An Old Blue Light by Terra Oliveira
an old blue light --
which emanated from
the moon,
and lead me
through the mountains
until i wandered
back to You.
Terra Oliveira is a Philadelphia-based writer, the founder and editor of Recenter Press, and a youth program facilitator at The Free Library of Philadelphia. They are the author of poetry and visual art books And Still To Sleep (2018), An Old Blue Light (2017), and Processes: A Meditation (2017), and their work has been published in Hooligan Magazine, Prolit Magazine, and more. In April 2016, Oliveira participated in the Hope Villa Artist Residency in the Western Ghats of India, and they were the Artist-In-Residence at The Schoolhouse at Mutianyu at The Great Wall of China in March of 2017. Born and raised in the Bay Area, they received their B.A. in documentary film production from San Francisco State University in May 2014, where their work received the Student Film Award at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (CAAMFest) in Spring 2014.
In addition to their creative work, Oliveira is an organizer for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and a co-facilitator of bi-weekly nonviolent communication workshops. In the years since completing their degree, Oliveira has also had numerous stays and live / work exchanges at monasteries, meditation centers, ashrams, eco-villages, summer camps, farms, and intentional communities in California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, China, India, and Nepal. As a dedicated student and practitioner of numerous creative, spiritual, and revolutionary disciplines, these intensive retreats combined with serious study and political praxis are in direct relationship with Oliveira’s work. Central to their life is their home, their partnership, and family and friends, especially auntie-hood.
You can keep up with them on Instagram @terraoliveira_.
Collection of poetry and illustrations. Author photo by Nicholas Sese. 66 pages. Black & White. Published by Recenter Press in September 2017.