Sharing works that delight, provoke, inspire and rouse, the monthly Poetic Tuesdays series runs from May to October, turning lunchtime into an oasis of creative expression. Lighting up the Gardens with a fabulously curated line-up of poets and musicians, Poetic Tuesdays offer a vivifying midday breather for neighborhood groups, students, office workers on break and even out-of-towners looking for respite from The City’s hustle and bustle.

About the Artists

Meilani Clay is a writer, mama and educator from Oakland, CA. Her work has appeared in Nomadic Press’s Patrice Lumumba: An Anthology of Writers on Black Liberation and online literary journal The Ana. Her debut poetry collection, and the creek don’t rise, was the winner of the 2021 Michael Rubin Book Award from San Francisco State University’s Fourteen Hills Press. A graduate of Howard University, the University of San Francisco’s Urban Education and Social Justice program, and a current MFA Poetry candidate at SFSU, Meilani aspires to be in school forever, to bridge worlds with her words and to one day build forts out of books written by Black folks.

Jada Imani is an East St. Louis-born, Bay Area-raised Hip-Hop R&B artist and organizer. Imani has worked creatively since age 15 with groups like Adidas, the Oakland Museum of California and the GRAMMYs Recording Academy as a voting member, but her passion is in community-based projects.

tanea lunsford lynx is a fourth-generation Black San Franciscan on both sides. They are Chair of the Spoken Arts Department at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts and teach Ethnic Studies and Social Justice courses at City College of San Francisco. This year she will work on a text of creative nonfiction through the Brown-Handler residency in collaboration with Friends of the SF Public Library. You can also find them at the Main Library where tanea is an inaugural artist in residence in collaboration with SFPL & the SF Arts Commission. You can find her work online at tanealunsfordlynx.com.

Mimi Tempestt (she/they) is a multidisciplinary artist, writer and daughter of California. She has a MA in Literature from Mills College and is currently a doctoral student in the Creative/Critical PhD in Literature at UC Santa Cruz. Her first book, the monumental misrememberings, is published with Co-Conspirator Press//The Feminist Center for Creative Work (2020). She was chosen as a finalist in the Creative Nonfiction Prize for Indiana Review in 2020 and was a creative fellow at The Ruby in San Francisco. She was selected for participation in the Lambda Literary Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices & writers in 2021. Her works can be found in Foglifter, Apogee Journal, Interim Poetics and The Studio Museum in Harlem.

D’mani Thomas is a writer from Oakland, California (Occupied Ohlone territory). He has received invitations to fellowship from The Watering Hole, Foglifter literary journal, Afro Urban Society and UC Berkeley’s Art & Research Center via The Engaging the Senses Foundation. His work can be found in: The Auburn Avenue, The Shade Journal, The Ana and elsewhere. His poem, “Survival Tactics” was shortlisted for the 2020 Penrose Poetry Prize. In 2021, they were nominated for a “ Best New Poets” and “Best of the NET” award. Their debut chapbook is forthcoming through Nomadic Press in 2023. Outside of poetry, catch them working their day job as a copywriter, watching horror movies, dancing or craving fries.

About the Curator

Nia McAllister is a Bay Area born poet, writer and environmental justice advocate. Since joining the Museum of the African Diaspora in 2017, she has dedicated herself to facilitating impactful change at the intersection of art, activism, and public engagement. As the Public Programs Manager at MoAD, Nia leads the MoAD Lit program and is the host and founder of MoAD’s Open Mic series. At MoAD and beyond, Nia creates platforms for amplifying the work of Black artists on a global scale. Nia’s writing and poetry have been featured on Poets of Color Podcast and published in Radicle magazine, Meridians journal, and Painting the Streets: Oakland Uprising in the Time of Rebellion (Nomadic Press, 2022). Nia received her B.A. in Environmental Analysis: Race, Class, Gender, and the Environment from Pomona College. 

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