Alyesha Wise, aka "Ms. Wise" is a poet, teaching artist and co-founder o
Spoken Literature Art Movement
(S.L.A.M). From Camden, N.J., Alyesha currently resides in Los Angeles where she also serves as a teaching artist fo
Street Poets, Inc
She previously served as the head coach of

Da Poetry Lounge Da Poetry Lounge is the largest weekly open mic performance space for poetry in the US. It is located in Los Angeles at the Greenway Court Theatre. History Da Poetry Lounge was founded in 1998 as "Dante's Poetry Lounge" by poets Dante Basco, Ro ...

's slam team and a co-coach for the Get Lit Youth slam team. Wise co-founded and was a co-host of The Pigeon Presents: The Philadelphia Poetry Slam''.'' She has been featured in a speaking engagement on the

TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

Talk series in which she dedicated the talk to her younger sister and Camden. While in Philadelphia, Wise was a co-host of Jus Words, the longest running weekly open mic in the city at the time. She also founded the organization Love, Us'','' a Philadelphia-based organization and annual production which worked to spread unity and self-love through the arts. The production was a large attraction in the Philadelphia poetry scene and a Twitter trending topic in 2010. She is currently the founder and organizer of ''Black Women Necessary'', a safe space for black women. Wise also served as a former teaching artist and volunteer coordinator at New Earth, and continues to teach and mentor in Los Angeles youth detention centers. In 2017, she authored the book, ''Carnival''. Ron Howard once said about Alyesha's performance style, "Very Powerful."

Awards

* 2018 2nd place Da Poetry Lounge National Poetry Slam * 2014 Da Poetry Lounge Hollywood Grand Slam Champion * Two-time Women of the World Poetry Slam finalist * 2012 Queens Inspire Kings award presented by Kings Rule Together * 2010 5th in the

Women of the World Poetry Slam The Women of the World Poetry Slam (WoWPS) is an annual poetry slam put on by Poetry Slam, Inc. The tournament features individual slam poets from around the world that "live their lives as women" competing to be the highest ranked woman poet in th ...

in 2010

''Carnival''

''Carnival'' was published by Not A Cult Media on May 30, 2018.

Black Women Necessary

The group hosts frequent free of charge brunches as a part of an informal brunch. The meal switches locations and is usually held at a members home (as long as they have attended at least two brunches in the past). Members can make donations, but the event is free and is held to honor ancestors and relax.

Common themes expressed in Wise's poetry

* Feminism * African-American culture * Self-love * Bodies and inherited trauma * Social Justice * Queerness * Sexual assault

Education

She attended Medical Arts High School and graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from Rowan College in Glassboro, N.J.

Notable performances

* "We Will" with ACLU of Southern California *"Raising Her By Raising Myself" TEDx * "Cannibal (A Poem to White Supremacy)" * "To This Black Woman Body, Part I" * "A Story of My Love Affair With Prince" ** Originally performed at PhilaMOCA in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

for the TV show, Articulate on WHYY.

Personal life

Early life

Wise is originally from

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a city in and the county seat of Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Camden is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan area and is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the 2020 ...

. She has five siblings (Wise is the second oldest girl) and was raised mostly by her mother. Her parents got divorced when she was five. After watching

Poetic Justice Poetic justice, also called poetic irony, is a literary device with which ultimately virtue is rewarded and misdeeds are punished. In modern literature, it is often accompanied by an ironic twist of fate related to the character's own action, henc ...

, at age 11, she wrote her first poem titled, "Black History." Her favorite book as a child was ''

Things Fall Apart ''Things Fall Apart'' is the debut novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, first published in 1958. It depicts pre-colonial life in the southeastern part of Nigeria and the invasion by Europeans during the late 19th century. It is seen as the ...

'' by

Chinua Achebe Chinua Achebe (; 16 November 1930 – 21 March 2013) was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as the dominant figure of modern African literature. His first novel and ''magnum opus'', ''Things Fall Apart'' (1958), occupies ...

Adulthood

She moved to Philadelphia in 2006. Wise identified as a lesbian for eight years, and has had relationships with women. At the moment, she is married to a man and thus identifies as bisexual.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wise, Alyesha American women poets 21st-century American poets Slam poets Living people 21st-century American women writers Year of birth missing (living people)