makalani is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a BA in the Program of Liberal Studies, as well as a graduate of Shaw University with a Master of Divinity in Biblical Studies, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Kentucky. An Affrilachian Poets and Cave Canem graduate fellow, he has also been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Kentucky Arts Council, Millay Colony of the Arts, and Vermont Studio Center. A multidisciplinary, teaching artist and writer, makalani has done readings, writing workshops and classes at universities and conferences across the US for over 10 years. The list of journals where his poems have been published is wide-ranging and extensive, Sou’wester, Prairie Schooner, 32poems, “poem-a-day” on poets.org, Poetry Northwest, Washington Square Review, African-American Review, 32poems, and North American Review, are just the tip of the iceberg. His work has been published in several anthologies: Cave Canem Anthology XIII, Red Holler: Contemporary Appalachian Literature, and Black Bone: 25 Years of the Affrilachian Poets to name a few. makalani has thre collections of poetry, hellfightin’ (Willow Books, 2011),  under the aegis of a winged mind, awarded the 2019 Autumn House Press Poetry Prize, and (jopappy & the sentence-makers are) eponymous as funk, awarded the 2022 Other Futures Award and is forthcoming in Fall 2024 on Futurepoem Books.