Claudia Alick’s Poetry Blooms at Garden’s 2025 Summer Solstice Festival

Garden is no ordinary venue—it’s a 24/7 virtual community center created by and for BIPOC folks who practice pandemic safety. This vibrant digital sanctuary offers a place to gather, create, and care for one another, with spaces like the Tree House, Enchanted Library, Arcade, Movie Room, and more. It’s a world designed to nurture connection, imagination, and accessibility, and every summer, Garden hosts its annual Summer Solstice Festival—a weekend of workshops, performances, rituals, and play honoring the turning of the season.

In June 2025, Garden celebrated its second Summer Solstice Festival, offering over 28 hours of programming across two days. Community members joined for divination practices, film screenings, movement workshops, ancestral prayers, TGNC meetups, and late-night gaming. The event culminated in ceremony to honor the Indigenous Summer Solstice and the anniversary of Garden’s altar, weaving together themes of light, darkness, resilience, and renewal.

Claudia Alick Joins the Celebration

This year’s festival open mic featured Ang Woon, an asian poet, and Claudia Alick, a Black disabled performer, director, writer, and founder of the transmedia social justice company Calling Up Justice. A published poet with a history on the Oakland Slam team, a consultant and performer on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam, and creator of Streetpoetry and Poetry of the State, Claudia brought her distinctive voice to the festival’s Performances & Open Mic session.

Before taking the stage, Claudia immersed herself in the Garden experience. They attended Uhura’s workshop on investigative divination practices in Conjure and Orisa Worship, explored the Vendor Fair, and watched a screening of Tounges United, enjoying the lively mix of community and creativity. The open mic itself was electric—filled with poets whose work ranged from intimate to political, funny to beautiful—setting the perfect stage for Claudia’s set.

A Set That Wove Power, Pain, and Renewal

Performing against evocative digital backdrops that resonated with each poem, Claudia shared a set that reflected the themes of Juneteenth and the Solstice: Black power, patience, healing, resistance, and renewal. With content notes honoring the audience’s care needs, the performance moved through five pieces, each with its own emotional and visual landscape:

• “What’s My Name?” – A fierce, rhythmic declaration of identity, survival, and joy, dismantling stereotypes and affirming the unstoppable force of a life lived fully.
• “Involuntary Porn Artist” – A razor-sharp exploration of ableism and the gaze, challenging how disabled bodies are consumed and rejecting narratives of pity and inspiration.
• “IN PAIN” – An oceanic meditation on chronic pain, survival, and adaptation, transforming suffering into a journey of growth and strength.
• “Deus ex Machina” – A reflection on faith, broken systems, and the god within, questioning control while asserting belief in the self.
• “Sisyphus Kali” – A mythic, powerful piece blending destruction, repetition, and rebirth, embodying the cyclical power of resistance and change.

Each poem was paired with a specific visual environment—black void, fire, waves, sunset, and a paper heart—that deepened the audience’s immersion in the performance. Without background music, Claudia’s voice held the space with raw presence, every word landing with weight and clarity.

Poetry as Ceremony

Claudia’s poetry was more than performance—it was ritual. Her words echoed the festival’s purpose: to hold space for transformation, to celebrate survival, and to honor both the pain and joy of our collective existence.

The 2025 Garden Summer Solstice Festival was a celebration of light, a gathering of community, and a testament to the power of art in virtual spaces. Claudia Alick’s set reminded everyone present—whether they were listening in the open mic circle, dancing later in the pixelated club, or catching the last rays of the virtual solstice sunset—that poetry can still move mountains, even when spoken through a screen.

✨ Thank you to Claudia Alick, the other poets, facilitators, volunteers, and all Gardeners who made this year’s Solstice festival a radiant success!