Cover Art: Ceaux
Cover & Interior Design: Alban Fischer
29 pages
December 17, 2019, ISBN 978-1-936919-78-9
About Jae Nichelle
JAE NICHELLE, a powerful poetry slam champion, began competing in poetry slams at 15 years old, becoming one of the inaugural winners of the 2014 Youth Speaks' national "Raise Up" competition at 17. Now, her spoken word poems have been featured by Write About Now, Speak Up Poetry Series, and Button Poetry. Jae is the author of God Themselves (Andrews McMeel, 2023) and the chapbook The Porch (As Sanctuary) (YesYes Books, 2019). She was a finalist for a 2023 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship and won the inaugural John Lewis Writing Award in poetry from the Georgia Writers Association. Jae’s performance style has been called mesmerizing, raw, and even seductive as she captivates audiences around the globe with her voice.
The Porch (As Sanctuary) by Jae Nichelle
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About The Porch (As Sanctuary)
The Porch (As Sanctuary) is a narrative account of southern, queer, Black womanhood. Through vivid sensory language and familial voices, Jae Nichelle conjures not only scenes but characters who demand to be heard. Nichelle’s writing is deliberate and graceful, leisurely drawing readers into the world of the family on The Porch. In each poem, the reader is invited into a moment on the The Porch which is simultaneously public and private, and where The Porch itself serves many roles. The Porch is a confessional. Church. A centralized gossip station. Home. A family reunion. Hair salon. A lesson in history. A reckoning. A sanctuary.