Cracked Walnut Poetry Festival Presents…
Before I LIe: Voices Cracked Open
Hosted by Dralandra Larkins
Before I Lie: Voices Cracked Open | Live Performance
The stage opened, and with it, voices long held in silence found space to rise. Before I Lie: Voices: Cracked Open was testimony. Presented by Cracked Walnut, and hosted by Dralandra Larkins at the American School of Storytelling, the event gave platform to powerful works of Afrofuturistic poetry and confessional prose, stories of survival, healing, and truth-telling.
Individual PErformances
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Minnesota is home to a thriving queer community, and this zine celebrates that spirit in full color. From drag queens to DIY creatives, storytellers to snowbirds, these pages capture the voices of a state that refuses marginalization and embraces acceptance, craft, and joy. Queer Home of Craft is both a creative showcase and a declaration - a reminder that our stories are alive, fierce, and worth telling.
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Tapestry is the literary journal of Open Voices, a community of writers committed to sharing stories across cultures. Each issue gathers poetry, essays, and reflections from emerging and established voices from diverse backgrounds, weaving them into a collective portrait of resilience, creativity, and humanity.
Words can heal, connect, and transform. Tapestry uplifts underrepresented voices and nurtures writers at every stage of their journey.
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27: Unlearning Obligation, Rediscovering Identity is a powerful poetry collection chronicling a woman in her late twenties as she confronts grief, abandonment, and the wounds of her past. Through raw and vivid verses, she unravels the threads of pain while rediscovering trust, resilience, and hope - finding light in the very spaces that once felt lost.
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Before I Lie by Dralanda Larkins blends Afrofuturist poetry with confessional prose to turn truth-telling into testimony. With lyrical precision and unflinching honesty, Larkins breaks through silence to confront identity, trauma, womanhood, and resistance. These pieces don’t just perform — they bear witness.
What emerges is a courtroom of memory and confession, where shame and expectation give way to resilience and self-discovery. Bold, rhythmic, and unapologetic, Before I Lie is both deeply personal and universally resonant.
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Coffee: A Reflection of My Life’s Relationships is a heartfelt collection of poems by James Estwick, weaving together family, memory, and identity into vivid snapshots of a life lived with honesty and care. From the intimate rhythms of childhood mornings to the echoes of heritage and love, Estwick’s voice draws the reader into moments that are both deeply personal and universally resonant.
Both tender and unflinching, Coffee invites readers to pause, reflect, and taste the bittersweet blend of relationships that define who we are.
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Sis, You’re Copper: An Alchemy to Shine by Jess Jackson is a guide to healing, resilience, and intentional growth. Drawing from her lived experience as a bi-racial, Black, queer woman from Detroit, Jackson shares a framework she calls “Copper Alchemy” - a way of turning hardship into strength and self-discovery.
Blending wellness practices with personal wisdom, she offers tools to set boundaries, reclaim struggles, and uncover new opportunities. This book shines as a resource for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ readers seeking empowerment and authentic healing.