Poet Luther Hughes remembers Dwone Anderson-Young and Ahmed Said

Each day during the month of April, KUOW is highlighting the work of Seattle-based poets for National Poetry Month. In this series curated by Seattle Civic Poet and Ten Thousand Things host Shin Yu Pai, you'll find a selection of poems for the mind, heart, senses, and soul.

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ith the recent killing of activist Elijah Lewis, the impact of violence on our Black community members and young people weighs heavily on the hearts and minds of many of us. We offer this poem by poet Luther Hughes, who writes about the Black experience in the context of trauma and national violence. Remembering the lives of two gay Black men who were murdered on Capitol Hill in 2014, Hughes' poem "In Seattle" places a local tragedy in the context of its impact on the poet's lived experience.

Luther Hughes is the author of the debut poetry collection, A "Shiver in the Leaves" (BOA Editions, 2022), and the chapbook "Touched" (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2018). He is founder of Shade Literary Arts, a literary organization for queer writers of color, and co-hosts "The Poet Salon" podcast. He was born and raised in Seattle, where he currently lives.