Omowole Jesse Alexander

Poet

Clinton, MD
Maryland US
Twitter/X: 

Author's Bio

Omowole Jesse N. Alexander is a son of Jesse, patriarch of the Alexander clan, leader, organizer, Raceman, and Maude Anna, Griot, visionary artist, poet, muse, teacher, Ancestor. He lives on Piscataway land in Maryland. We are a stolen but thriving people, living on stolen land.

 

Omowole Jesse is a teacher, a mentor, a writer, an Apprentice Griot, a Perpetual Abecedarian; an ol' Bell Head, a former wireless systems Engineer, a Hacker, a window through which the "I Am" Shines, a knowmad, Ham Radio Operator, a Nerd, a Blerd, a life member of ΑΦΑ Fraternity, Inc., a Free-Range Unitarian Universalist, a visionary poet.

 

His poetry has won second place in the First Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Zero Hunger in the First World Food Day 2018 Contest, and placed as a finalist in the 1999 Paterson Literary Review’s Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest.

 

He has been featured at Grace Cavalieri’s The Poet and the Poem 2020-21 Series, Words out Loud Virtual Reading, Evil Grin, the Davies Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church’s Annual Poetry Service, The Knitting Factory, Groove Drops, and the Sumei Multidisciplinary Center. His work has appeared in Remembering Amiri Baraka, Free Black Space: Content and Code for those Living in the Black, Obsidian III: Literature in the African Diaspora, Sojourners Magazine, The Drumming Between Us: Black Love & Erotic Poetry, and Drumvoices Revue: A Confluence of Literary, Cultural & Vision Arts.

 

He lead the creation of the 3 part Harmony cento using Github with visitors and patrons of The Three Part Harmony Farm, and support from the U. S. Department of Arts and Culture.

 

A 17 year veteran of Bell Labs, Jesse holds a Master of Engineering degree in electrical engineering from Howard University. He supports his poetry, amateur radio, science, and science fiction addictions by managing knowledge for the cloud computing industry.

 

personal statement:

"I have been writing poetry and prose, and blowing fuses since I was 8 years old...and I write to collect and remember the various and sundry parts of myself and project them into the future."

Publications & Prizes

Anthology:
Remembering Amiri Baraka on His 85th Birthday (Moonstone Press, 2019)
Journals:
Chickenbones: A Journal for Literary & Artistic African-American Themes
,
Drumvoices Revue
,
Obsidian lll: Literature in the African Diaspora
,
phati'tude Literary Magazine
,
Prizes won: 

My work has won second place in the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Zero Hunger in the First World Food Day 2018 Contest and placed as a finalist in the 1999 Paterson Literary Review’s Allen Ginsberg Poetry contest.

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
Audre Lorde, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Kwame Dawes, Amiri Baraka, Naomi Shihab Nye, Martin Espada, Henry Dumas, Robert Hayden, Robert Blake, Toi Derricotte, Sonia Sanchez, Joy Harjo, James Baldwin, The Last Poets, Octavia Butler, Yictove, Mari Evans, Bro Yao (Hoke Glover), Elizabeth Alexander, Michelle Alexander, Meena Alexander, Margie Shaheed, Mutabaruka, Gil Scott Heron, Niyi Osundare, Lucille Clifton, Sekou Sundiata, Sweet Honey in the Rock
What I'm reading now: 
City of Bones by Kwame Dawes, City Without People: Katrina Poems by Niyi Osundare, Ghost fishing by Melissa Tuckey, Inheritance by Bro Yao (Hoke Glover), Furious Flower: seeding the future of african american poetry by Joanne Gabbin and Lauren Alleyne, Deaf Republic: Poems by Ilya Kaminsky, And We Came Outside and Saw the Stars Again by Ilan Savans, Stamped from the beginning by Ibram X. Kendi, An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Floaters by Martin Espada

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
No
Identifies as: 
African American, BIPOC, Black
Prefers to work with: 
Adults, Naturalists/Environmentalists, Seniors, Teachers, Veterans
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Brooklyn, NY
New York
Raised in: 
Montclair, NJ
New Jersey
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: May 23, 2022