This is Code Switch, I'm Shireen Marisol Maraji.

And I'm Karen Grieg's Webates, sitting in Pregeen.

And it's April, which is National Poetry Month,

and we're not going to let it pass

without passing the mic to a handful of talented poets.

I have a hard time believing winter is somehow all of a sudden over.

I know you can bend time.

I'm merely asking for what is mine.

Will you tell us the stories that make us uncomfortable, but not complicit?

I'm sure somebody died while we made love.

Somebody killed.

Somebody black.

We're highlighting poets of color on this episode,

who often write from their personal and cultural perspectives.

And some of them are going to share their favorite poets, too.

But when I should stop and note here that speaking of poets of color, Shireen,

the poet laureate of the United States, Tracy K. Smith,

had a birthday last week.

Happy birthday, Tracy.

A poet born in poetry month.

That's very poetic, I think.

Yeah.

...