Woven Wind - A Poetic Response

Poetry Reading with Nadia Alexis and Ciona Rouse

Featuring Simba Alik 

Curated by Grace Aneiza Ali

Woven Wind – A Poetic Response is an evocative exploration of sound, story, and spirit, inspired by the Woven Wind exhibit. Blending poetry, reflection, and creative expression, this experience invites participants to respond to the exhibit’s themes of movement, heritage, and transformation—using language as a vessel to carry history, identity, and imagination forward.

Nadia Alexis is a poet, writer, and photographer born in Harlem to Haitian immigrants. She is the author of the hybrid debut poetry collection Beyond the Watershed, which was a finalist for the 2026 Nossrat Yassini Poetry Prize and long listed for the 2025 Maya Angelou Book Award. She is one of Poets & Writers' 2026 Ten Best Debut Poets.

Ciona Rouse is a poet, curator and educator. She is the author of Vantablack (Third Man Books, 2017). Her poetry is featured in poets.org, The Slowdown, Oxford American and wildness. Rouse co-hosts a banned book group at Third Man's The Blue Room. She lives in Nashville, TN, where she's opening a poetry-centric bookstore/bar.

This event is set to take place in the Roots Theater at NMAAM.

Admission is free with registration.