jessica Care moore is an internationally renowned poet/ publisher/ activist/ rock star/ playwright and actor. She is a five-time Showtime at the Apollo winner; has featured on hip-hop mega-star, Nas' "Nastradamus" album and was a returning star of Russell Simmon's HBO Series, Def Poetry Jam.

After her legendary win on the Apollo stage, jessica Care moore was approached by several book publishing companies, but in 1997, she paved her own path and launched a publishing company of her own ' Moore Black Press. Which has released her first book; "The Words Don't Fit In My Mouth," and several thousand copies. A few years later, she followed up with her second collection of poetry and essays, "The Alphabet Verses The Ghetto."

Moore Black Press proudly published famed poets, Saul Williams and Shariff Simmons; Def Poetry Jam's co-founder, Danny Simmons, NBA basket-ball player, Etan Thomas, activist and poet, Ras Baraka and former Essence Magazine editor and author, Asha Bandele.

This bold and electric artist has shared the stage with the late Ossie Davis, CeCe Winans, Gregory Hines, Anthony David, Norah Jones, Amiri Baraka, Patti Labelle, Roy Ayers, Mos Def, The Last Poets, Sonia Sanchez, Talib Kweli, Nikki Giovanni, Steve Harvey, Maya Angelou and many others. In 1999, she was honored as Woman of the Year by the Harvard Black Men's Forum.

She is among the few poets who can attract more than the usual eclectic artsy crowd; bringing people from all backgrounds to fall captivated by her lyrics, verses and the universal raw truths in her poems. This Detroit bred natural born entertainer fuses a rock band with hip-hop and poetry. Her band, Detroit Read (pronounced "red"), fuses soul rock 'n roll sounds inspired by Prince, Betty Davis, Janis Joplin, The Temptations and Marvin Gaye. The performance is a combination of heart-pounding rock, acoustic guitar, house and raw hip-hop mixed with jessica's soulful raspy voice as lead vocalist.  

 

jessica Care moore voices herself as a strong warrior in the fight against AIDS. She has performed for the United Nations World AIDS Day Commemoration two years in a row. She also organized the successful Hip-Hop-A-Thon Concert in (San Francisco), which helped increase AIDS education in the Black and Latino Bay-Area communities. She has performed at several AIDS WALK Opening Ceremonies in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Florida and Atlanta.

Her innovative and inspiring take on literacy among our nation's youth landed her opportunities to produce several art programs, concerts, and workshops for the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, and worked as a facilitator for The Langston Hughes National Poetry Circle Project.

As an internationally respected author and poet she has rocked stages all around the world from Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Berlin, Paris, Holland, England, Scotland and many others. jessica Care moore teamed up with Impulse recording artist, Antonio Hart on the album "Here I Stand," and collaborated with Big Cat's rap artist, PBT, and also featured on The Last Poets Tribute Album.

Her talent does not stop at poetry, jessica featured in "Hugh's Harlem Dream" (STARZ), and starred in the award-winning independent film, "His/Herstory." She also captured the lead in the independent film, Under The Gun, which co-stars Umi and M1 of Dead Prez. She had a cameo appearance in the award-winning film, "Slam," and is one of the stars of the documentary, "Slamnation!" She is the producer, writer and star of the poetry and music themed show, "SPOKEN!" aired on the Black Family Channel, produced in association with Moore Black Press and directed by CEO, Robert Townsend. She is one of the featured artists in the PBS special; "I'll Make Me a World."

She is the playwright and author of "There Are No Asylums for the Real Crazy Women," a one-woman stage production that reveals the true life story of Vivienne Eliot, the late first wife of famous poet T.S. Eliot. Fusing her contemporary poetry, hip-hop culture, feminist thought and language, jessica offers a moving and innovative portrayal of an English woman born in 1888. She also authored and performed in the one-woman stage play "AlphaPhobia," a semi-autobiographical sketch about a female poet who believes the alphabet is trying to kill her.

Her literary work has received wide exposure, and her poems featured in several major anthologies including; "A Different Image," (U of D Mercy Press, 2004), "Abandon Automobile," (WSU Press, 2001), "Listen Up!" (Random House, 1999), "Step Into A World," (Wiley Publishing, 2001), "Role Call" (Third World Press, 2002), "Bum Rush The Page: A Def Poetry Jam" (Crown Publishing, 2001).

She is the youngest poet published in the "Prentice Hall Anthology of African American Women's Literature," by Valerie Lee, alongside literary greats, Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, Octavia Butler, Maya Angelou and many others.

Jessica was also featured in Essence, Blaze, Source, Vibe, African Voices, Bomb, Mosaic, Good News, Savoy, One World, BE, Ambassador Magazine and others. The poet/actors return to the "D" has been met with much buzz, gracing the covers of The Metro Times, African American Family, The Detroit News, and The Detroit Free Press.

This talented powerhouse was commissioned by The Apollo Theater to debut her new multi media solo theater show, God is Not an American. Her show sold out the Apollo Theater Salon Series in April, and after a return from touring in France and Amsterdam, she will bring the show back to NYC for encore performances in Brooklyn and Harlem in July 2009.

 

God is Not an American
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Perfect Paperback: 200 pages
Publisher: Moore Black Press; first edition (April 10, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0965830861
ISBN-13: 978-0965830867
Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces

In the labyrinth of Moore's prose and poetry, the blues force is synonymous with the Derridean trace in the way in which the language transverses celestial realms to reclaim or to re-contextualize God in an image that does not reflect the sensibilities and patriarchal attitudes of the Western world. God Is Not An American summons the spirits of the androgynous Gods written out of theological and scholarly texts. The book depicts the complexities of God. In the text, Moore performs ritual and praise song to African and Native American deities of love, beauty, intimacy, fertility and motherhood that have been sacrificed for the Gods of War and Power. Moreover, Moore s poetry serves as libation to her ancestors of Native American, African, and Irish descent whose blood is the mortar that has built the foundation of America but has been largely trivialized or ignored by the dominant culture. Hence, God Is Not An American and will not become an American until America wholeheartedly embraces the amalgamation of cultures that have contributed to her greatness. With her latest collection of poetry, God is not an American; Jessica Care Moore has ascended to a new zenith in her career as a professional poet. Similar to Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and Gayl Jones Corregidora, Moore's fuses cultural memory, black American musicality and traditional African American literary traditions to broaden the parameters of contemporary black poetry. Influenced by the poets of the Black Arts Movement such as Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Jayne Cortez, Amiri Baraka, and Lucille Clifton. from the Afterword by Jessie Adolph

 

 

The Alphabet Verses The Ghetto
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Published: June 2003
Paperback: 208 pages
ISBN: 096583087X
Publisher:Moore Black Press

The Alphabet Verses The Ghetto (AVG) is the highly anticipated release from author jessica Care moore. A rich collection of poetry and prose divided into three chapters of resistence, love and survival. In the midst of all the hype with this art form called poetry, jessica Care moore takes time to flex her opinions and obvious growth as a writer inside these pages. The AVG is a great contribution to the future of American poetry. With call to action poems, like, "Joseph," and "Epilogue," to honest sometimes haunting love poems, like "Purple," and "Leaving Brooklyn," we get to know this poet like never before. "I got my momma's eyes and my daddy's guns."

 

The Words Don't Fit in My Mouth
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Paperback: 155 pages
Publisher: Moore Black Press (July 1997)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0965830802
ISBN-13: 978-0965830805
Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches

The Words Don't Fit In My Mouth has become a classic book among fans of the new movement of poets around the world. The first release from author jessica Care moore, The Words Don't Fit In My Mouth is a thematically, multi-various collage of poems on love and lost, relationships, racism, sexism, and identity that says: "..we exist, yes we do. It's a fact." In the words of editor Tony Medina, this collection is full of tom-boy muscle and tender sister love caresses. She coos and curses and condems- all in one breath, all in one poem, one book. 

I am a work in progress for asha bandele - jessica Care moore - We are born writing but will learn to wait An agonizing line of blood will follow our future and never find us mistaking our memories for actual events reason and common sense will never make an appearance opening the door after a temporary disappearance the fisher man showed up in your world again guess that's why our female heroes got fancy addictive names like Heroin You were born writing little girl but you will learn to wait the lines will appear as currents events to fool you into submission the grocery store the post office the unemployment line the local train platform at two in the morning this is where you will find poetry screaming between the air inside your walk this is how you'll learn to kiss and paint nurse babies and call "next!" on the ball court your name will be one african syllable too many for jane who didn't do her lower case b phoenix assignment pretending that she just can't pronounce Kenya or Brendesha with america's alphabet this is the moment you find meaning in cuss words you will take cuts attempting to find the front line your scent will leave hunters running in the wrong direction as your home becomes brick your bones become thick clocks will confuse the moon into thinking dark is a synonym for gloom you will stay still as your body leaves the room for the first time in weeks strength will appear from behind the sun they will call you a freak and you will believe them you were born writing and will soon learn to run we are born writing but will learn to wait the wind will pause our dreams lies suddenly sound like laughter we will survive in here or after skeleton woman break dancing into poses resembling roses emulating an african nose that never smelled ivory up close this is when you will cry the most learn to gather your tears into your fists realizing water will never grant your wishes reflections are always true but never wet so we kiss ourselves till our lips turn dry and honest you will hear faint pieces of your voice in the electricity of a phone line screaming for freedom in the middle of a message or a voyage never delivered during long distance conversations or kidnappings this is the moment your fingers will find your hand and hang up on your past beliefs what is a white courtesy phone? Why can't I ever find one? the lines will appear as a sound waving good bye when you jump off the side of the ship in the footsteps of the march of tears funeral processions will break into the hustle digging up murdered soil that forgot this was a man's world and daddy needs a son baby everybody will wear black forgetting this is your damn birth day party There was a time we didn't have to wait nine months for our children to be born we just believed they would come and waited for them to quickly leave i'll take the young pretty one with the chiseled brown lips for 5 axes 3 pigs 2 arrows 1 chicken and a bushel of wire this is when you'll carve your first pencil from wood and draw blood this is when your story is erased I was born writing but will be taught to wait I am an incomplete sentence a work in progress and i'm not finished yet

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Related Links

jessica Care moore Homepage
http://www.jessicacaremoore.net

Moore Black Press
http://www.mooreblackpress.com/

Read more about Jessica in Mosaic Literary Magazine (download electronic version)

Saul Williams AALBC.com Page
http://aalbc.com/poet/saul.htm

AALBC.com's Moore Black Press Page
http://aalbc.com/writers/moore.htm

Eargasms (CrucialPoetics, vol. 1) Eargasms (CrucialPoetics, vol. 1)
http://www.inch.com/~ozone/eargasms/eargasms.html

MSN Sidewalk Slamnation Page
http://newyork.sidewalk.com/detail/77807

mums, Williams moore and Beau Sia
Photo/image credits: courtesy Film Forum/Lina Pallotta