Storytelling Predates Poetry

Maxochitl Cortez is a queer Indigenous Resistance Artist, Educator, & Community Organizer - they use storytelling as a pathway for collective liberation.

They are a host with every.Word poetry, Educator with the Native American Cultural Center, & the Creative Director of Land Justice Community School. Their poetry can be found in Poetry Society New York’s Milk Press, Native Land Digital, B’K Magazine, and more. 

For generations, storytelling has been used in Indigenous traditions to connect our lived experiences to our relatives - including the land, the water, and our non-human relatives.

Through spoken word poetry, Maxochitl embodies oral history and uses poetry as a form of journalism to center at-risk communities. Their typewriter poetry offers a pathway for connection to directly collaboratively share our stories in community. The seeds of their storytelling ask what liberation means, what we will do to get there for all people, and what narratives we honor during our path to healing.