Our Three Poets
From LitArts RI · Community and Support for Rhode Island Writers
Alison Burkett is a water park designer, writer, and artist living in Providence.
She is the cohost of the Poetry Writer’s Group at LitArts RI. She writes metaphysical/horror poetry and surrealist flash fiction. She draws inspiration from retro horror, camp, the offbeat and the uncanny. She is currently working on a series of poems personifying natural disasters.
With a deep interest in how art intersects with mental health, Alison has been working with a partner to design a product that uses AI to bridge the executive dysfunction gap of ADHD wiring. They hope to create a low cost system that will reduce stress and improve the quality of life for people who struggle with daily tasks.
When she isn’t writing and designing, you can find her enjoying Weird Craft Hour in a reclining lawn chair at the ocean, nose deep in rare books, or on nature walks baby-talking wildlife.
Sussy Santana is an Arts & Health practitioner, facilitator, and culture artisan, born in the Dominican Republic. Sussy is the author of four works of poetry. While working for the City of Providence Healthy Communities Office, she led the Providence chapter for Arts for Everybody, a national Arts & Health campaign from One Nation/One Project. In her workshops, participants use writing as a tool for healing.
Santana has a community centered practice; her performance includes making “llamados” or “calls for action” for members of the community to participate in public art interventions. She worked in collaboration with the RI Public Health Institute on the Let’s Get Back on Track health literacy campaign, creating artistic interventions at local health clinics in Providence. Santana is the first Latina recipient of the MacColl Johnson Fellowship in writing from the Rhode Island Foundation. In 2020, she was selected as a Creative Community Health Worker fellow by the City of Providence Department of Arts Culture & Tourism. She is a 2025 Global Arts in Medicine Fellow.
Instagram: @lapoetera www.sussysantana.com
Amanda Boyanowski-Morin is a poet, parent and partner who spends most of their time outdoors watching the small, predictable changes in Nature that occur through the year. Their work focuses on their disabled body and its place in this every changing world.