Jessica M. Wilson Cárdenas
Poet | Educator | Activist
Pleased to meet you...
Jessica M. Wilson Cárdenas is a Chicana Poet born in East Los Angeles, CA, USA. A true mix of the many lands, Jessica, came of age in the Inland Empire; surrounded by mulitiple races that couldn't make heads or tails of her...brown skin with an Irish surname was a tough hand to be dealt to a girl growing up alone.
Jessica embraces her indigenous roots, which has been a constant presence in her life. Listening to the spells of the holy Mother Earth, Pachamamma's Santa Ana winds raised her. First guided by her father to write poetry, Jessica later began to take to the Beat Poets -- Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and she adored the darkness of Edgar Allan Poe, the elegance of William Shakespeare, and later the truth from Sylvia Plath. The pen gave her the ability to create and understand the world with clearer eyes. She has been writing steadiliy since age 14, but wrote her first poem at 11.
Jessica is a 3rd generation Beatnik... a Beat Poet from the lines of Jack Spicer to Paul Vangelisti, and the heartbeat of the visual Muse and Master Poet, Maurya Simon. She completed her BA in Creative Writing and Art History from UC Riverside in Riverside, CA, and obtained her Master of Fine Arts from Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, CA.
In 2009 she founded the Los Angeles Poet Society (LA Poet Society Inc.), and began a network of literary events and open mics in LA County! She’s performed at The Broad, Avenue 50, ArtShare LA, the Music Center courtyard, the city of Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and San Fernando. She's a California Poets in the Schools Poet Teacher, where she taught Youth US Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman. Jessica is an Artivist, a social justice Publisher for Los Angeles Poet Society Press, amplifying QTBIPOC voices. She’s a DJ for Radio Ollin, (www.radioollin.org) Her books of poetry include: What Breathes, Raw Kit, Marie Morrison, Serious Longing, published by Swan World Press in Paris, France.
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