by Joy Priest (Editor)
A Louisville Poets Anthology edited by Louisville native and acclaimed author Joy Priest.
Conceived in the aftermath of city-wide protests in 2020, Once a City Said showcases the polyvocal communities of Louisville, Kentucky, a city celebrated for its bourbon, basketball, and horse racing, but long fraught with racial injustice, police corruption, and social unrest.
This publication is supported by individual donors who gave to the 2021 Fund for the Arts ArtsMatch campaign. Matching funds were made possible by Fund for the Arts in partnership with LG&E and KU Foundation.
Author Biography
Joy Priest was born and raised in Louisville, KY across the street from the world's most famous horse racing track. She is the author of Horsepower. Her poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-Day series and The Atlantic, among others, as well as in commissions for the MFAH and LACMA. Her essays have appeared in The Bitter Southerner, Poets & Writers, and ESPN .
V. Joshua Adams , former editor of Chicago Review, teaches literature and writing at the UofL. His work has appeared in Bennington Review, Posit, Painted Bride Quarterly, Tupelo Quarterly, and elsewhere. makalani bandele is an Affrilachian Poet. bandele's work has been published in several anthologies and widely in literary journals. Mackenzie Berry ’s poetry has been published in Vinyl, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Hobart, and Blood Orange Review, among others. Steve Cambron's poetry has appeared in Literary Leo, Word Hotel and Heartland Trail Review. It was choreographed and featured in the Louisville Ballet's 2018 Choreographer's Showcase. Jeremy Michael Clark's poems have appeared in West Branch, Poetry Northwest, Southern Review, and elsewhere. Bernard Clay’s work has been published in various journals and anthologies. Darcy Cleaver is a teacher, poet, and playwright. Ron Davis is a poet and visual artist whose narrative works range from social commentary to afrofuturism, often intertwining the societal with the speculative. Mitchell L. H. Douglas is Associate Professor of English at IUPUI and the author of Dying in the Scarecrow's Arms. Hannah Drake is a blogger, activist, public speaker, poet, and author of 11 books. She writes commentary on politics, feminism, and race, and her work has been featured online at Cosmopolitan, The Bitter Southerner, The Lily, Harper's Bazaar and Revolt TV. Jessica Farquhar is the author of Dear Motorcycle Enthusiast. You can find her work in Can We Have Our Ball Back? and Bear Review. Isiah Fish is a queer poet & performer whose work has been published in Albion Review, Blood Orange Review, Foglifter, & Miracle Monocle. Robin Garner is a spoken word artist, published poet, host & keynote speaker. Martha Greenwald is the Founding Director of WhoWeLostKY.org, a project encouraging Kentuckians to write about loved ones lost to Covid-19. Her work has appeared in such journals as New World Writing, The Threepenny Review, Slate, Poetry, The Sewanee Review and Best New Poets. David Haydon is a poet and essayist whose work explores Southern queerness, maternity, and significations of the body. His work has been published in Exposition Review, Lucky Jefferson, Coffin Bell Journal, Naugatuck River Review, and the tiny journal. John James is the author of The Milk Hours. His poems have appeared in Boston Review, Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast, PEN Poetry Series, Best American Poetry, and elsewhere. Erin Keane is the author of 3 collections of poems and the editor of The Louisville Anthology. She is editor in chief at Salon.com and is on the faculty of Spalding U's School of Creative and Professional Writing. Anna Leigh Knowles is the author of Conditions of The Wounded. Her work appears in Blackbird, Indiana Review, Memorious, The Missouri Review Online, Poetry Northwest, RHINO, storySouth, Hunger Mountain, Thrush Poetry Journal, and Tin House Online. Kristi Maxwell is the author of 7 books of poems. She's an associate professor of English at the UofL. KY poet, folklorist, and educator Sarah McCartt-Jackson's work has appeared in Bellingham Review, Indiana Review, Journal of American Folklore, The Maine Review, Tidal Basin Review, The Louisville Review , and others. She is the author of Stonelight, Calf Canyon, Vein of Stone , and Children Born on the Wrong Side of the River . Erin L. McCoy ’s work has appeared in the "Best New Poets" anthology twice. Her poetry and fiction have been published in West Branch, Narrative, Bennington Review, Conjunctions, Pleiades, DIAGRAM, Nimrod International Journal , and other publications. Glenna Meeks is a NYC based emerging poet and filmmaker from Louisville. Her poems have been published in The London Reader and Taunt Magazine. She is writing a memoir about the people and places that have made her. Sunshine Meyers is a self-professed Louisville native, SLP, artist, and closet poet. While these titles may seem disparate, they each convey her primary passions of communication and self-expression. As a bi woman and survivor of long-term abuse with PTSD, she aims to use her poetry to embolden the voice of others who are all too used to living in silence. Marta Miranda-Straub is a queer Latinx woman – a Cubalachian, a poet and storyteller who has spent her life working towards equity and inclusion and advancing social and economic justice for marginalized communities. She is the author of Cradled by Skeletons: A Life in Poems and Essays . Ellen Birkett Morris is the author of Surrenderand Abide, poetry chapbooks, and Lost Girls, a short story collection. Her poetry has appeared in The Clackamas Literary Review, Juked, Gastronomica, and Inscape, among other journals. Lance G. Newman is a 'Renaissance Man' who wears several hats; the writer, the poet, the actor, the playwright, the artist, the teacher and the student. Nguyễn Vũ Ngọc Uyên is a Vietnamese-American immigrant based in South Louisville , a social worker and a therapist. The work of Robert L. Penick has appeared in The Louisville Review, The Pikeville Review, Kudzu, Literary LEO and Trajectory within Kentucky, and journals like The Hudson Review, North American Review and Plainsongs . Ryan Ridge is the author of 4 chapbooks as well as 5 books, including *New Bad News* . His writing has appeared in American Book Review, DIAGRAM, Denver Quarterly, Passages North, Post Road, Salt Hill, Santa Monica Review, Southwest Review, and elsewhere. Alex Shull is a lifelong poet and software developer by trade. Rheonna Nicole is a poet, artist, spoken word competitor and entrepreneur. She has been a featured speaker at many events. Her work has been featured in Today's Woman Magazine, Leo Weekly, Insider Louisville, Courier Journal, and Spalding University's Art & Literary Hotel. Aileen Tierney is currently based in Louisville, and holds a BA in English from the UofK. Alissa Vance is a community activist, poet, and writer. In her daily life, she fights for housing and racial equity, freedom and liberty for all people, and justice for Travis Nagdy and Breonna Taylor. Ken Walker is the author of Twenty Glasses of Water and Antworten. His work can be found in Boston Review, Hyperallergic, The Poetry Project Newsletter, The Brooklyn Rail, The Seattle Review, Atlas Review, Lumberyard, Tammy , and many other publications. Jasmine Wigginton is a youth worker and a writer from Louisville, and is currently located in Baltimore, MD. Through her writing, she explores intergenerational trauma, her ancestors, and the inherent magic of being Black and from Kentucky.
Number of Pages: 136
Dimensions: 0.6 x 9 x 6 IN
Publication Date: June 20, 2023