Perceptions of the Incarcerated with Luis Javier Rodriguez

This week we have the community activist and Los Angeles Poet Laureate 2014-2016 Luis J Rodriguez. We discuss his beautiful and moving poem entitled Make a Poem Cry.  We're honored to have this special never published reading of the poem along with an in-depth conversation about the incarcerated, their beliefs, and culture. This interview sheds new light on not only their lives but our perceptions of them.

Luis Javier Rodriguez has 16 books in all genres, including eight in poetry. His latest poetry book is "Borrowed Bones" (2016 Curbstone Books/Northwestern University Press). He has won a Lila Wallace-Readers' Digest Writers Award, a Passaic Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement, a Lannan Poetry Fellowship, and more. He garnered fellowships from Los Angeles, California, Illinois, Chicago, and North Carolina. He is the founding editor of Tia Chucha Press, which publishes poetry collections and anthologies, now for over 30 years. For forty years he's done poetry readings, talks, and healing circles as well as creative writing workshops in prisons, jails, and juvenile lockups. From 2014-2016, he served as Los Angeles' official Poet Laureate.

https://www.luisjrodriguez.com/

https://www.tiachucha.org/

https://hchpodcast.libsyn.com/