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The Ethically Immoral Podcast
The Ethically Immoral Podcast is a program dedicated to long-form conversations with poets, spoken word artists, authors, and creatives who use language as a tool for truth-telling, healing, and resistance. Hosted by Mike Payne, the show travels beyond the typical interview to explore the personal histories, artistic philosophies, and cultural contexts that shape the voice of the Creatives we welcome.
It’s not just about poetry or performance — it’s about the people behind the pen. We talk about identity, healing, joy, frustration, and the journey of becoming. Some moments are deep, others are funny, but all of them are authentic. If you’re someone who values storytelling, vulnerability, and good conversation, this space was created and cultivated for you.
The Ethically Immoral Podcast
Volume Five: Chapter Twenty - Our Conversation with Ajanaé Dawkins
In Volume Five: Chapter Twenty, we welcomed Ajanae Dawkins.
Ajanaé is a poet, conceptual artist and theologian. She works through poetry, visual art, performance, and audio to explore the politics of faith, grief, and intimate relationships between Black women. As a theologian, she blends cultural criticism, memoir, and theology as autotheory to consider the relationship between Black church history, spirituality, and creation. Her work has appeared in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, The Rumpus, Prairie Schooner, the Indiana Review, Frontier Poetry, The BreakBeat Poets Black Girl Magic Anthology and more. Her solo-exhibition, No One Teaches Us How To Be Daughters, debuted at Urban Arts Space in 2024. Her chapbook, BLOOD-FLEX, won the New Delta Review’s Chapbook prize and is forthcoming in Spring 2025.
Contact Ajanae:
Instagram: @moonsatdusk
Website: ajanaedawkins.com
Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:
FreeQuency – The Seven Deadly American Sins
Instagram: @freequencyspeaks Website: freequencyspeaks.com
Ya Ya Poet– Ling Ling
Instagram: @yayazhangpoet
Black Chakra – Pass
Instagram: @blackchakra88
Ajanaé Dawkins – When Viola Davis Won
Ajanaé Dawkins – For The Blonde Girl and the Classroom of Ghosts
