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Thinking of a life-changing moment at 17 & how everything comes full circle.

More than two decades ago, a poet named Martín Espada radically shifted the trajectory of my life when he visited my high school and read from his poetry collection, Imagine the Angels of Bread.

His words broke through the armor and scars of an angry, lost 17 year-old kid and laid bare the transcendent possibilities of a poem.

Perhaps most profound about what Martín Espada’s poetry taught my rabble-rousing younger self was how, as Ocean Vuong stated so beautifully last night (about the power of writing): “to disobey meaningfully, to be disobedient in order to preserve the self.”

Two weeks from today, I will be this year’s Visiting Poet at that high school I attended, Moses Brown School—like Martín Espada was all those years ago—and, hopefully, breaking through to another 17 year-old kid with his head down in the crowd who thinks he’s just a basketball player and not the artist who hides himself in pages and pages of poems he promises he’ll never show to anyone.

[PS: If you’re near Providence, RI  & want to attend the event on Friday, April 29th, it’s free & open to the public: https://www.mosesbrown.org/spring-2022-visiting-poet/]

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On tour in the Middle East (World Expo & Emirates Lit Fest)

It’s hard to synthesize the feelings of this whirlwind past week in the Middle East—I hugged my father for the first time in nearly two and a half years, and he got to see me headline a show at Expo 2020 Dubai with my brilliant & dear friend, Dr. Afra Atiq, & my best friend since I was 13, Brent Shuttleworth, and then do an encore in the desert and under the stars for Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.
I got to hang and rock the stage with my dear amiga, Elizabeth Acevedo, as well as my sister, Nikita Gill, and the wonderful Danabelle Gutierrez.
This was my 3rd time performing in the UAE, and each time a little bit more of my heart is captured by the people of Dubai who continue to astound me with their generosity, kindness, and worldliness.
I’m so grateful to Ahlam Bolooki, Isobel Abulhoul, Jenny Malton, Annabelle Corton, & everyone on the festival team who has so effusively championed and supported my work.
Brent, Afra, and I created an original multilingual, multi-genre piece inspired by and in celebration of the festival’s theme. It meant so much that the entire festival team believed in us and supported our vision from the beginning.
Hoping to travel to many more festivals in the spirit of this collaboration across language, culture, and genre.
All of that being said, it just feels so good to be out in the world again after so long. Truly, here comes the sun…
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“Are you listening?” (Mental health doc on HBO Max)

If you watch one thing today, let it be #AreYouListening The Healing of Us, a candid conversation about mental wellness, stigmas surrounding mental health, & the power of therapy. Such a joy to be in conversation with Sasha Merci and @josierosario for Pa’lante! HBO Max.

After a mentally and emotionally tough past week, this is particularly resonant for me.

What does mental health mean to you? What does it look like to really heal?

#AreYouListening is content a series created by @word.agency and directed by @zoiladarton inspired by the iconic show Habla on @HBOMax.

You can watch my teaser HERE

Catch the full conversation here: bit.ly/3pIf4nP

#HBOPartner #PalanteHBOMax

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poetry + science

I was recently commissioned to write an original poem highlighting the power of cell research.

This was my first time using poetry in collaboration with science.

The piece I wrote, “Saving our Cells,” spotlights the work of an incredible scientist—Dr. Heather Beasley—whose research studies why Black and Latina women have worse outcomes when diagnosed with breast cancer.

My mom is a survivor, so this one cuts very close to the bone.

You can watch it here (just scroll down for “Saving our Cells”): https://resource.thermofisher.com/page/gibcoloveyourcells/

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Button Poetry releases “Beating Traffic”

Here it is—the culmination of a promise two best friends made to each other at 13.

A tribute to the resilience that carried us through these past 18 months of grief & loss.

A fusion of poetry, music, & film like you’ve never seen:

“Awe & wonder—are you still there?”
https://bit.ly/3EK45ko (via Button Poetry)

 

#ForYourGRAMMYconsideration
#BestSpokenWordAlbum
—

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

International Book Award-winning poet releases “Beating Traffic”

September 22, 2021

(Atlanta, GA) – Colombian American poet Carlos Andrés Gómez, star of HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and Spike Lee’s #1 box office movie Inside Man with Denzel Washington, released the short film “Beating Traffic” today through Button Poetry (the largest spoken word media content platform in the world).

“Beating Traffic,” a short film directed by Joe West, is the first video release from Gómez’s debut studio album, Opus, which he recorded with his best friend/musician/producer, Brent Shuttleworth, and GRAMMY Award-winning record producer, Joe West.

Inspired by a promise made between childhood best friends at thirteen (Gómez and Shuttleworth), Opus introduces a groundbreaking collaboration of poetry, music, and film. Having recently submitted the album for GRAMMY consideration in the Best Spoken Word Album category, Gómez seeks to become the first contemporary spoken word poet and first Latino to win for spoken word album.

Carlos Andrés Gómez is the author of Hijito, for which he was awarded the Foreword INDIES Gold Medal and the International Book Award for Poetry in 2020, and the coming-of-age memoir Man Up: Reimagining Modern Manhood, released by Penguin Random House in 2012.

His most recent book, Fractures, was selected by Pulitzer Prize-winning former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey as the winner of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry.

Hailing from New York City, Gómez has performed at nearly 800 colleges and universities in 47 U.S. states and headlined shows in 26 countries across five continents. He has been featured on NPR, TEDx, Upworthy, Central Park SummerStage, and partnered with John Legend for Senior Orientation, a program to counteract bullying and champion inclusive masculinity among high school students.

A former social worker and public school teacher, Carlos first made a name for himself by winning at the Apollo Theater’s celebrated Amateur Night and later as a member of the renowned Nuyorican Poets Café’s slam team. In 2008, he collaborated with Tony Award-winner Savion Glover on Broadway. Gómez is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

For press access, interviews, and other inquiries:

booking@carloslive.com

For more information on Carlos Andrés Gómez: www.CarlosLive.com

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