For Anna Martinez (2022-2024), poetry matters because it is the most accessible and resonant form of art politic and history, requiring nothing more than pen, paper, and the vision of the poet. Anyone at any age and from any economic background can impact the discourse in their own community and beyond through the activism of poetry. It is the vehicle that transported me from a curious child raised in Española, the alleged “heroin capital of the world,” to the roundhouse at the NM State.

Michelle Otero (2018-2020) holds a B.A. in History from Harvard University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College. She spent her time as Albuquerque Poet Laureate (2018-2020) working on a collection of bosque poems and co-hosting a monthly series of bosque walks with a different local poet. She’s also a founding member of the TIASO Artist’s Cooperative and Hembras de Pluma, an indigenous and women of color theatre group. Michelle is the author of Malinche’s Daughter, an essay collection based on her work with women survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Oaxaca, Mexico as a Fulbright Fellow, and Bosque: Poems (University of New Mexico Press, 2021), a collection written during her tenure as Albuquerque Poet Laureate. Her memoir, Vessels is published by FlowerSong Press. She is a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop.    

Mary Oishi (2020-2022) is a familiar figure in Albuquerque’s thriving poetry scene: performing, publishing, and producing poetry events. Oishi is the author of Spirit Birds They Told Me (West End Press, 2011), and co-author of Rock Paper Scissors (Swimming with Elephants Publications, 2018), finalist for the New Mexico Arizona Book Award. She is one of twelve U.S. poets in translation in 12 Poetas: Antologia De Nuevos Poetas
Estadounidenses (La Herrata Feliz and MarEsCierto, 2017), a project of the Mexican
Ministry of Culture. Her poems have appeared in Mas Tequila Review, Malpais Review,
Harwood Anthology, and numerous other print and digital publications.
Oishi worked professionally and as an on-air personality in public radio for 25 years,
hosting blues shows at four radio stations in New Mexico and Colorado, currently at
KSFR-FM Santa Fe, where she hosts a weekly blues show, Wang Dang Doodle.
Her involvement in the work of community and social justice is life-long. She served as
lead facilitator for an LGBTQ youth group for seventeen years, was an NGO delegate to
the UN World Conference Against Racism in 2001, and produced Peace Buzz, an event
of art-as-protest in 2003.

Manuel Gonzalez (2016-2018) is the first Laureate born and raised in Albuquerque. He’s a proud Burqueño who spent his reign performing at the Albuquerque Museum and bringing a poetry slam program into high schools. Gonzalez went on to publish his second book, Om Boy, in 2019. He’s represented the City plenty of times on a national level as a member of the Albuquerque Slam Poetry Slam Team.

Jessica Helen Lopez (2014-2016) spent many years running in the slam poetry circuit in the Duke City. In 2014 she was honored with the title as the second poet laureate of Albuquerque and became the first female with the designation. Lopez has twice represented our city as the Women of the World ABQ Champion at national events. She is currently an adjunct instructor at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA).

Hakim Bellamy (2012-2014), the inaugural Poet Laureate of Albuquerque, holds three consecutive collegiate  poetry slam titles at the University of New Mexico and is a national and regional Poetry Slam Champion. His poetry has been published on the Albuquerque Convention Center, on the outside of a library, in inner-city buses and in numerous anthologies across the globe. Bellamy’s public speaking accolades have continued after his title ended. He hosts a variety of public events, can be spotted and heard in local promotional media, and is currently the Deputy Director of the Department of Arts and Culture for the City of Albuquerque.