Kakalak 2023 Judges: Angelo Geter, Kimberlyn Blum-Hyclak, and David E. Poston
Angelo Geter
Angelo ‘Eyeambic’ Geter is a dynamic poet, spoken word artist, teaching artist, and motivational speaker whose work touches on a variety of issues, including social justice, race, grief, character, and manhood.
Over the course of his career, Angelo has amassed several accolades. He currently serves as the Poet Laureate of Rock Hill, SC, and is a 2020 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. Geter is also a 2019 All-America city winner, 2018 National Poetry Slam champion, Rustbelt Regional Poetry Slam finalist, Southern Fried Regional Poetry Slam finalist, and has performed and competed in several venues across the country. His work has appeared on/in All Def Poetry, Charleston Currents, Thoughts on the Power of Goodness anthology, Fall Lines: A Literary Convergence, and the Academy of American Poets “Poem a Day” series.
He is the founding director of the One Word Poetry Festival—a multi-day event in Rock Hill, SC, comprised of workshops, open mic events, a poetry slam competition, and readings from award-winning poets. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for The Watering Hole Poetry Organization, an organization dedicated to providing and hold space for poets of color in both the written and oral traditions of poetry.
Angelo’s highly anticipated debut collection More God Than Dead was released in June 2022. The collection centers on grief, resilience, and gaining a sense of self and purpose after a great loss.
Working in the field of higher education for more than 12 years, Angelo currently serves as the Director of Campus Programming at Winthrop University, where he plans programs, events, and activities to engage the campus community.
Kimberlyn Blum-Hyclak
Kimberlyn Blum-Hyclak makes her home and writes in Lancaster, SC, but her Midwest roots still burrow deep. Small-town life and nature are most often the subjects of her poetry, short stories, and creative nonfiction, but sometimes family and grands find a place, too.
Kim is the author of the poetry collection, In the Garden of Life and Death: A Mother and Daughter Walk (Main Street Rag Publishing Company, 2014) and the author of St. Anne Catholic Church: A Century of Faith, the compilation of her parish’s 100-year history. A Pushcart Award nominee, Kim’s work has appeared in moonShine review, Iodine Poetry Journal, Kakalak, and other anthologies, and her poem Diaspora was displayed as part of the Hickory, NC Museum of Art’s Poetry on Art series. In 2021, her poem The Cyclist was included in Crossing the Rift: North Carolina Poets on 9/11& Its Aftermath.
She’s organized and helped curate two exhibits of ekphrastic poetry and the art that inspired it for the Lancaster County Council of the Arts, and she helps organize and emcee a monthly reading and open mic, Afternoon of Poetry and Prose, in Rock Hill, SC. Kim previously served on the SCWA (formerly SCWW) Board for several years, and more recently served on the first Rock Hill Poet Laureate selection committee.
When she isn’t writing, Kim can be found gardening, playing with her grands, traveling with her hubby, or reading. She’s been a member of the same reading group, the Rowdy Readers, for almost 40 years. Her bucket list still includes walking the El Camino de Santiago. She opens her window to writing, nature, and other observations each Monday on her blog, awriterswindow.wordpress.com. Kim’s excited to once again be part of the Kakalak editorial team.
David E. Poston
David E. Poston is the author of two award-winning chapbooks and the full-length collection Slow of Study (Main Street Rag Publishing Company, 2015). His new poetry manuscript, Letting Go, was a finalist for the NC Poetry Society’s Lena Shull Book Award. His work has appeared in Cider Press Review, North Carolina Literary Review, The MacGuffin, Ibbetson Street, Flying South, and other journals and anthologies. He is a Pushcart Prize nominee and a frequent reviewer for Pedestal Magazine.
In addition to a thirty-year public school teaching career, he taught at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, at Charlotte’s Young Writers’ Workshop, and in Cleveland Community College’s adult education program. He has led or facilitated workshops for the NC Writers’ Network, the NC Poetry Society, Charlotte Lit., and Hospice of Gaston County. He serves on the board of directors of the Gaston Symphonic Band and the Rotary Community Garden.
He and his wife Bee live in Gastonia, where they are active in First United Methodist Church and in a variety of community causes.