Bushwick-born poet, Emanuel Xavier, will be curating a monthly feature exclusively for Bushwick Daily featuring poems by local Bushwick residents and/or natives. Poems can be about anything (not exclusive to Bushwick) but contributors must currently live within the Bushwick area or have been born and/or raised in the neighborhood.
Today, Xavier kicks off the series with his poem “Runaway.” He is the author of poetry collections “Radiance,” “Nefarious,” “If Jesus Were Gay,” “Americano,” “Pier Queen,” and the novel “Christ Like.” He returned to Bushwick as a resident in 2001 shortly after 9/11 to live closer to his family and has remained a local artist ever since. If you haven’t seen or heard his poetry before, this is your chance to get acquainted.
He has been featured on HBO’s Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry, spoken at The United Nations and was a Bushwick TEDx speaker. A foreign documentary about innovative poets from around the world will debut soon as part of the Edinburgh Film Festival. Xavier continues to perform at colleges and universities throughout the country and his books are often included in LGBTQ and Latino Studies courses.
