Poet, photographer and community organizer Golden’s first slam poetry performance in Boston received a standing ovation, cementing Golden’s pathway to becoming a local poetry icon.

This past August, Golden released their debut poetry collection “A Dead Name That Learned How to Live” with Game Over Books, a culmination of work they’ve written over the last four years living in Boston where they were artist-in-residence in 2020-2021. This past September, Golden announced on Instagram that they plan on moving away from Boston by 2023, saying, “This book feels like the perfect way to close this chapter that has given so much to me.”

“This book is a mending and a moving, a conversation between the past and the present, between a photograph and a poem.”

Golden

“A Dead Name That Learned How to Live” opens with photo collages of Golden’s family. Their mother’s side is on the left, their father’s side is on the right and portraits of Golden and their two siblings are at the center. “That encapsulates everything I was trying to do with this book,” Golden says. “My work is an extension of these people, so I’m bringing everyone along with me.”

It is impossible to read Golden’s poetry without seeing the influence of the essential people and places from their upbringing. Their parents attended the same elementary, middle and high schools together in the small town of Pocomoke City, Maryland, a place where most residents spend their entire lives, like…