User:Jaideenluch/sandbox

Elisabet Velasquez (born December 6, 1983), also known as Ms. Sick Prose, is a Puerto Rican poet, writer, and feminist. She was born and raised in Bushwick, Brooklyn. She first began performing in the Nuyorican Poets’ Café. Her work has been featured in Muzzle Magazine, Winter Tangerine, Centro Voces, Latina Magazine, We Are Mitú, Tidal and more. She is a 2017 Poets House Fellow and the 2017 winner of Button Poetry Video Poetry Contest. Her work is forthcoming in Martín Espadas Anthology ''What Saves Us: Poems Of Empathy and Outrage In The Age Of Trump. ''

Life:
Elisabet Velasquez began performing under the stage name “Ms. Sick Prose,” in 2009. Her stage name, which contains a double meaning, stemmed from the mental illness, poverty, and abuse that surrounded her. Yet, she uses the word ‘sick’ as slang for how well she tells her stories. This was only the beginning of Velasquez’ journey as a Latina poet and writer. When she’s not performing at universities across the country and in poetry slams, Velasquez works as a case manager in the social services field, specializing in HIV/Substance Abuse, Mental Health, Homelessness and the LGBTQ+ population advocating for services. Her own life experiences with these subjects, in hand with her career as a case manager, only pushed and fueled her passion for poetry even more.

She began writing poetry at age 9, inspired by peeking into her eldest sisters’ diary and realizing there was so much to express on paper. Growing up in a Pentecostal household, writing and reading were Velasquez’ safe haven. She felt as though there was a lack of representation within the literature she would read and since then, she’d been writing her stories and representing the communities of those who lack representation.

Velasquez attended William H. Maxwell High School in Brooklyn, NY. Shortly after, she became pregnant with her daughter at the age of 15. She was then transferred to a school for pregnant girls which was severely understaffed and run down. She dropped out in the 10th grade and later obtained a GED.

Velasquez’ poems range in topics from gentrification, body positivity, sex, suicide, and mental illness.

Contributions:
Velasquez has performed at Lincoln Center Out Of Doors, Pregones Theatre, Bushwick Starr Theatre, The Bowery Poetry Club, Brooklyn Museum, Museum Of Natural History, The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Rutgers University, Williams College, Adelphi University, Pace University, Princeton University, James Madison University, Harvard University and headlined The 2017 Amber Rose SlutWalk.

Her work has been featured on an immense amount of platforms and sites such as The Huffington Post, Latina Magazine, Vibe Magazine and many more. She is a 2016 VONA Alum, 2017 Poets House Fellow. She is the winner of Button Poetry's 2017 Poetry Video Contest and the author of the chapbook PTSD.

Works Listed:
•	An Emotional Poem About a Suicide Survivor •	Break By Elisabet Velasquez After Patricia Smith •	Elephant •	New Brooklyn •	PTSD •	Self Portrait of America as a Revival •	To All The Girls With Heavy Names •	To All The Black and Brown Girls Who Go Missing Before They Go Missing

Works Cited:
1.	“Elisabet Velasquez.” Brooklyn Poets, 29 July 2017, brooklynpoets.org/poet/elisabet-velasquez/. 2.	“Elisabet Velasquez.” HuffPost, [http://www.huffpost.com/author/elisabetvelasquezpoetry-839. www.huffpost.com/author/elisabetvelasquezpoetry-839.] 3.	“Remix.” Remix, [http://www.elisabetvelasquez.com/. www.elisabetvelasquez.com/.]