ANTWIAN M. CRAWFORD – Poet, Author, Webmaster, Editor & Founder of The Underground Poet’s Society, Inc.

Antwian Marcel Crawford, pen named Intellect, is a Poet and is the author of his book of poetry called, A Look Into My Third Eye. He is also the creator The Underground Poet’s Society, which has been in existence since July, 2000 and is the Founder of The Underground Poet’s Society, Inc., founded in 2007. He was born in Jersey City, New Jersey (Dirty Jersey) but was raised in Radford, Virginia. He now resides in South Florida since 1993 after moving from Newton, North Carolina. Poetry has been his passion since Eric B. was president in 1986 and he uses it as a form of self-expression due to the limitless potential of creativity that comes from writing. Antwian goes on to say that whether it be hip-hop, poetry, spoken word or anything that uses the art of expression through words, whether written or verbal, it is considered to be poetry because it all fits under the same poetic umbrella.

Mr. Crawford has made a living using the creative side of his brain for the last 15 years but has been writing for 25. He feels that poetry does not get the respect that it deserves across the board due to its lack of professionalism which chokes the art form from within. He goes on to say, “Not showing up for performances, being late for meetings or publicly “acting a fool” does not a professional poet make. It’s time to hold ourselves accountable for who we are and the things that we do and the excuse of “that’s what poets do” just won’t do anymore.” Lastly, the Founder of The Underground Poet’s Society, Inc. says that we owe it to ourselves to step our game up as poets, as professionals and as a people, because everything that we’ve done in the past can be used in what we do in the present which, in turn, leaves a mark on our future.

Antwian's words have been recited on stages, at poetry venues and on radio stations as far away as Lagos, Nigeria. His work has been admired and even studied in High Schools and at Colleges across the country. Student's have written papers on his work and he receives tons of emails from readers expressing their appreciation of his poetry from all over the world.

"I've known both misery and happiness... lived in so many different skins, it is impossible for one skin to claim me." - Gordon Parks


POETIC ACHIEVEMENTS:

• Created - The Underground Poet's Society (The Un.P.S.) - (July 2000)

• Featured Writer of the Month - TimBookTu - (November 2000)

• Created - The Un.P.S. On-Line Open Mic - (2001)

• Featured Poet in TimBookTu Anthology - Journey to TimBookTu: An African-American Poetic Odyssey - (2001)

• Poet of The Month - Wordsport.com - (April 2001)

• Contest Winner - Def Poetry Jam Web Site - (May 2001)

• Contest Winner - The Dream Chaser Poets Society (DCPS) - (January 2002)

• Guest Poet for Black History Month - PoeticallySpeaking.net - (February 2002).

• Featured Poet - Powertalk FM - The Spoken Word Hour (March 2005)

• Published his first Poetry Book - A Look Into My Third Eye - (May 2005)

• Featured Guest Artist/Poet of the Month - The Black Poetry Cafe - (July 2005)

• Poet of the Month - NubianPoets.com - (July 2005)

• Slam Idol Winner - Slam Idol Podcast - Contest 3 (2006)

• Featured Poet - Virginia Tech Magazine - Memorial Issue (May 2007)

• Featured Poet - Bodies At Rest - Show No. 18 (May 2006) & Show No. 23 (October 2007)

• Founded - The Underground Poet's Society, Inc. - An official 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Corporation (2007)

• Poem about the Virginia Tech Tragedy called "Virginia Tech" featured in - The Archiver (Winter/Spring Issue) - Virginia Tech's Educational & Upward Bound Newsletter (February 2008)

• YUR Magazine feature - (April 2008)

• Started - The Underground Poet's Society, Inc. National Poetry Conference 2008 - (May 2008)

• Started - The Underground Poet's Society, Inc. Variety Show aboard the SeaEscape Cruise Ship - (May 2008)

• Featured Writer - Toronto Poets SNL (Saturday Night Love) Newsletter located in Toronto, Canada. (April 2009)

• Featured Poet - Jackknife Express, which is a poetry broadside done twice a year and distributed to over 84 targets from Berlin to LA. (April 2009)


HAS WORKED WITH POET'S SUCH AS:

Co-Founder of Def Poetry Jam Bruce George, Tony Award Winning Poet’s Georgia Me & Black Ice who has performed with Mary J. Blige, Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam Poet's Tommy Bottoms & Asia, all of which have been seen on HBO. Other poets include 2007 World Poetry Slam & Haiku Champion Ed Mabrey, Tasha Jones, Consider This, Desiree L., Poet / Rapper / Musician and Activist Tebe Zalango, Renda Writer, L.I.F.E., Ray "Knowledge" Dominguez & The Write Side Poets seen on Russell Simmons and HBO's Brave New Voices, K.D. Morris, Native Son, Rebecca "Butterfly" Vaughns, Profet, Mr. Rigz , Jay Wordsmith, Brian Poem, The Benchwarmers Cliq, Mr. Wispers, Yanatha Desouvre and a long list of others.

Antwian looks forward to working with the following poet’s coming soon… Taalam Acey, Def Poet Abyss Graham, Def Poet Malik Salaam, Kim Salaam, Ainsley Burrows, Ken Cowle, Wilkine Brutus, Chris Imperial, Alexis Caputo, Ya Ya Browne & Deborah Magdalena Torres.


A FEW OF HIS INSPIRATIONS ARE:

Maya Angelou, Paul Robeson, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Beah Richards & Langston Hughes to name a few.