Amanda Ngoho Reavey founded Tabi Po Poetry at County Clare in Milwaukee, May 2022 as a labor of love and resistance. Our first featured reader was poet and editor Seth Copeland, who would later become the series’ co-host. What started as an intimate open mic has since evolved into a monthly gathering where new, emerging, and established poets take center stage.
The name Tabi Po is a nod to Filipino folklore and identity – an offering to spirits, ancestors, and the stories that walk with us. It is both a warning and a welcome: a reminder that we do not speak alone, that every poem enters a room already haunted. Step gently. Listen deeply. What rises here has roots.
Our Purpose
Amanda created Tabi Po as a response to the gatekeeping that often dominates literary spaces. Her goal was to cultivate a courageous and joyful space where community, craft, and culture meet on equal terms. Many of our featured readers are Milwaukee-based artists, but we also welcome guests from across the diaspora. All are invited to speak their truths.
Amanda rooted the series in three core values: Kapwa, the recognition of a shared identity, an inner self shared with others; Pakiramdam, “shared perception” or “shared inner perception,” a sensitivity/attuning with others (kapwahan); and Kagandahang-loob, guiding a person towards authentic acts of goodness and generosity, towards a nurturing that has its origin in genuine empathy. We honor these values today as the series enters its next phase.
Tabi Po is run entirely by volunteers and artists. We operate with limited funds, donated space, and deep community care. Whether you’ve attended, read, donated or just spread the word – thank you. You are part of this story, too.
“Tabi tabi po,” we say, to step gently among the unseen. At Tabi Po, we say it to make the unseen seen.
UPCOMING READINGS
Patrick Moran
October 18, 3pm
Patrick Moran is the author of five prize-winning collection of poetry and the editor of an anthology of contemporary Scottish Poetry, Forty Voices Strong. He teaches Creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. His poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, The Iowa Review, Crazyhorse, and The Boston Review.
NEXT UP…Katrina Serwe & Charles Payne
PRESS
Riverwest Currents, April 2025 (page 6).
Wisconsin Arts Board, April 2024.
Shepherd Express, June 2023.
Asterisk indicates Wisconsin or Milwaukee Poets Laureate
2025
Robin Christie
Richard Hedderman
Sue Blaustein
Derrick Harriell
Shelly Conley*
Pepe Oulahan
Stephen Anderson
Ed Werstein
Darlene Wesenberg “Lolly” Rzezotarski
Dawn Tefft
Paul Martinez-Pompa
Virginia Small
2024
Scott Lowery
Mauricio Kilwein-Guevara
Nick Gulig*
Ann Steinbach
Ed Block
Kavon Cortez Jones
Maria Elena Scott
Rosalie Robison
William Lawlor
Ae Hee Lee
Jessica Drake-Thomas
2023
Bryon Cherry
Brenda Cárdenas*
Peter Burzynski
Terimarie Degree
Thomas J. Erickson
Stephen Anderson
Rick Ollman
Ed Werstein
Jim Landwehr
Jessica Drake-Thomas
2022
Seth Copeland
Angela Voras-Hills
Kathrine Yets
Sue Blaustein
DeWitt Clinton
Mario “The Poet” Willis*
Danielle Harms