POETRY CORNER
Venus Jones
JaZzLine INSTITUTE
Poet Laureate
Venus Jones is a message mentor and helps emerging sheroes find their signature stories through the power of poetry and the healing arts. She felt abandoned by her own birth mother at the age of two, before a woman named Rose helped her rise. Thanks to the kindness of a stranger, faith in a higher power, and resiliency, Venus still seeks to give back the love she received. She’s still keeping her inner light on, even when the world around her turns dark.
Through it all, she’s been recognized as an award-winning radio personality, an accomplished actress, model, poet, and educator. She grew up in Akron, Ohio, nurtured countless emerging artists in Tampa Bay, Florida, her second home, and recently served as an associate English and Communication professor at Mission College. Her poems have appeared in several printed anthologies and online journals. Other publications include a mobile iPhone holiday app, four spoken word albums and three books entitled, She Rose, Kwanzaa: Living on Principle and Lyrics for Langston. She’s even been endorsed by the family of the legendary Langston Hughes.
She’s been a leader in the Shero movement, a TEDx presenter, and a poetry slam finalist at the Austin International Poetry Festival. Her one-woman show, “Poetic Soldier” earned her “Most Inspiring Solo Performance at the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival.” Her short play “Race and War” was featured at the Tampa Bay Theatre Festival.
Venus earned her MFA in English and Creative Writing from Mills College in 2014, and she was one of the honored commencement speakers that same year. She’s worked for two television networks including HSN, where she was a backstage coordinator, and MTV, where she was local correspondent. She’s also opened for Def Poetry on Broadway. Her image has appeared in countless commercials, in a Marvel movie, on a billboard, and it has graced the cover of Spoken Vizions magazine. Yet her greatest achievement has been finding true love and maintaining a healthy matrimony for over 20 years.
One of her favorite quotes is by Alice Walker – “The most common way people give up their power is by believing they don’t have any.”
To purchase these books and other items from Venus Jones, click on the images below.
Julian Carroll
JaZzLine INSTITUTE
Poet Laureate
Julian Carroll is a graduate of California State University at Sacramento, Jazz historian, poet and archivist. He began reading and reciting poetry in the 6th grade. Julian was eventually introduced to all the great Black poets: Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Arna Bontemps, Counte Cullen, Phyliss Wheatly and some of the Greek classics.
Julian started writing poetry in high school and continued straight through college. At the time, he was listening to Marvin X, Amiri Baraka, The Last Poets and Gill Scott Heron. Extensive listening to Jazz albums by the Jazz masters informed many of his poems, which he eventually recited with assorted Jazz bands. Through this journey, he met some of the greatest poets in the Bay Area and from around the world.
Julian has done extensive research through interviews, photography, audio and video recordings of Jazz concerts, collecting records, books, periodicals, newspaper articles, magazines, videos and Jazz recordings over the radio. He created a Jazz history program for a middle school and junior high school history class based on seven principles of jazz music to foster academic improvement. Julian presented a Jazz history lecture at the San Francisco Institute of Art.
He has worked extensively with Jazz vibraphonist Yanci Taylor, emceeing his concerts and documenting his Jazz story. He deeply values his friendships and mentorships with the great poets Ghasem Bantamutu, Reggie Locket and Will Alexander.
Julian performed on a recording with the Roy Brown Quartet and presented his original poem, “You Were There at the Movies,” which was performed by the Peacocks. He has performed on the KCSM Jazz station’s See's Candy Live Recording and as the Featured Jazz Poet at the Berkeley Jazz Poetry Festival, both with the Yanci Taylor Quartet.
Julian’s poem “Nubian Site,” was published in DRUMVOICES Revue (Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville) in 2000. In addition, “River” is a poem from the book “In Dappled Sunlight;” published by the National Library of Poetry in 1997 (page 139).
Kalamu Chaché
Honorary JaZzLine INSTITUTE
Poet Laureate
Kalamu Chaché came to live in East Palo Alto with her family from Brooklyn, New York in the mid-1960s. After graduating from high school and pursing a college education at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon and Nairobi College in East Palo Alto, she has been serving the East Palo Alto and the Belle Haven area of Menlo Park communities in numerous professional, executive, administrative, advocacy, and artistic areas of employment and volunteer services. A strong advocate and practitioner of activism and volunteerism, specializing in the areas of youth development and the Literary/Music/Performing Arts, Chaché has worked on numerous causes and programs in the East Palo Alto community and greater San Francisco Bay Area. Today, she is a leading Cultural Arts Activist/Advocate/Initiator/Educator/Curator/Promoter/Author/Recording & Performing Artist for a number of programs, causes and events, as well as serving as the East Palo Alto Poet Laureate since 1983.
Avotcja
High Priestess of Poetry and Honorary JaZzLine INSTITUTE Poet Laureate
Avotcja has been published in English & Spanish in the USA, Mexico & Europe, and in more Anthologies than she remembers. She is an award-winning Poet & multi-instrumentalist who has opened for Betty Carter in New York City, Peru’s Susana Baca at San Francisco’s Encuentro Popular & Cuba’s Gema y Pável, played with Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Bobi & Luis Cespedes, John Handy, Sonido Afro Latina, Dimensions Dance Theater, Black Poets With Attitudes, Bombarengue, Nikki Giovanni, Los Angeles’ Build An Ark, Dwight Trible, Diamano Coura West African Dance Co., Terry Garthwaite, Big Black, The Bay Area Blues Society & Caribeana Etc. Shared stages with Sonia Sanchez, Piri Thomas, Janice Mirikitani, Diane DiPrima, Michael Franti, Jayne Cortez, & with Jose Montoya’s Royal Chicano Air Force and is a Bay Area icon with her group Avotcja & Modúpue. Avotcja was the opening act for the legendary Poet Pat Parker the last three years of her life. She both composed & performed the film score for the Danish documentary MuNu. Her Poetry &/or music has been recorded by Piri Thomas, Famoudou Don Moyé (of The Art Ensemble Of Chicago), Bobby Matos Latin Jazz Ensemble, & performed by The Purple Moon Dance Project, and was the 1st Poetry performed by New York’s Dance Mobile. She’s appeared at The Lorraine Hansberry Theater in S. F., The Asian-American Jazz Festival in Chicago, as well as The Asian-American Jazz Festival in San Francisco. She’s been featured 5 times at Afro-Solo, twice at San Francisco’s Carnival, The Scottish Rite Temple & Yoshi’s in Oakland & San Francisco, Jose Castellar’s play “Man From San Juan,” Club Le Monmartre in Copenhagen Denmark, Stanford University, at San Francisco’s Brava Theater For The Arts with Cine Acción, New York’s Henry Street Settlement Theater and The Women On The Way Festival in San Francisco. Avotcja a is popular Bay Area DeeJay & Radio Personality, and the founder/Director of “The Clean Scene Theater Project (AKA) Proyecto Teatral De La Escena Sobria”. She continues to teach Creative Writing, Storytelling & Drama in Public Schools & thanks to the California Arts Council she was also an Artist in Residence at the Milestones Project & San Francisco Penal System. Avotcja is a proud member of DAMO (Disability Advocates Of Minorities Organization), PEN Oakland, California Poets In The Schools, IWWG & is an ASCAP recording artist.
