BIO

 Jaz, an award-winning poetry teaching artist from Philadelphia, PA, is known for her work as a… 

• Published Poet

• Author

• Performance Poet

• Composer

• Vocalist

• Songwriter (ASCAP)

• Recording Artist

• Actress

• Playwright

• Theater Director

• Educator

Primary Qualifications:

• MFA in Creative Writing/Poetry from Goddard College

• BA in Theater from Temple University.

• regularly served as Co-Copy Editor for Goddard College's literary journal The Pitkin Review with several publications in the journal including:

  • The Pitkin Interviews (a spotlight feature) [ https://thepitkinreview.com/2022/04/the-pitkin-interviews-april-2022-jaz-poetry-spring-2022/ ] 

  • Spring 2022 Residency [ https://thepitkinreview.com/2022/06/june-2022-spotlight-at-work-spring-2022-residency/ ]

• Over 25 years as an award-winning published poet and 24 years as a performance poet

• the 2017 Honoree of Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges & Universities

• 2024 Finalist of Grubstreet Teaching Fellowship for Black Writers

 Award-winning Published Poet / Author 

 Jaz's body of published work spans over 2 decades going back to the year 2000 and she has been performing her work since the year 2002. Jaz's poem "Please Don't Drop the Children" was recently published in the Spring 2025 issue of Porcupine Literary: A Journal by and for Teachers. Jaz's work was recently published in Moonstone Press's Tribute to Sonia Sanchez (Happy 90th Birthday). Another recent publication was in the Summer issue of Moonstone Press's Haiku Day 2024 and her poem "TrAuMa" published in the Fall 2024 issue of Porcupine Literary: A Journal by and for Teachers.  Some more recent publications are in the Winter 2023 issue of The Moonstone Press "Remembering Sylvia Plath"(poetry), the Spring 2023 issue of The Pitkin Review (poetry) and the Spring 2023 issue of The Goddard Gyst (editorial feature). Jaz had a Winter 2022 spoken word feature of her poem "SKIN" on 2020-2021 Philly Poet Laureate Trapeta Mayson’s(founder) The Healing Verse Poetry Line 1-855-POEMRX2.  Jaz is the author of poetry chapbooks The Carving Out Of A Butterfly’s Wings Parts I and II and one poetry book Serenading Flowers: A Book of Dedications (the latter available on Amazon). Jaz's own current writing project is her poetry manuscript "From Beneath the Indigo".  Jaz’s poem, titled: To Snatch Black Gold From Sunlight, is the 2020 Community Finalist in the Temple University-sponsored Short Fiction/Poetry contest by French publishing house Short Edition. She is also the 2008 Second Place Winner of Blue Mountain Arts Eleventh Biannual poetry contest for her poem We Poets. Jaz’s poetry has been featured in multiple anthologies, literary magazines, and online journals such as The Pitkin Review, Struggle, Literary House Review, APIARY, Poetry Ink, Penn Review, and Westward Quarterly among others. Her work has also been featured on internet, podcast, and public radio (Philly's own Tiffany Bacon's "Whispers in the Dark").

Performance Poet / Vocalist / Recording Artist

When she's blessed with divine opportunities, Jaz performs songs and poetry at featured performances as a soloist and as a member of "For Women Collective": a Philadelphia-based international performance ensemble and "Philly Jawns". Jaz has shared stages with Natalie “The Floacist” Stewart of R&B duo “Floetry” fame in Philly’s FLO Vortex poetry shows at Philadelphia's legendary venue WarmDaddy’s. She’s also shared stages with her sister-in-word, legendary Philly poet Ursula Rucker.  Jaz, along with her friend and fellow poet Adriann “The Pen” Bautista, co-founded the all-female performance ensemble "Wings of Worth".  Jaz 's Christian album of original songs & poetry "A Higher Place" was recorded, co-produced and released by Jaz in winter 2023 and is available on all digital platforms. She also recorded her song "2 Years” and "Betta Off Blue" (find "Betta Off Blue" on YouTube, Spotify, and iTunes), and a professional corporate voiceover for Temple University.

Actress / Playwright / Director

In the Theater world, Jaz is an actress (plays, musicals, staged readings). Jaz's one-act play "States of Clay" was part of an online production at Goddard College during her Spring 2023 residency. Jaz’s most recent short poetic play “Out Of The Heart Wicked Things Doth Come” was cast, produced and directed by Jaz for Venice Island Performing Arts Center’s “2nd Annual Evening of Shorts & “4th Annual ShoeBox Theatre Festival in the summer of 2025. Behind the scenes Jaz has served as an Assistant to The Producer, Hair Assistant(film), and Production Dramaturg. She has also been a photographic model for over 20 years. 

Educator / Teaching Artist

As an educator, Jaz co-facilitated/co-taught the workshop “Hacking Your G1” for the college’s Spring 2022 semester. She began teaching her introductory poetry workshop "The Body of Our Poetry" at Goddard College's Spring 2023 and Fall 2023 residencies. After graduation Jaz was the resident creative writing/poetry instructor for adult students at the online lab/writing community SCRiBLAB for 2 years. Jaz has taught her poetry class "Your Poetic Voice" for Philly’s Mt. Airy Learning Tree's online platform and in person. She has also taught her inaugural poetry class "The Body of Our Poetry" and her class "Living Poetry" for the literary community Project Write Now. Jaz has taught "The Body of Our Poetry" and her newest class "Performance Poetry: Making Ears Lean In Closer" for the literary community Poets House (and for Mt. Airy Learning Tree in Philly). Since 2024, Jaz has served as guest teaching artist at Project Write Now. Jaz has written recommendations for a few of her poetry students moving onto further study the craft of poetry in graduate school. One of Jaz’s poems was the subject of a creative writing class at Community College of Philadelphia. She has been educating K-6 students in the public school system for 6 years now. Jaz is blessed to learn and graced to educate; therefore, she is student as well as teacher.

Published Credits(Abbrev. List)

Here is a short list of my publications that are still available, though my published works span 2 decades.

https://www.porcupineliterary.com/post/please-don-t-drop-the-children

https://www.porcupineliterary.com/post/trauma

https://thepitkinreview.com/2022/04/the-pitkin-interviews-april-2022-jaz-poetry-spring-2022/

https://thepitkinreview.com/2022/06/june-2022-spotlight-at-work-spring-2022-residency/

https://drexelpaperdragon.com/dream/

Award Winning Poetry Links

https://www.sps.com/11-second-place

WE POETS

https://short-edition.com/en/author/jaz-withonez

To Snatch Black Gold From Sunlight