A.I. The Anomaly

Grateful for the opportunities to share the knowledge I’ve gained from countless spaces within the community. Grateful for the entities who value what I have to offer.

This is just a fraction of my students from . Today we went in great detail on building Artist Statements, bios and everything in between. This is community! Thanks for investing in engagements such as this and special thanks to and for understanding my passion for supporting digital storytellers who add value to the creative economy!
Shout of to for the pic! ✊🏾

I just want young people to witness and experience what is possible. I’ve spent so many years, time, energy and effort in developing creative arts programs… structuring and lessons to align with what I know it’s right.

What’s right is being honest. What’s right is seeing these young people as who they are… human. All of them coming with their own experiences, their own perspectives, their own ideas. All of them waiting for a chance.

I told them they had the most powerful voices.

I truly believe that’s why they aren’t being handled with the greatest care. Society might be out to silence them. 😒

Not on my watch. ✊🏾
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I want to thank each and everyone who stepped into the auditorium at to experience poetically speaking. When a vision becomes reality, It’s always exciting to share the moment with other humans 😏. Thank you to each digital storytelling artist involved. Thanks for your professionalism always!! Thank you to each poet and writer who gave time to this project I appreciate you for allowing me to showcase your poetic existence. thank you to Burchfield Penney for making space for another creative idea. Thank you to the support team at

Even if you weren’t on this particular protect you each took a moment to at least check in on me. True circle ⭕️ Love yall!!

poetically speaking.

vonetta t. rhodes is a mother, educator, poet, and spoken word coach from Buffalo who began writing poetry at age ten and performing spoken word in 1992.

She’s been part of several dynamic collectives like Poetic Voices, Njozi Poets, Soul Aviation, I Am, Eyesis, just to name a few. She has also appeared in several spoken word plays.

Her work has been featured in Go, Tell Michelle, NPR, Dear Kamala, The Challenger Newspaper, The Buffalo News and more.

Through her voice, rhodes channels messages from her ancestors, family, and community, believing that spoken word must carry passion, emotion, spirit, and deep human connection.
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Poetically Speaking is a short digital storytelling and literary arts series project produced and directed by
Images by /
Graphics assets produced through