Malcolm Friend | Glass Poetry Press

Malcolm Friend (mxd kd mixtape) is a poet originally from the Rainier Beach neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. He received his BA from Vanderbilt University, where he was the 2014 recipient of the Merrill Moore Prize for Poetry, and his MFA from the University of Pittsburgh. He has received numerous awards and fellowships from organizations including CantoMundo, VONA/Voices of Our Nation, Backbone Press, and the University of Memphis. His work has appeared in publications including La Respuesta magazine, the Fjords Review's Black American Edition, Vinyl, The Acentos Review, Connotation Press: An Online Artifact, and Pretty Owl Poetry.

In his debut chapbook mxd kd mix tape, Malcolm Friend offers us a speaker on the fringe of becoming. If he were a superhero this would be his origin story. The musicality & rhythm that is promised in the title more than delivers, but what Friend also delivers on are poems forged within the many rooms of his identity. & these rooms are decorated with poetic craft & a keen knowledge of the songs that have shaped him. This collection, & Friend are a valuable addition to America's poetic landscape. I look forward to many more work from this fresh new voice.

— Yesenia Montilla, author of The Pink Box