NVHA Open Mic Featured Poets

Destiny Karizma

Destiny Karizma, a.k.a the Lyrical Pro-Black Unicorn, hails from Staten Island and is a New Yorker through and through--but she credits the city of Camden as the place that made her become a poet. She's known for poetry that connects with the audience in a way that is vulnerable, poignant, and extremely reflective. Her most recently released work is called A Clouded Mind, which is currently sold out, but is available through pre-order by contacting Destiny directly. .

Mariko Kitakubo & Deborah P Kolodji

Mariko Kitakubo is a tanka poet, tanka reading performer and the Tan-Ku Co-Founder. She was born in Tokyo, Japan on October 4th, 1959. She currently lives in Mitaka City, Tokyo. Mariko has published seven books of tanka including four bilingual ones, On This Same Star , Cicada Forest, Indigo and  Distance.
The last one, Distance was published with Deborah P Kolodji, the first Tan-Ku collection book. She has produced a CD of her tanka titled “Messages.” Mariko is an experienced performer who has presented her poetry on at least 246 occasions, 188 of them overseas (April 2023). She has performed in over 55 cities across the world in the United States, Canada, Australia, India, France, Germany, Portugal, United Kingdom, Tanzania, Switzerland, Bulgaria, and Sweden. She hopes to encourage more poetry lovers worldwide to appreciate and practice tanka.

Deborah P Kolodji is the California Regional Coordinator for the Haiku Society of America and a member of the board of directors for Haiku North America.  Her book, Highway of Sleeping Towns, won a Touchstone book award from the Haiku Foundation, her e-chapbook of scifaiku tug of a black hole, won 2nd place in the Elgin Awards by the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association.  Her collaboration with Mariko KItakubo, Distance, a book of Tan-ku (tanka/haiku sequences and sets) was released in April.

Lamont B. Steptoe

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Lamont B. Steptoe is a poet, photographer, and publisher. He created the publishing house Whirlwind Press in order to edit and publish three collections of the late South African poet and activist, Dennis Brutus. He's the author and/or editor of many poetry collections, the latest of which is called Meditations in Congo Square. He's also the winner of an American Book Award and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, a Vietnam veteran, and a graduate of Temple University. 

Gordon Gearhart

Gordon Gearhart is an emerging haiku poet from Cape May, New Jersey. His work has been featured in various journals including failed haiku, Prune Juice, Nick Virgilio Haiku Association's Haiku in Action, and most recently Frogpond. Some of his poetry inspirations include Rowan Beckett, Aaron Barry, Kala Ramesh and Kobayashi Issa. Outside of writing poetry, Gordon enjoys building his record collection, music festivals, and enjoying a glass of wine or two.