About

Dee Galloway, aka “Sagacious Joy” is a poet blessed to have had many of her poetic dreams come true – sometimes all at the same time!

I guess it was inevitable that I would grow up to be a poet. My mother would recite poetry often as she worked around the house, and my brother and sister and I grew up hearing the idiomatic rhymes of Paul Laurence Dunbar. The day I sat in awe as she recited Dunbar’s narrative poem “In the Morning” – a poem she learned when she was a little girl – completely from memory was the day that I decided that I would become a poet and write something that my mother would memorize and recite. When I was about 10 years old, my mother and I drove past the campus of the University of Denver. The tall red brick buildings looked so important! The students scurrying on the paths with their books and briefcases looked like they were busy with important things. I wanted to be important, too, and I vowed to myself that I would go to school there one day. It took another 35 years, but in 2004 I was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, with a concentration in Creative Writing from the University of Denver.

I’m now an itinerant poet who writes and performs original poems and rituals to commemorate special events. I conduct writing workshops through schools, churches, adult and youth programs, including the Polaris Program, Art from Ashes and YouthBiz. I’ve received commissions from The Spirituals Project, the University of Denver, the Interfaith Alliance of Colorado, Girls Inc., and other organizations in the Denver area.

I work in many styles and types of poetry, giving voice to the voiceless and speaking into the silence surrounding so much of our human experience. I am at my best when trying to articulate the experience of ~ and triumph over ~ life’s traumatizing experiences.

My newest dream is one of sharing the stage ~ perhaps on the set of some Oprah Winfrey Special ~ with such great poets as Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou and/or others, all in a choral performance of my work. I encourage anyone who is been moved by my work to write to Oprah’s Wildest Dreams Team and ask them to help me make this new dream come true.

Not incidentally, I am also a vocalist, and usually combine singing with my poetry presentations. I am a member of Southern Journey, a folk ensemble that explores the the multi-ethnic roots of the body of American folk music collected by musicologist Alan Lomax. I also sing with The Denver Chorale, a fresh new community chorus in the Denver area. I have been known to combine poetry with singing, whenever possible.