WHAT PEOPLE
David Mckenna's
Freddy Gutierrez
Freddy has been a colaborator in all of David's prison projects since 2016 when Freddy hosted a visit to San Francisco and San Quentin Prison which is when David first met the Artistc Ensemble. Together they have colaborated on 5 cross Atlantic colaborative projects.
Waitin' for Merlin
My Darlin, I am in the midst of an American Avalon.
No Arthur,
a Lancelot who marches a lot.
King without crown.
King of enamel cup and Olive Drab
waiting for my Guinevere.
In the midst of mist
we parade forward in fog
find solace in solar solitude
when the day’s only star breaks through
and we don’t break down.
​
Here, there is no sword in stone
but stone arrowheads in these headlands
and even with all the points beneath our feet
we do not know what direction the war is headed
nor when we will be homeward bound.
We are bound to duty;
rifle and boot shine.
Biography
Freddy Gutierrez, California poet and teaching artist. Freddy has facilitated writing and performance art spaces with people in incarceration from the Bay to the UK for over 10 years. He specializes in using metaphor alongside personal narrative in order to shape social commentary as catalysts for storytelling. His poetry seeks to foster agency of voice in those he creates with. He’s been published by Los Angeles Poet Society Press, The Puerto Rico Review, The Acentos Review, the Nomadic Press, and University of Houston’s Arte Publico Press; and was featured as LoWriter of the Week selected by U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera.
