"I write the world I want to see."
- Leslie D. Rose
Leslie D! is a Jersey-born poet of Puerto Rican descent and Louisiana Creole heritage whose work - mostly done in narrative form - addresses culture, ancestry, journalism, and black womanhood. She has been a member of two national poetry slam teams and represented Baton Rouge individually at the 2014 Women of the World Poetry Slam, where she ranked in the upper quadrant. Her work has been published and featured on various outlets, including Passages North and All Def Poetry. Her work is also archived on IndieFeed: Performance Poetry, where you can hear seven poems, including this piece on immigration and this piece on journalism. She served as artistic staff for the 2014 run of the New Venture Theatre production, Love, Whitney - a choreoplay honoring the life and legacy of the late singer, Whitney Houston. This work included the writing of two poems for choreography and the performance of her piece, "An Open Letter to Whitney Houston from Every Woman who Understood Why the Flag Saluted You." As an author, Leslie has composed a number of chapbooks, as well as a full-length book of journalism-inspired poetry titled, "The Newsroom." Limited copies are still available; contact to purchase.
Leslie is available for hire as a performer and teaching artist. You can hear some of her work here. You can also follow Leslie's blog: Click for Archives or Click for Current.
Book the "Ripped from the Headlines" Creative Writing Workshop
The workshop seeks to instruct participants to create media/news-inspired poems using local newspapers as the source. It introduces three model texts, each of a different form. The overall objective is to not only create politically-charged poetry, but also to garner a better understanding of the how media work.
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