Continuing preparation for the 2025 slam season, the Dirty Gerund’s “Roadshow” team recently hosted a special guest poet for a craft talk on poetry, team building, and performance.

We can’t say THANK YOU enough to the one and only powerhouse, Mckendy Fils-Aimé, an incredible poet and coach, for sharing his insights and wisdom with us! As a seasoned competitor and legend of the region, sharing your wisdom and perspective with us is so deeply appreciated.

Your insights on what truly matters in a slam, between each other as a team, were exactly the conversations we needed to kick off spring. I think we will all be musing on the rooms inside a poem for weeks. Thank you THANK you thank YOU!

Mckendy Fils-Aimé is a New England based Haitian American poet, organizer, and educator. He has received fellowships from the Callaloo Writers Workshop, Cave Canem, The Watering Hole, and Periplus. Over the span of nearly two decades, Mckendy has competed in several regional and national poetry slams, often representing New England. Mckendy’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Adroit, American Literary Review, Bellingham Review, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. His debut poetry collection will be published by YesYes Books in 2026.

If you are interested in slam poetry, talk to a roadie on a Monday at the Gerund! More information can be found here on the website, or anyone on the team can fill you in.

If you are an experienced facilitator or slam poet interested in helping the team continue to grow and develop with a craft talk or writing workshop, please reach out to DGPoetryShow @ gmail.com