The Rebel's Zeitgeist: A Poetry Salon

The Rebel's Zeitgeist is a literary journal from the Baltimore-based nonprofit, Black Writers for Peace and Social Justice.

We welcome this issue's guest editors, writers Synnika Alek-Chizoba Lofton and Khari Dawson and contributors to the Spring 2026 and Summer 2025 issues.

This launch is moderated by Coppin State University associate professor, Dr. Khadijah Ali-Coleman, the author of three poetry collections, including For the Girls Who Do Too Much, and the second Poet Laureate of Prince George's County, Maryland from 2023 to 2025.

Featured writers include Buddah Desmond, Colie Aziza, Brenda Bunting, and more to be announced.

The Rebel’s Zeitgeist is dedicated to amplifying voices that explore themes of social justice, radical resistance, and the revolutionary liminal spaces that shape identity. The Rebel’s Zeitgeist seeks to publish work that challenges the status quo, offers new perspectives on systemic injustices, and celebrates the rich diversity of the Black experience. The Spring 2026 issue's theme is, "Beyond the Bearing of Witness." Contributors include those with work that explores themes addressing the nature of resistance and the fight for liberation.

Copies of The Rebel’s Zeitgeist will be available for purchase at the event.

Synnika Alek-Chizoba Lofton is an award-winning poet, educator, and publisher. Lofton is the author of more than 35 collections of poetry and more than 177 spoken word albums. His poems have appeared in Clock House Journal, Revenge, UpStreet, Experience Reality Magazine, Quay, Dissident Voice, The Skinny Poetry Journal, Mid-Atlantic Review, and Blue-Collar Review. In 2024, his poem “To Honor Her Bold Walk” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Khari Dawson is a multi-genre writer and musician based in Maryland. Published in multiple publications, including McSweeney's Quarterly, POETRY magazine, Cult, and Baltimore City Paper, she has enjoyed support for her work through grants and fellowship opportunities with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Art Under a Minute program, the Martha’s Vineyard Creative Writing Institute, and the Smithsonian exhibit project, “Gen Z Speaks: A Right to the City.” She is a 2024 Watering Hole Poetry fellow.

Khadijah Z. Ali-Coleman, Ed.D. is the Founder/CEO of Black Writers for Peace and Social Justice, Inc., the publisher of The Rebel's Zeitgeist. She is an award-winning performance artist, multi-genre writer, playwright, and filmmaker, and served as the second Poet Laureate of Prince George's County, Maryland from 2023-2025. She is the author of the poetry collections A Park Stands on All of Our Graves (2025), For the Girls Who Do Too Much (2024) and The Summoning of Black Joy (2023), the children's book Mariah's Maracas (2018), and co-editor of Homeschooling Black Children in the US: Theory, Practice, and Popular Culture (2022).

A trailblazer in arts and education, Dr. Ali-Coleman founded the multidisciplinary arts group Liberated Muse in 2008 and co-founded the national education research group Black Family Homeschool Educators and Scholars, LLC (BFHES), during the COVID-19 quarantine in 2020. BFHES has provided vital support to over 3000 families, offering annual teach-ins and workshops. She is currently an Associate Professor of English in the Humanities department at Coppin State University in Baltimore, Maryland, and is a 2023 Watering Hole Poetry fellow.

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