St. Paul Street Provocations, the debut chapbook of Patti Ross, is now available as a paperback and PDF (as well as wholesale and through most distribution channels)! This poetry collection explores experiences and exchanges Patti had while living in Baltimore, Maryland from 2010 to 2013, just one block south of North Avenue on St. Paul Street.

Patti found herself in a neighborhood somewhat blighted, slighted by its own city. The chess moves of gentrification were becoming more evident and in a short time, Maryland Institute College of Art would move in to change the face of North Avenue between Howard and St. Paul Street forever. Those from the neighborhood saw their displacement coming. They preached about it to whoever would listen and often Patti did.

St. Paul Street Provocations gives proclamations to her neighborhood friends’ stories and their lives in a city given the nickname of “Charm City.” As an advocate for the poor and marginalized, she wanted to share the stories and illuminate the voices of those forced to live with daily pauperism. While walking her dog often through the neighborhood she met several homeless and drug abuse individuals many of whom others walked past or scoffed at regularly. Patti stopped to listen to their stories, some believable, some not, but she listened each time they wanted to share. And wrote it down.

After retiring from a career in technology, Patti rediscovered her love of writing and currently shares her voice as the spoken-word artist little pi. Patti hosts EC Poetry and Prose Open Mic in Ellicott City, Maryland, and the online series First Fridays under the organizational umbrella of Maryland Writers Association of which she is a board member. She also actively supports several Baltimore youth nonprofits as a board member and advisor. A lifelong advocate for the disenfranchised and homeless, Patti writes poems about the racially marginalized as well as society’s traumatization of the human spirit. Her poems are published in the Pen In Hand Journal, PoetryXHunger website, and Oyster River Pages: Composite Dreams Issue, as well as other online zines.

You can find Patti at littlepisuniverse.com or on Facebook and Instagram.

To learn more about Patti and St. Paul Street Provocations, check out our recent interview with her.

The cover image is of the mural “Walk the Line” from Baltimore-based muralists Jessie Unterhalter and Katey Truhn from jessie and katey. Photograph by Duane Winfield.

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