im coming up on my 39th birthday next week and reflecting on all the many years and many lives lived with gratitude to have made it this far. to be the poet i was always becoming, to exist with poems as map and medicine. to experiment and stretch and unwind. to create pathways unchartered. to weep and cleanse and revise. to take each day at a time. to wail and giggle the wordless ways of being.

i was eating blueberries in the kitchen this morning with my am/fm radio on as is customary in my home and i over heard my name whirling out the speaker as i finished a work call for my day job. “…. aja monet…” what a deeply upending feeling to hear your name jumping out of the radio speaker! what a meaningful moment it was for me in June of this year to perform at KCRW’s live studio in Santa Monica supported by my close friend and Morning Become Eclectics’s show host, DJ Novena Carmel. sharing the stage with some incredible musicians: Brian Hargrove, Micah Collier, Brian Collier, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and Nailah Hunter. here it is! today they finally aired some of that magical time capsule we recorded all together some months ago.

i took my foldable step stool from the side of the fridge and sat it at the foot of my kitchen cabinets looking up at the radio in awe. so this is what it used to be. sitting at the edge of sound lounging with deep listening for broadcasted breath through the airwaves. i felt both timeless and timefull. and so im grateful to share with you all the visual of that audio experience. they documented it and aired it on YouTube as well. it was the first time sharing the scroll of poems from “the color of rain” album hung across the stage and instruments. experimenting with some of the songs off the record live. the tinge of nerves and uncoverings/discoverings. deep excitement to see them come alive was all the more rewarding.

we hope to commune with you all in person somewhere soon on the windy road of this life. ill be touring the last week and half of august and sharing more dates soon for the fall. im really looking forward to finally doing some tour dates with my partner Justin Brown who helped produce the latest album as well :) whenever we get to share the stage together its special and freeing. do hope you’ll come get free with us….

always,
aja

“we need not climb on the shoulders of our elders to look at their toes”

On February 1961, Amiri Baraka was arrested at the United Nations during a large demonstration protesting the assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba. Imagine the energy of the room. One of the most powerful African revolutionaries known was instigating a consciousness of self-determination and dignity within the Congo. Imagine witnessing his coordinated public execution, orchestrated by the CIA and Belgian government officials. Imagine the rage. The heart break. The devastation for Black people across the globe. Baraka was not alone at this U.N. protest, it was led also by poet Maya Angelou and jazz vocalist Abbey Lincoln. The profound love for our people and our dignity. The will to stand in the distance. This was the first time Baraka was arrested and it was the dawn of his political activism, shortly after attending a delegation to Cuba in 1960. These two events marked an important turn in his journey. Congo, the lungs of the world, helped to radicalize so many of us in the States. A history that must be remembered and told.

I learned about the Congo the same way I’ve come to learn about most places in the world, through a poem. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep, wrote Langston Hughes. I was nine years old and could only dream of a world beyond the five boroughs of New York City through verse and films. Then again this mysterious place showed up in a poem called, “Ego Trippin” by Nikki Giovanni, I read the very first line: I was born in the Congo. It was planted in me with loving reverence and diligent care.

Some 63 years after Baraka first protested at the U.N., I am at a protest in the UK on February 2024, organized against the genocide taking place in the Congo. After attending tons of protests with more than thousands of people rightfully outraged by the genocide in Palestine, I patiently waited to see if more folks would show up in support of the Congo. There were a couple hundred of us. Maybe two or three hundred. It was the most I had ever seen in attendance for a Congolese protest in the West and so I focused on being present. We marched toward the Apple store and as we marched a woman yelled, “ on that phone, Congo blood is on that phone! Talk about the blood!” It brought chills to my arms. It was the beginning of the poem writing me. I was grateful to be among others equally outraged, to find community, and deeply grateful for my comrade Kambale who connected me to the organizers. I started to finally find my words.

The reason I was in the UK was because I was invited to be a part of a benefit concert for DR Congo, Gaza, and Sudan. This was a critical event for me to be a part of and one of the first of its kind I had participated in at that time. Not many people were striving to integrate our struggles intentionally so as to strengthen our movements. I had many discussions and disagreements with fellow comrades. We were trying to strategize around the attention span of our people. How do we bring folks into a movement which can hold multiplicity, dimensions, and depth? How do we guide others in the poetics of solidarity? The Congo is not a fringe issue for us in the West. It is integral to our everyday lives. We are all complicit and impacted by the affront on Congolese people and resources.

Every and any technological advancement in which we take for granted cannot be developed without the Congo. And while the intention of this piece is not to harbor on shame or comparison, it is to motivate us to demand another world for one another. After this protest in the U.K., I started to compose this poem and began to share it on the road at different venues, clubs, and festivals. It wasn’t until Belgium, of course, where I was met with a Rwandan woman who was offended by the poem. She asked to speak with me after and asserted that clearly I could not fully know what was going on living in the West. How dare I make such blanket statements without having been directly impacted by genocide? She sought to change the poem. I listened. Patiently. While two Congolese friends looked on from the side of the pool table at the bar. I could sense the tension, the emotion coursing in our veins. The silence pulsing with breath and story. I refused to change the poem but I appreciated her insights. It offered me clarity about how easily we all can hold fast to our self-righteous indignation. How blinding it can become especially when it is fueled by a deep deep wound. A belief. A religious indoctrination of right or wrong. I cannot claim to have the answers. I write because I know I do not have the answers. “for the congo” is a plea and a demand. There is blood on our hands and we all must contend with this. The power of social media comes at the price of blood. There is spirit in this. There is energy. Blood is life. We are a force. How will we be used?

A poet I know organized a fundraiser event for Palestine and Sudan and neglected to include Congo in the event. I was genuinely intrigued and hurt not because I wanted to be a nuisance. I know there’s so much that goes into even trying to organize something and there are million of other issues to address or events to organize. But it triggered something in me. A deep frustration with myself and with the state of our world. I commented, “Congo?” innocently, I thought. I didn’t know this at the time but found out through other mutual friends, this person was livid. Upset. They unfollowed me and proceeded to speak ill of me to others. All I did was ask a question, I thought. Now, I’m not above reproach. We are all humanly capable of missing the mark. I genuinely meant no harm, it begged me to wonder, what about the mention of Congo could possibly cause issue with anyone? I don’t know what you call it. I don’t think of myself as a afro-pessimist. Sometimes, I wonder. We all have deep work to do within ourselves to undo self-hatred and conditioning on all fronts. Colorism and religion is a tool of colonialism that has been weaponized against our people. Palestine, Sudan, and all oppressed peoples deserve our loving support and devotion. I’m learning every day how to be a better me. And so I ask if you made it this far, please help elevate the Congo in our events and discussions to the best of our abilities. Not because I want to be a menace to my comrades, but because, in the words of June Jordan, we must become a menace to our enemies. May we make our elders proud and may they watch over us to continue to give us strength as we face the struggles and dreams ahead.

Lastly, the video for this poem begins with Michel Kuka Mboladinga widely known as Lumumba Vea. I asked the editor, David Burkart, to begin with Michel because when I first saw this image of him in the stands it brought tears to my eyes. He has conjured the spirit of Patrice for the people. While these games have become merely entertainment for the West, for African people often censored, the World Cup has offered a stage to demonstrate the possibilities of our political imagination.

Though these are difficult times, I can see a world on the other side. Else where.

i ask if you are willing and able to support work in the Congo, please consider donating to:

www.freecongo.org

“elsewhere” is a poem-funk nod to the brilliant Sly Stone. what an honor to perform this song on television in the UK featuring Georgia Anne Muldrow, Brian Hargrove, Micah Collier, and Zach Morrow.

the color of rain is finally pittering and pattering on the world right now. produced by meshell ndegeocello, justin brown, and myself—my sophomore album officially released on all streaming platforms this past friday as an offering and an invitation to contemplate. we made this record to the back drop of civil unrest and protest across the country. though there will always be derivatives of what we do with Blck music and art, there is nothing like creating from the conditions we have to live through day by day and the residue of that living. how it shows up in our relationships, in our expressions, and in our imagination.

the focus track of the album is a poem-song called, “working class musicians” with an animated art video directed by myself and the incredible paper animator, Brandon Ray. this song is dedicated to all the working class musicians whose paths i’ve crossed struggling against nightclub capitalism, music festival plantations, and not-so-a-live nation, ticket master exploitation. may we deepen our relationships to the international community of working class people and labor movements. to be intentional about not turning on one another for crumbs but holding institutions and corporations accountable to our livelihoods. more compassion and consideration for the labor that goes seen and unseen to bring art, music, and poetry to the people who need it most. musicians and poets are essential workers.

when working on my last album, when the poems do what they do, Sonia Sanchez’s record kept falling off the record holders on my wall. i would continually put them back up and it would fall again and again. coincidence? no. the same happened while we were in the studio recording this current album, the color of rain. Except it was The Last Poet’s record that kept falling. i praise my elders not because i seek to be them or replicate what they’ve already brilliantly done but to name and honor the lineage i exist within, the continuum. to push the craft, to experiment, to innovate, to confront, and to explore the self as multidimensional soil. Some times we bloom. it is our duty to move with and beyond.

most folks have no idea what we do with our art because we glorify people and aesthetics more than we do the pursuit and our values. product more than process. and so i want to give thanks for the process of making this incredible new album. to all the collaborators who collectively poured into a vision i’m learning day by day to be obedient to. a service i came here for. a purpose we co-write the story with. give thanks for all the kindred spirits who resonate with what we be on and who dedicate themselves to this frequency so that we may be sincere, true, and dare i say, revolutionary love.

I woul d love for you all to listen to this record and share with me what resonates with you. i still believe in word of mouth as the greatest “marketing strategy,” and so if somethin i made moved you in a meaningful way all i ask is that you share that with someone else. give thanks.

always,
aja

JOIN ME ON THE ELSEWHERE TOUR!

this past week began the elsewhere tour at the legendary Carnegie Hall! it was a powerful moment for me to experiment with the new songs. then we did Atlanta Jazz Festival and now we’re off to Los Angeles at the Getty Museum and then The BAY AREA at The Chapel. Tell your peoples! We hope to see y’all there.

several months ago, i got a DM from a worker at Carnegie Hall saying they asked him to put up posters outside on the building for their upcoming season, lo and behold, he unfolds the poster and sees someone he recognizes…me. a few months after, a friend was just walking by and she sent a text sharing her joy seeing me on the building. it’s touching. for people to bare witness to your journey. to be a part of your story and the impact of your art. i give thanks to all the people seen and unseen in cultural spaces organizing for the diversity of our values. for every opportunity to play both big and small. and to each person who has shown up time and time again to be a part of this journey. from the small standing room only cafes, bars, clubs, bookstores and classrooms to the theaters, festivals, and concert halls. thanks. yall are the real mvps. im looking forward and cherishing every bit of joy that comes our way. to be honest i still prefer the intimate cozy spaces we get to be in together.

but when i was a little girl in New York City public school, traveling from East NY to the upper east side, we used to take field trips to this place. i had some of the best teachers who taught me the importance of art and culture through story, poetry, and music. they took me to see theater, concerts, and museums. all of this shaped who i am today. i remember walking through the hall with my class and our seats were way up in the back. this week, God-willing, ill be performing at the legendary Carnegie Hall. for little girl aja and all she’s been through, this is a breath of celebration. im doing my best to let her live. I always wanted to live my life out loud as a working class poet. to be of service to the working class at this time, to be living in the lineage of my elders and with their blessing, is a deep honor i don’t take for granted.

If able, hope to see yall in the building this week✨ TICKETS ARE STILL AVAILABLE FOR MAY 20th 2026. it would be a true honor to be with you all and in service to this time. get your tickets today

If not in NYC, hope to see yall in the upcoming tour dates.

Tour begins this week and “the color of rain” album is out officially on May 22nd. I pray it elevates, emboldens, and encourages during this time.

Give thanks.

always,

aja

kin n folk,

sending love and healing strength. we don’t take traveling for granted and therefore we know it’s not promised and can always be subject to the whims of the current political landscape and culture. and so i write this with urgency and gratitude for your support.

what i love most about performing live is, presence. the urgency of a shared now…

Read more

dear kin and folk,

i want to share with you all a live performance at KEXP studio in Seattle with host Larry Mizell Jr. we share a performance of “hollyweird’ and more from my forthcoming album “the color of rain” out May 22nd, 2026. You can PREORDER HERE.

LIVE AT KEXP:

1. “say it with your chest”

2. “hollywierd’

3. for the Congo

4. every media minute

POEMS/VOICE: aja monet
DRUMS: Justin Brown
BASS: Micah Collier
KEYS: Brian Hargrove
Host: Larry Mizell Jr.

elsewhere is a poet-funk nod to the late great Sly Stone featuring Georgia Anne Muldrow, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Novena Carmel. We made this song just three days after his crossing over with an incredible ensemble of musicians. everything came together in divine being. the entire album is produced by Meshell Ndegeocello, Justin Brown, and myself. The single is available on all streaming platforms with a brand new visual film directed by Jesse Boykins III. Enjoy here:

listen to “elsewhere” and watch video here

The rain exploding
in the air is love.
-sonia sanchez

(album art by Tokio Aoyama and design by Michael Brennan)

the color of rain is a compositional tour-de-force of poetry, emotion, and resonance. Rain nourishes, blesses, and renews. It loves everything it touches. This album is the space between droplets. At the crux of rising fascism, i offer a waking-dream intervention, amid the sinister reality of contemporary events. A prompt to look up at the sky within., the color of rain is an imbrication of familiar genres forged beyond category or definition. each song shifts between musical perceptions of jazz, soul, hip hop, rhythm and blues. surrealism at it’s finest, a marvelous unleashing of the mind. the color of rain reminds us that poetry predates the very blueprints of genre.

This is an evolution from the intimate, live-café energy of my debut Grammy-nominated album, when the poems do what they do. While i nod at the Black Arts Movement’s legacy and lineage, this sophomore album is a conjure to experiment and explore the interior, to listen, and develop new sounds. If the first album was a gentle altar call, then the second is an impassioned call to bare arms, a definitive guide to choose your weapon, wisely. If the pen is the sword, music sharpens or blunts the blade.

Live instrumentation anchors the record but it’s spirit surfaces in pre- and post- production with warped sonics, wayward voltas, and delicate investigations. Meshell Ndegecello conducts the illustrious cast of musicians while Justin Brown bolsters the prismatic vision. In true community organizing fashion, i bring artists together, recruiting meaningful musical contributions from Burniss Travis, Josh Johnson, Daniel Mintseris, Jermaine Paul, Ambrose Akinmusire, Cory Henry, and Nico Segal. With features by Georgia Anne Muldrow, Ganavya, Brandee Younger, Mereba, Mick Jenkins, and Vic Mensa.

For the devoted lovers of poetry, there are breadcrumbs of metaphor and meaning embedded within and throughout my musical choices. A call to testify, imagine, and transmute, the color of rain is the hue of daring introspection. A rinse. This album is my refusal of convention and apathy. I encourage the listener not just to hear, but to drift, to wander, to go inward—to feel. Be the poem we need right now.

“The highest poetry is saying we might die without it/ It can salvage deeply tragic lives.” -Ferlinghetti

always,
aja monet

Your support is integral to my art and practice. Without you all, we can’t continue to support ourselves and the intention of our collaborations. Please PREORDER the color of rain. So much intention was put into this for you all with love…

track listing:

1. say it with your chest

2. elsewhere (feat. meshell ndegeocello & georgia anne muldrow)

3. withness

4. hollyweird

5. skinfolk

6. for the Congo

7. i came to the poem

8. to sister (feat. ganavya & brandee younger)

9. i know that i don’t know

10. working class musicians

11. love is a choosing feat. mereba

12. song of myself

13. melting clocks (feat. Mick Jenkins & Vic Mensa)

14. every media minute

15. indigo

perhaps these are not poetic
times
at all.

-nikki giovanni “for Saundra”

if literacy is an entry point in the revolutionary process, if a poem can be an instrument in excavating one’s conscience, if imagination is fertile soil for action, if feelings or lack thereof are often what guide our decisions—when is it ever not time for poetry? poetry is not a choice nor is it mere documentation of what is happening, it is the residue of our very being. it is not what shows up on the page in metaphor or form but what is formless and embodied. it’s the living that brings us to the page. the poem is who we are.

while rereading nikki giovanni’s poem especially now, i connect to the sentiment. the struggle within for perspective and context. indeed it is a struggle. our elders were not being flippant as they declared, “the struggle continues.” i find myself having to actively meditate that we are in a struggle of ideas and how those ideas shape our material conditions. but ideas, alone, are not the cornerstones of our lives. life is not a problem to be solved; it is a sequence of experiences to be lived. it is living. it is how we care for living. as we live, we learn there are very seen and unseen ways of feeling and being felt. and while one is often positioned in opposition, they are rather integral phases of a revolutionary process. despair becomes privilege. a contrived method by which we identify with our alienation. alienation in the age of algorithms and social media especially, is a culturally generative downward spiral. it is lucrative in a market-driven economy. if one can be or at least feel alienated, they are more likely to internalize their conditions and to accept the unacceptable. to be in community isn’t an ephemeral anecdote, it is in fact to be alive. if only with the trees around you. if everyone can be reduced from a means to an end, we don’t have to worry about an outside oppressive force, we become the very agents of oppression.

on any given day, we have a series of commitments, responsibilities, agreements to maintain. and while much of that is called, “survival,” it’s far more so a reflection of the interdependence we feel toward community. if i give up, if i say the world is “too much.” what does that say about my values? how do i embody the very love i feel for the people i deeply hope to support, survive, and thrive? where do we turn if not to one another? while we experience the realities of world mis-leaders destroying our social agreements and fabric of humanity, we have to tug closer and establish the values we hold dear. they’ve created a climate where if we are left to our own primal instincts, the biggest threat to us won’t be a bomb or bullet but what we will do to each other as our needs are being exploited. in a climate of hyper-competitive-individualism, they won’t need to attack us, we will attack ourselves.

but let me say this: these are trying times on the spirit. what does society look like where poetry is law? where the feelings felt birth new ideas? to give name to the nameless and formlessness. to honor those whose names we simply do not know but feel. what proponents of our society are willing to go through poetic excavation for the sake of our shared lived experiences? poetry illuminates and our actions intercede on behalf of those illuminations. poetry is a process of whether we are willing to feel or to be transformed by that feeling. how do we observe our feelings as places of possibility rather than mandates of action. there’s so many words these days. i feel the heaviness of what is not yet named. what cannot be articulated but only felt? our music. our sense of us.

i don’t have many hot takes. i don’t even always have the words. i spent days if not weeks with this amalgamation of feelings. if im being honest, im more at loss for words these days than not. and so i read and listen, i read Giovanni and wonder, where is my gun to clean? the irony. The kerosene supply? it’s here in these words. this page i have barely faced because of what i fear i will find in it. that maybe i do love life. that maybe there are things worth living for like the softness of the breeze, my late-grandmother whispering through the creak of my bathroom door. or how my grandfather’s dimples still find my cheeks mid-sentence talking to my lover. or even how rest is not resistance but the dreams im dreaming these days are mapping the depths of my innerstanding. these are the arsenal of my courage. just a few. every other day, a friend suggests a shooting range or strategy for defense. i’d be lying if i said im not also spending most of my days on calls, in community, strategizing and plotting. mostly, for the human heart. the dignity of our humanity to be cherished. have we checked on our loved ones? have we asked if they have food in the fridge? clothes on their back? a roof over their head? a survival kit? first aid at home? how is your heart? what are we preparing for? if not a world in which we love each other, dare i say, better? this is not easy work and it has been made difficult intentionally.

freedom is a practice. what the years of grassroots organizing in community has taught me, is how we move with one another is what shapes our movement. whatever we are witnessing materially is deeply shaped by our immaterial conditions. our people not only need bread but their roses, too. everything is inevitably spiritual. poetry is how we alchemize the material and immaterial needs of our very lives. i do not feel that what we need in this moment will come from our own understanding. no one theory or mind or organization or poem or song is to be trusted as the sole vehicle of change when it can so easily be contrived. every material war reveals the spiritual battle ahead. we need an upgrade of the human heart and tools on how to embody this process. even when we think, or when we are being told, we are destroying ourselves—it creates the conditions for us to transmute, transform, and become what we need in the doing of now. things are rarely what they seem. the shift is real.

i’m meditating on the children. the innocence of children. the child in me that resonates with all children. how do we protect the wonder, the creativity, the joy and imagination of our children? i speak to my little girl-self often. i ask her questions. i listen to her. her feelings are valid and yet she demands the wisdom of my living and all i’ve learned to shelter and shepherd her very being. yesterday, a friend asked me, how do you effectively fight evil? i don’t know. i replied, the only way to fight it, is to not become it. Perhaps? these days, i cherish small acts of kindness in the ordinary of our day to day. in the face of demanding cruelty, i sit with awe at the choice people make to be loving and compassionate. to be in solidarity. to choose. you are not alone even as we walk alone through the shadowy halls of uncertainty. it almost always brings me to tears. to be loving isn’t passive. it isn’t indifferent or docile, to be loving is to be deliberate. it is expansive and opens pathways for people to exist. for the planet to be heard. if we do not take heed to the poetry of our being, we will become what we claim to despise. so perhaps, these are not poetic times at all... but i thank God for the poetry forged through us and the poems we choose to become.. these are the weapons i hold most dear during these times.

whatup kin and folk,
i pray this reaches you in good health and spirits. it’s been awhile...
after spending the last few years touring as a bandleader, ive learned a great deal about myself. about music and poems. about heart and soul. about our people and connection. so im grateful for where ive evolved in perspective and sound...

last year, while living in Los Angeles we all watched the fires take the city by wind and storm. i wrote a poem during that time which i later titled “hollyweird” on scraps of found paper, frantically jotting down observations and sentiments of the devastation and its aftermath. i didnt quite know what would become of the poem but ive been collaborating with legendary musician, bass player, and poet the incredible Meshell Ndegecello as well as pioneer drummer and producer Justin Brown. Along with a powerful ensemble of musicians and collaborators. Together we’ve made “hollyweird” into an Afropunkesque ode to frustrations and feelings around our current culture of social isolation and performative solidarity. I wanted to speak to the emptiness of “hollyweird” not as a place but as a way of being where insincerity is normalized. Where social interactions become void of authenticity and we lose sight of community and connection.

it became a prompt and a call to action. we used the song to gather together community leaders and artists for a short artistic collage film and welcomed the vision of B+ (Brian Cross of Mochilla Productions) to help direct a visual for the poem where we could fully grasp the extent of the hysterical fascist world we are living in. we pray it can be a useful offering and spark discussion as well as critical thinking about where we are and where we are going in this country. offline.

listen to “hollyweird” available on all streaming platforms

Produced by Meshell Ndegeocello, aja monet and Justin Brown
Additional production by: Chris Connors and Nico Segal
aja monet - poem and vocals
Justin Brown - drums
Josh Johnson - saxophone
Daniel Mintseris - keyboard
Burniss Earl Travis II - electric bass
Georgia Anne Muldrow - adlibs
Engineers: Chris Connors, Dave Weingarten
Assistant Engineers: Laura Cuartas, Aaron Feeny, Alex Csak, and Adriana Duque

Video Credits
Production Company: Mochilla
Producer: Pablo Aguilar
Directors: B+ (@bpleasel) and aja monet
DP: Coleman (@ecoleye)
AC: Jeff Cerritos (@simpleassjeff)
Additional Camera: B+
Art Direction: Tsz Man Lo (@lozan816)
PA: Sam Wohl (@samwohl)
Catering: Vera (@veraheartbeatmusic)
Editors: Eric Coleman (@ecoleye) & Ollie Tristram (@ollietristrampost)
Post-Wizardry, effects and color: Troy Browne (@troybrowne)
Archival Research and Consultant: Antonio Buyard
Creative Consultant: Claudius Ansah

Cast:
Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter: Vic Mensa
Assata Shakur: aja monet
Eartha Kitt: Medusa
Eric Dolphy: Justin Brown
Horace Tapscott: Sam Lemoyne
Jayne Cortez: Veronica V.C.R. Ratcliff
Joe Hill: Lee Boek
Leila Khaled: Xuly Williams
Mike Davis: Mike “the poet” Sonksen
Octavia Butler: Georgia Anne Muldrow and Sabaah Foylan
Paul Robeson: Josh Lane
Ras G: Terry “Hymnal”
Ricardo Flores Magon: Marco Loera

Additional Talent:
James Tillman
Novena Carmel
Rocio Contreras
Ruben Molina
Yousef Hilmy
And the beautiful people of Los Angeles, California

In memory of
Mtulazaji P.E.A.C.E Davis

and i believe that a lost ship,
steered by tired, seasick sailors,
can still be guided home. -assata shakur


dear kin and folk,

this week i will be sharing poems and song at the legendary Blue Note NYC. we will be of service and pay homage to our sister Assata Shakur and all of us in the struggle for dignity and justice. we intend to bring the offerings passed on to us through tradition and experimentation. we give thanks for living and being together in that living. if you are willing and able, please join us on Monday and/or Tuesday. i will be accompanied by an incredible band of musicians: Justin Brown, Mike Aaberg, and Burniss Travis both nights. on Monday, September 29th we will have special guests: Mohammed El Kurd, Morgan Bassichis, and Marquis Hill. on Tuesday, September 30th we will have special guests: Craig Harris, Melanie Charles, and Terrance Hayes. Please join us for memorable moment making together in person offline where we can honor the beauty of breath and presence.

Hope to see yall. Spread the word. The ol school way.

love yall. give thanks.

always,

aja

i want to see and be with you in person. i will be sharing poems from my new book and in conversation with some incredible people this upcoming week of the release for Florida Water on June 3. here are the dates beginning TODAY in DC, there are only four:

MAY 30th in DC
JUNE 3rd in MIAMI w/ NADEGE GREEN
JUNE 4th in NYC w/ EDWIDGE DANTICAT
JUNE 7th in LOS ANGELES w/ ROBIN D.G. KELLEY

it has been nearly 8 years since i released my first full collection of poems. im nervous and excited. im looking forward to finally let go of this deeply personal and political collection. these poems are the culmination of sitting with poems that were written over the six years where i lived in South Florida and organized among the cultural workers of our community. a lot comes up for me with these poems. ways i once saw the world, relationships that have shifted, and relocation to another part of the country. i am better for the lessons they reveal and i am finally ready to let go and release them. i pray that they will resonate and reach whoever finds community within them. so it would mean the world to have your presence and support.

Florida Water is a collection of poems that, like the cleansing waters of spiritual baths, rinse, reflect, and reveal the raw truths that lie within.

In this vulnerable meditation, i reflect on my migration to South Florida in search of love, connection, and belonging, unearthing the delicate balance between the poet, lover, and community organizer. These poems lay bare the tender dance of relationships, entwining the personal with the political, as they confront the state’s fractured history of racial prejudice, marooned peoples, and the unruly forces of nature.

In Florida Water, each poem is an artifact—an offering from my time spent wading through the rising tides of climate change, heartbreak, and systemic violence. With each line, i hope to immerse us deeper into the water, where the currents of memory, struggle, and survival pull us toward both despair and hope.

Seeing you all at a reading would be intimate and special at this time. looking forward and if you aren’t able to make it, no worries. all i ask is if you can spread the word and support by ordering the book here.

much love and gratitude to y’all.

always,
aja

today is the first day of poetry month. sweet spring of April. as the flowers are summoned and the trees sing, the breeze remembers, and we are grateful. nature’s creatures buzz about us. though we face the treacherous lack of political imagination at the hands of current leaderless-ship—we carry on with one another. we chart a path forward and listen for what resonates. i am taking each day at a time. grateful for the not so small things that colors our days. in honor of the day to day living of poetry i choose to acknowledge the role Sonia Sanchez has played in all our lives while she is still living. to commemorate, to document, and to give thanks. to bare withness and be encouraged by our shared many approaches to feeling through this country. i struggle with the necessity of our poems at times and then i read Sonia and im reminded. i want to share with you all the visual for the live performance of a poem called, “for Sonia.” we filmed a whole set last fall in Paris and because of the length of this poem it never aired on the French television program. it feels meaningful to share with you all here because it’s the most honest performance i have filmed of this poem and well, when i watch it, i feel stronger than i am most days. this is a shared secret between us. the intimacy of our influences as part of a continuum. im here to do this poetry thing for the rest of my life and im grateful for each and every poet that has paved the way for us. though we may not know what lay ahead we must know who we’ve been and who we are so that we may be. thank you for your listening heart.

for the poems that continue to hold us through trying times. we give eternal thanks.

always,
aja

“For Sonia” is a poem featured on the debut Grammy Nominated album “when the poems do what they do” available on vinyl & ALL STREAMING PLATFORMS

The poem also appears published in my forthcoming poetry collection, “Florida Water” available June 3, 2025.

For more info:
www.ajamonet.com
https://ajamonet.komi.io/

𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗨𝗽 is a series of musical performances around alternative jazz filmed by in a unique space design.

→ @ajamonet’s full performance is up on youtube at 𝗯𝗶𝘁.𝗹𝘆/𝗯𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘂𝗽-𝗮𝗷𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘁

powered by @walterfilms, airing on @francetvculture

directed by @antoine___carlier and hosted by @nathaliepiole

shot at @theatredelaciteinternationale on November 4th, 2024

photo captured by @ladarkroom

We are going to be in Europe for a few dates in April with a band. Please join me!

April 4th Antwerp, BE - Blue Print Hip Hop Festival @desingelartscentre

April 5 Cully, CH - Cully Jazz Festival @cullyjazz

April 6 Bern, CH - Bee-Flat @beeflatbern

April 9 Basel, CH - Kaserne Basel @kasernebasel

for more info & upcoming tour dates: https://ajamonet.komi.io/

This performance is as shot in Paris, France for a television program. 𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗨𝗽 is a series of musical performances around alternative jazz filmed by in a unique space design.

→ @ajamonet’s full performance is up on youtube at 𝗯𝗶𝘁.𝗹𝘆/𝗯𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘂𝗽-𝗮𝗷𝗮𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘁

powered by @walterfilms, airing on @francetvculture

directed by @antoine___carlier and hosted by @nathaliepiole

shot at @theatredelaciteinternationale on November 4th, 2024

photo captured by @ladarkroom

#ajamonet #blues #poetry #blueup #alternativejazz #walterfilms