Taylor Mali’s career in poetry evolved out of the slam poetry movement. He is a native New Yorker and taught school for nine years at Browning School for Boys (Manhattan) and Cape Cod Academy (Massachusetts). Currently, he travels the world facilitating workshops for teachers and students. He is a dedicated supporter of teachers and he says that through his New Teacher Project he hopes to attract 1,000 people into education through “poetry, persuasion, and perseverance.”

What follows is a video of Taylor Mali performing his poem, What Teachers Make? (You’ll note Billy Collins sitting side-stage.)

If you are viewing this post from an email, you will have to link through to the site to watch the video. You can read the text of the poem HERE.

portrait: Taylor Mali at the international school in Stockholm.by Emil Brikha under CC BY-2.0 license