Shanekia McIntosh: August Poet Of The Month

August marks our first Patreon artist commission, made possible entirely by subscriber support. Thank you! We are truly thrilled to be bringing Patreon subscribers two poems by the incomparable Shanekia McIntosh.

Exploratory, vital and truth-seeking in tone, paced with fervour and urgency, Shanekia brings a wide-angled lens to her work which allows no short-termism, no selecive amnesia, no collective apathy. We're not worthy.

Shanekia McIntosh is a writer, poet and performer born and raised in Brooklyn, New York as a first-generation American, in a predominately Caribbean neighborhood, by Jamaican immigrants. Her work is inspired by the double consciousness of her cultural heritage and the black diaspora; it aims to disrupt and confront the historical colonial erasure of Black/POC narratives, the contemporary byproducts of that erasure and its continued practice today. Using the thematic palette of generational trauma, dislocation and migration, climate change, afro-futurism, empathetic political actions and accessibility, the work aims to cultivate a community space to engage contemporary narratives and perspectives to upend the learned complacency of these practices.

McIntosh has read and shown her work at The New Museum, Second Ward Foundation, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art’s TBA Festival, Hudson Hall, NY Live Arts, September Gallery and more, with recent work being published in Chronogram, Apogee Journal and The TENTH Magazine. She is the co-founder of Free Range, a black performance series with artist Tschabalala Self and DJ Michael Mosby. Previously, McIntosh co-curated TRIPTYCH, the Sunday daytime programming for Basilica Soundscape Music and Arts Festival in Hudson, NY with poet Joey de Jesus. McIntosh is the Youth Service & Programs Assistant for the Hudson Area Library in Hudson, NY.

Follow Shanekia's work at her website and at @itheabstract on Instagram. 

If you’re in a position to do so, you can become a Hand Mirror Patreon subscriber here, starting at £1 per month.