Jena, Poet for Hire

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“Meet the full-of-life wordsmith and lover-of-people Jena Kirkpatrick. The poet who writes beautifully assembled poetry within minutes. Poetry dominates her being. Her teaching is fundamental: Write. It is the essence of communication, but do it with feeling.”

Ricardo Gándara
Austin American Statesman

Over the last three decades, Jena has self-published eight books; co-written, directed and produced three multimedia performance art pieces; and competed in two National Poetry Slam competitions. She is a member of the Trio of Poets with Regie Gibson and Timothy Mason. She leads multiple workshops for Badgerdog Literary Publishing, a writers-in-the-schools nonprofit based in Austin, Texas. She is the editor of Writing for Positive Change, an anthology featuring members of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Texas.

"To be an artist, I need to immerse myself in my art form. I get ideas from people and I type a poem that affects their lives, then I am sharing my art with them and they're sharing their energy and love with me. And it just keeps going. It works the same way in the classroom."

Cecily Sailer

Teaching Artist Snapshot

Teachers & Writers Magazine