Hakim Bellamy became the inaugural poet laureate of Albuquerque on April 14, 2012, at age thirty-three. He was the son of a preacher man (and a praying woman). Bellamy has been on two national champion poetry slam teams, won collegiate and city poetry slam championships (in Albuquerque and Silver City, NM), and has been published in numerous anthologies and on inner-city buses. A musician, actor, journalist, playwright, and community organizer, Bellamy’s first book, Swear, was recently published by West End Press.