Join us on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 at 5:00pm Central for a generative workshop with featured poet Alexis Pauline Gumbs .Dreaming Black Unicorns: A Workshop. Based on Audre Lorde’s classic poem “The Black Unicorn,” this poetry workshop is an opportunity to write about ourselves as the powerful mythical creatures we are.
The Black Unicorn by Audre Lorde
The black unicorn is greedy.
The black unicorn is impatient.
‘The black unicorn was mistaken
for a shadow or symbol
and taken
through a cold country
where mist painted mockeries
of my fury.
It is not on her lap where the horn rests
but deep in her moonpit
growing.
The black unicorn is restless
the black unicorn is unrelenting
the black unicorn is not
free.
This event is free and open to the public.
Recommended for participants 16 years and above.
This workshop is sponsored by the Brown Chair in English Literacy at the University of Arkansas
ACCESS NOTES: The workshop will take place virtually via Zoom with Zoom auto captions. An ASL interpreter will be present. Access copies of workshop materials will be made available via Google Docs. Our Access Statement will be read before we begin.
Communication Access Real-time Translation (CART) service will be provided with advance request. To ensure that we have enough time to book and allow captioners to prepare, please reach out to the Open Mouth team through Eventbrite or via email at [email protected] by April 13 to request CART service.
Support for Open Mouth Literary Center is provided, in part, by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support comes from our supporters on Patreon, Mid-America Arts Alliance, and the ARt Connect Program. The ARt Connect program is generously supported by the Walmart Foundation and implemented by Mid-America Arts Alliance in partnership with the Creative Arkansas Community Hub & Exchange (CACHE) of the Northwest Arkansas Council. Additional support for Mid-America Arts Alliance is from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and foundations, corporations and individuals throughout Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.
FEATURED POET:
Alexis Pauline Gumbs, PhD is a black feminist writer and scholar in Durham, North Carolina. Alexis is the author of several books, most recently Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals and Dub: Finding Ceremony. Alexis is the co-founder of Mobile Homecoming, an experiential archive amplifying Black LGBTQ brilliance. She is also the co-founder of the Black Feminist Bookmobile and the Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind Reading Room. Alexis is a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Awardee.
EVENT HEADER IMAGE DESCRIPTION:
The poet is wearing white and wrapped in turquoise. The wind activates her wild majestic hair.
Author photo appears next to the words “Open Mouth Collaborates A Workshop With Alexis Pauline Gumbs April 20, 22 Sponsored by the Brown Chair in English Literacy at the University of Arkansas” on a light blue background. The Open Mouth logo—an outline drawing of a mouth with big lips that are wide open to show the teeth and tongue—is behind the text. Logos for our sponsors also appear. The presence of ASL interpretation is indicated by the interpreting hands logo.