Poet Deshawn McKinney On Vulnerability As A Muscle

On this edition of Madison BookBeat, host Cole Erickson interviews poet Deshawn McKinney. The Milwaukee poet is out with his debut chapbook father forgive me (Black Sunflowers Poetry Press, 2021). It’s a collection described as “an acerbic hip hop hymnal” filled with “fearless, wounding and tender” poems.About the guest: Deshawn McKinney is a writer and poet out of Milwaukee and currently lives in Madison. His poetry has appeared in multiple journals, including River Heron Review as a poetry prize-winner.He’s a graduate of UW-Madison, where he earned a degree in creative writing while participating in the First Wave hip-hop arts community there.He also holds a Masters in Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Master in Creative Writing – Poetry from the University of East Anglia.