Emerging BIWOC Poet Spotlight: teri elam
This monthly series features poems by women of color in the early stages of their publishing careers. It is our intention to create more space at Perugia for the work of poets who are Black, Indigenous, and women of color (BIWOC). We hope using our platform to highlight this work will expand the readership of the poets we spotlight. This series aligns with Perugia’s mission to celebrate and support emerging women poets, inclusive of gender-expansive identities; featured poems will be from poets with no more than one published full-length collection. We’d love to hear from readers with suggestions for poems & poets to feature.
September 2026 Poet: teri elam
This Family as Kaleidoscope & Afterlight
We are an observation of beautiful
forms. Revolving bodies inside a chamber
that spins and spits, bits and micro-bits
of blues & blood, cataclysm and bliss.
Begot from George Washington Nichols—
snatched from our Mother’s land and sea.
Forced from his form again and again, we
are fragmented glass, his beginnings reflect
our future. Some witness recurrently, others
become revolving mirrors devouring any surviving
lumen. Stolen double helixes. We coexist. In
the light, we turn dark, a multitudinous vessel.
Illuminated. Resplendent. Each other’s echo.
An observation of beautiful forms, we are.
Source
Digging Beneath Bones, Finishing Line Press, 2026
Poet Bio
teri elam, a Southern poet and writer, is the author of Digging Beneath Bones (Finishing Line Press, 2026), her debut collection. She is a Pushcart nominee with poems published in various journals and anthologies, including The Future of Black: Afrofuturism and Black Superheroes, Let Me Say This: A Dolly Parton Poetry Anthology, and Kwame Alexander’s This Is The Honey. Her work, including book reviews, has also appeared in Prairie Schooner, The Rumpus, Callaloo, and december magazine, which featured her prize‑winning poem, “Counterpoint,” about the legendary jewel thief Doris Payne.
teri has also earned screenwriting honors, including Best Half Hour TV Pilot winner and Best Hour TV Pilot finalist at the Nashville Film Festival, two‑time Second Rounder at the Austin Film Festival, two-time fellowship finalist for Stowe Story Lab Retreat, and finalist for the 2026 International Screenwriters Association Diversity Initiative. A graduate fellow of Cave Canem and The Watering Hole, teri is a Tuskegee University alum and holds a graduate degree from the University of Georgia and an MFA from Stonecoast/University of Southern Maine.