feature: spoken word poet and holistic healer sunni patterson leaves us breathless with vivid performances

If you remember the gift that was HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, there’s a good chance that you remember Sunni Patterson a spoken word poet and intellectual from New Orleans. Her utterly unreal ability to craft words into vivid imagery that conjures cultural trauma, history, pain, but above all else the sheer resilience, hope, and pride of black people sent chills down our spines with her performance of “We Made It”. Since then, Patterson has performed all over the world, including Jam and BET’s Lyric Cafe, the Arsenio Hall show, and international stages in Ghana, West Africa, Jamaica, Trinidad, and the Netherlands. She was invited to speak at Momentum TEDWomen 2015 in Monterey, CA., and has been commissioned by Beat by Dre to provide an inspirational soundscape for Serena Williams’ commercials with the brand.

Picture credit: Gus Bennett, Jr.

www.facebook.com/PoetSunniPatterson

“Universal Souls (Original Mix)”

*Erin White is an Atlanta-based writer and AFROPUNK’s editorial and social media assistant. You can follow her on Tumblr or friend her on Facebook. Have a pitch or an inquiry? Shoot her an email at erin@afropunk.com.