Hello, my name is Michael!

God planted two seeds in my heart when I was very young—one was a love for poetry, and the other was a deep appreciation for Japanese culture. They were linked in ways I’m only beginning to understand now as I approach my eighth year in Kanazawa as a High School and Junior High School English teacher.

My initial poetic inspirations were Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, haiku poets, and the Bible. I published my first poem in seventh grade, and from then on, I was hooked on the world of writing. I participated in poetry slams in high school, which cemented my love for poetry and instilled in me a deep confidence in the power of the spoken word. In college, I was a member of NYU SLAM, performed across NYC, and competed with the team in Chicago during my senior year at the College Union Poetry Slam Invitational. After moving to Japan, I began publishing, editing, and teaching online.

I write about family, faith, spirituality, race, African American and Japanese culture, nature, sexuality, addiction, shame, childhood, the relationship between love and death, and Jesus. You can read or listen to my work online or via my website. I am currently soliciting my first chapbooks and working on my first full-length collection, which explores my family and my journey of being fathered by God. I write to know and love God, and to know and love others. To hear the Holy Spirit and allow Him to lift my imagination to the throne room. To dance with Him on prismatic waters beneath a disco moon. If Jesus is the door, writing, for me, is the flashlight I use to navigate the dark and make my way toward the door—toward truth, toward freedom.

In Japan, I met my spiritual mentor, learned how to recognize the voice of the Holy Spirit, turned from a life of shame & sin, and said yes to freedom and a joy-filled life with Christ, which led me into ministry (listen to a poem about that here and here.)

Over the years in Kanazawa, I’ve started children and youth ministries, planned and facilitated a yearly Black History Month Festival, acted in a musical and a play, made disciples, encouraged others to listen to their spirit/the Holy Spirit, sang and rapped with gospel choirs, coached debate and drama clubs, led book clubs and Bible studies, and learned how to perform tea ceremony, rock hunt, and birdwatch. Now, I’m working on a collection of Japanese poems about Jesus and the Kingdom of God (you can view works in progress on my Instagram). I came to Japan out of a love for its culture (thank you, haiku poetry and Naruto), but I’m staying to see this nation filled with the beauty and life-changing power of the Gospel.

This spring, I will be teaching a course called In the Image of the Creator: Poetry & Spiritual Writing Workshop for Christian Writers. If you’re interested in registering, please visit the “Poetry Course” page of this website.

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