Trapeta Mayson

Trapeta B. Mayson (born 1967) is a Liberian-born poet, teacher, social worker, and non-profit administrator residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US. Her writing primarily centers on the experiences of immigrants to the United States, the struggles of people dealing with conflict in Liberia, and the daily lives of average people, especially women and girls.

Education and early life

Born in Monrovia, Liberia, Mayson immigrated to the United States in 1975 with her family at the age of eight and settled in Philadelphia. She grew up in the North Philadelphia and Germantown neighborhoods. According to Mayson, she considers herself to be a "sum of two continents... two countries, two sets of powerful people: my birth country of Liberia, and my beloved Philadelphia.”

She received her undergraduate degree in political science from Temple University in 1993. Mayson is a licensed social worker and received her Master of Social Work from the Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research in 1995. In addition, she holds an MBA from the Villanova University School of Business.

From 2014 to 2018, Mayson served as the executive director for Historic Germantown, an historic preservation collective that manages and promotes 16 historic houses in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia.

Since 2019, concurrent with her poetry readings and outreach as Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, Mayson has worked as the program officer for a mental health service agency in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. Her written work has been exhibited at the Colored Girls Museum in Philadelphia. Some of her poetic verses are part of a mural by artist Ife Nii Owoo at the Logan Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia.

The author has collaborated with jazz guitarist Monnette Sudler on the Sisters in Music project since 2000. In their spoken and sung word and music collaboration, Mayson extolls her female viewers to "Keep climbing" as "You can only go up from here." and to "Fly, girl, fly." despite their struggles against various oppressions, while Sudler encourages them to "Step up to the plate." in a softball-themed metaphor for life.

Mayson taught at the Art Sanctuary for 8 years,

In her poem "We Are All Trees Here", Mayson relates how immigrants to the United States feel as they are labeled as enemies in their new country and experience fear from being undocumented, using the metaphor of sapo trees for family members struggling for survival in forests that are threatened by clearcutting. In "Father", the poet creates a vignette of a nattily-dressed older man who was laid-off from his workplace after many years, and must now work multiple low-wage jobs to support his family.

Mayson's tenure at Historic Germantown provided background for some of her poetry honoring African-American slaves, such as her poem "Happy birthday Dinah" about a slave named Dinah who resided at the Stenton Mansion in the Logan section of Philadelphia, and was enslaved by family members of statesman and former mayor James Logan.

Her experience in mental health care has prompted Mayson to seek out new partnerships that use writing to educate the public about mental health issues, such as recognizing Mental Health Awareness Month, or considering suicide rates and creating "healing verse" for communities.

Works by Trapeta B. Mayson Books of poetry

2018: She Was Once Herself, OCLC 1055273795 2008: Mocha Melodies. 2004: By the Roadside: For Liberian Survivors of War. OCLC 1055273795

Contributor to periodicals and anthologies

Mayson has also published in periodicals such as Aesthetica magazine; the American Poetry Review; Aura: A University of Alabama Literary Journal; Cave Canem's Literary Review; Epiphany Literary Journal; Margie: The American Journal of Poetry and Strong Medicine: American Journal of Poetry.

Awards and honors

Mayson was chosen as the fifth poet laureate of Philadelphia in 2019, under the auspices of the Free Library of Philadelphia. According to the selection committee, the poet was chosen because of her ability to balance a full-time poetic writing practice with participation in many local Philadelphia organizations.

In 2019, she was awarded an Aspen Words Emerging Writers fellowship from the Aspen Institute.

The author was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2016.

The poet was a 2002 fellow of the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage.

She was a fellow of the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts in both 2000 and 2004.