
- Poetry as Family Archive
- Teaching the Teachers: Implementation of Poetry and Hip-Hop in the Classroom
- Bruk Di Stage: Poetry from the West Indian American Diaspora
- Build and Destroy
- From Stage to Page
- Insurgent Poetics
- An Evening with Jive Poetic
Biography
“A Brooklyn-based writer and DJ intermingles hip-hop-inflected sensibilities with different media forms to create a ‘printed mixtape’ of his life… The author’s genre-bending fearlessness and the compelling way he expresses his quest for identity and wholeness through words, images, and music make for a one-of-a-kind read. An emotionally rich and complex work.” —Kirkus Reviews on Skip Tracer
“Jive Poetic blends and bends genres of literature and music into odes to family and community. Multiple rhythms and algorithms, several crates of records, a little Nintendo, some reel-to-reel, some bell hooks, and various portraits live in his pages.” ―Terrance Hayes, author of American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin
“Finally, we get to hear from the poet and educator who has lit fires under hundreds of young poets. Jive Poetic mixes history, family, and social commentary to bless us with a one-of-a-kind cross-genre collection.” ―Nicole Sealey, author of The Ferguson Report: An Erasure
Jive Poetic is a writer, organizer, and educator based in Brooklyn, New York. His work has been showcased on PBS News Hour, BET, and season four of TVONE’s Lexus Verses and Flow. International recognition and support for his work has come from the British Arts Council; U.S. Embassies in Australia, Brazil, and Poland; and the Minister Of Culture in Antigua and Barbuda.
Jive is the founder of Insurgent Poets Society, an organization that exists to build and maintain diverse poetic platforms that neither alienate nor exclude People Of Color. Their actions, programs, and workshops are intended to infiltrate and disrupt artistic segregation that has been standardized by the literary and performance worlds by challenging gestures of inclusion that reduce voices to seasonal ornaments only to be displayed during specific heritage month celebrations. He is also the founder of Carnival Slam: Cultural Exchange and the co-founder of the Brooklyn Poetry Slam.
In 2017, Jive was the first recipient of the John Morning Award for Art and Service. He is currently the Friday night poetry slam curator and host at the Nuyorican Poet’s Café. When he is not on tour, Jive teaches poetry and hip-hop workshops to at-risk youth in New York City and the surrounding area.
Jive received his BA in Media Studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo and his MFA in Writing and Activism from Pratt Institute.
Short Bio
Jive Poetic is a writer, organizer, and educator based in Brooklyn, New York. His work has been showcased on PBS News Hour, BET, and season four of TVONE’s Lexus Verses and Flow. International recognition and support for his work has come from the British Arts Council; U.S. Embassies in Australia, Brazil, and Poland; and the Minister Of Culture in Antigua and Barbuda. Jive is the founder of Insurgent Poets Society, Carnival Slam: Cultural Exchange, and the co-founder of the Brooklyn Poetry Slam. In 2017, Jive was the first recipient of the John Morning Award for Art and Service. He is currently the Friday night poetry slam curator and host at the Nuyorican Poet’s Café. When he is not on tour, Jive teaches poetry and hip-hop workshops to at-risk youth in New York City and the surrounding area. Jive received his BA in Media Studies from the State University of New York at Buffalo and his MFA in Writing and Activism from Pratt Institute.
Visit Author WebsiteVideos
Publications
Skip Tracer
Memoir, 2024
An innovative memoir—composed of poems, prose, and photographs—that engages with the Afro-Caribbean diaspora, cultural identity, music, and masculinity, by a poetry legend.
Blending poetry and prose, music, and genealogy, Jive Poetic’s Skip Tracer is a memoir structured as a “hybrid sound system” (complete with “records,” “tracks,” “decks,” and “channels”), expertly curated to convey the complexity of Blackness in the Americas. In this ancestral and cultural excavation, Jive conducts archival and oral-history research into his family’s connections to Jamaica, Panama, Brazil, and Cuba to explore the impact of culture, environment, and family on first- and second-generation Black Americans in the United States. He also traces the profound influence that hip-hop, soul, R&B, reggae, and other popular musical genres have had on him—all the while performing a dynamic re-creation of his legendary onstage persona on the page. A raw and affecting indictment of police violence and racism in the United States, Skip Tracer is also a searingly honest exploration of personal identity, power, and privilege—all expressed in the unmistakable language, rhythm, and style that characterizes Jive’s live performances.
Articles & Audio
Read What’s In Print
- Jive Poetic on “Trademarks” — Poetry Society of America
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#BlackPoetsSpeakOut Conversation: Amanda Johnston & Jive Poetic — No, Dear
- Jive Poetic — poets.org
Listen to Audio
Selected Writings
Assume the Position
The train came with a police officer
on his gun. He shifts his weight
against the door. A flash back loads
the first time a service weapon was pulled in my face;
the second time it made me lay on the ground;
the third time it put my hands in the air; the fourth time
it pushed me against a wall; the fifth time
it told me it was just doing its job; the sixth time
it kicked my feet apart; the seventh time
it followed me home; the eighth time it grabbed my shirt collar.
Read the signs: it’s illegal to move
between cars.
Read the signs; my body knows
how Klan-rally a cop’s gun feels at eye level.
The ninth time the barrel cocked its head;
the tenth time, it told me it missed me
the last time; it said, burning black bodies is a tradition
it was raised on; the eleventh time the safety and trigger argued
through a range of black fiction. I could’ve been
any made-up one of us: Ricky or Wee-Bey
Mad Max or Tray; we all look the same under the right racism
anyway; the twelfth time it dared me to swing; the thirteenth time
I thought about it; the fourteenth time, I almost did it;
the fifteenth time, there were no cellphones; the sixteenth time
just covered badges; the seventeenth time
it searched me for the broken laws it thought I was;
the eighteenth time I assumed the position without anything
being said.
