Movers and Shakers: Bettina "Poet Gold" Wilkerson

A rare talent that grabs you by the heart and says RECOGNIZE, poet, author, performer, songwriter, community “artivist” and speaker, Bettina “Poet Gold” Wilkerson pushes the boundaries of poetry and the spoken word.

A Poet Gold performance is a journey through original prose, navigating all the lively, soul-brightening and thought-provoking feels she takes you through with each and every stanza, phrase and word. She paints pictures with her words about things like her grandmother’s cookware, the color blue or her coif that makes people sigh, smile, laugh and feel.

Named 2017 and 2018 Dutchess County Poet Laureate, she is a 2014 NYSCA Individual Artist Tier Grant Awardee for the Mid-Hudson region and a 2016 Athena honoree. She has worked with world-renowned organizations and authors to craft and convey their story in poetic form. She has opened for MC Lyte and Lauryn Hill for “A Tribute to the ladies of Hip-Hop” as well as with “The Voice” Season II winner Jermaine Paul. Poet Gold has also shared a poetic platform with 2010 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion Rudy Francisco.

As if her plate wasn’t full enough, she is appearing in five productions of the touring show “A New York Lamentation” and is the visionary behind “Open Mic in The Valley” in Poughkeepsie and “Poelodies: Spoken Word. Melodies. Song” at The Falcon Underground in Marboro. Poet Gold is also the host of “Newburgh’s Open Mic” at The Wherehouse. For more on these and her other area events, log onto her Facebook event page.

Her 2018 projects include "PoughEtryFest2018," the first poetry festival in Poughkeepsie (April 21) and the release of her new book You Are My Blue, a collaboration with photographer Bibiana Huang Matheis. Her book When My Soul Speaks, I Scribe…poetry is available here.

"We all have a poem to which we should become, self-written beyond career. A calling, one that touches others in an empowering and contemplative way. I came to a place where I simply surrendered to transform and discover how to be the poem in my life," she says. "And if it is as an artist on this poetic path I am merely a vessel, then through my artistic expression, I hope I am able to be a catalyst for others to be courageous and explore how to write and become the poem in their lives."

Originally appeared in the Jan/Feb 2018 Issue.

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