The Little Chemist.

It's an honor and privilege to share this piece with you! Every step of the creation of this poem was handled with intention and love.

"The Little Chemist." was created for an art exhibition co-curated by Melaine Ferdinand-King & Joel Rosario Tapia for the Providence Biennial and displayed at the Waterfire Arts Center in Providence, RI from mid-July to mid-August of 2023.

I had the privilege of being in Melaine's "Poiesis" exhibit, which considered who and what makes "The Art Scene" in New England.

Her exhibit addressed the following questions:

-What is an "art of the city"?

-What is the relationship between art and everyday life?

-Which types of art and artists are labeled "good" vs. "bad"?

-How can art help us honor the past and propel the future?

Seeing Melaine King's call for art included “poetry”, I mustered up something from the deepest parts of my loving heart. "The Little Chemist." speaks on some topics I love dearly such as my father (who passed away September 15th, 2021), my son, art (both poetry and general art/artists), the city and state I call home in Providence, Rhode Island, lineage, and tying them all together to create a few stanzas.

After submitting this poem for consideration, I didn't think further ahead. I definitely had no clue it would amount to being part of such a beautiful, vast, and comprehensive display of creativity. I was just happy to have written a piece like this with such care.

It will forever be an experience I cherish and a highlight of my artistic career.

Thank you to Melaine, the Waterfire Arts Center, Providence Biennial, and Joel for their part in bringing these visions to life.

Thank you to Ian Barnard, Alex Terreault, Rich Ferri, and Bianca Corso, for helping with the production of this visual. Without them, it wouldn't have been the same/or even exist at all.

Thank you to all the people I have the privilege of sharing my love with, whom I wish I could list completely but for some sort of brevity, since this is already a lot of words, I won't. Y'all know who you are. I’m not the poet I am today without you.

Thank you to my son, to Providence and Rhode Island as a whole, to my parents and family (friends included), to legacy, to creative freedom, and to living art.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.