An open mouth...open to bear witness, to show what lives inside, to share what must come forward: the poems in this collection add one more voice to the human chorus that sings as proof of life - funky, messy, soulful, struggling, exhilarating life.
Born and raised in Los Angeles California, W. Yusef Doucet has been a life-long Californian. He has been a faculty member of the Santa Monica College English Department since 1999. He co-founded and facilitated the Dyamsay Writers' Workshop with DJ Watson in Santa Monica, CA, the Third Root Writers' Workshop with Lisa Marie Rollins in Pomona, CA, a poetry reading series at the former Velocity Café with Edgar Montgomery in Santa Monica, CA, and produced seasonal readings and performances at the City Market of Los Angeles Gallery, all projects of the Ubwenge Artists Collective (co-founded with DJ Watson and Lisa Marie Rollins). He also co-programmed and co-hosted Liberation Cinema!, a monthly film screening at the AFIBA Center in South Los Angeles until the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Yusef is also currently a member of the Joko Collective, a grassroots community education project (Check them out on YouTube and Instagram).
