On Wednesday, April 20th at 5pm CDT on zoom, join Alexis Pauline Gumbs and Open Mouth Literary for a workshop titled, “Dreaming Black Unicorns.”

Register here.

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.

Register for the virtual workshop by clicking on the “Registration” button on the Eventbrite page and entering the required fields. You will receive an email with the Zoom information.

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 openmouthreadings@gmail.com 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.