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Grammy-considered poet deepens her exploration of grief, survival, and resilience through collective storytelling
Acclaimed spoken-word poet, storyteller, and Pharr, Texas’s first Poet Laureate Amanda Puryear El returns with Nightly Dosage, a profoundly intimate and collaborative spoken-word album that expands her signature blend of emotional honesty and lived experience. The project features contributions from 13 artists and continues her commitment to amplifying voices shaped by survival, memory, and the realities of border life.
“My main focus on the collaboration was to bring poets together and explain that poetry and literature is everything,” she told AllHipHop exclusively. “It was crucial for me to invite those I did, because all of us have something to say. But it is better when said together. We want to show that regardless what you go through at times it is better to overcome it with others by your side poetically.”
Following her Grammy-considered release Daily Dosage, Nightly Dosage serves as a companion piece, However, she moves deeper into the quiet hours where reflection, grief, and endurance collide. Rooted in Puryear El’s upbringing along the Texas–Mexico border, the album offers vivid narratives that confront identity, loss, and healing with unflinching clarity.
Each piece feels like a late-night reckoning, capturing what it means to sit with pain long enough to transform it.
“To me, it [the art] represents saying what we have escaped from and gained wisdom from it,” she continued. “Spoken word for me is a lil’ girl I used to be speaking fluently. poetically through rhymes, through scars, through el barrio. And healing one rhyme at a time. I used to say a lot because I had a bad temper, but now I deflect my emotions with a paper and pen.”
The album features collaborators Emmy Perez, Dr. Paola Carrasco, Carla Castillo, Yelitza Saenz, Elsha, Louie Skaggs, Slum City Cash, Thomas Ray Garcia, Edward Vidaurre, Daniel Garcia (The Poet Mariachi), Ronnie Palacios, Queen T, and Crischelle Navalta Barnes. Together, they form a powerful chorus of perspectives. Each voice adds texture, cultural depth, and emotional weight to the project’s shared narrative.
Puryear El reunites with producer Craig “WZRD” Gundlach and studio engineer Jesus “Chuy” Cavazos, continuing a creative partnership known for pairing raw, unfiltered poetry with immersive, minimalist soundscapes.
The result is a listening experience that feels both personal and communal, intimate yet expansive.
Rather than a solo statement, Nightly Dosage unfolds as a collective offering. It honors vulnerability as strength and storytelling as survival. Musically, the opus lingers and lyrically it demands listeners feel the truths in the prose.
Picking her favorite track is like picking a favorite child, but she offered “Dear Poetry.”
“Honestly, all of them are my favorite…but that one I let go of something I was holding for a while,” she admitted.
With Nightly Dosage, Amanda Puryear El delivers more than a spoken-word release. She offers a testament to growth, resilience, and the beauty that can emerge when pain is given language.
“Words are my keys,” she concluded.
Amanda Puryear El is a Texas-based spoken-word poet, recording artist, and cultural advocate whose work centers on emotional truth, storytelling, and lived experience. She is the first and current Poet Laureate of Pharr, Texas. Her Grammy-considered album Daily Dosage brought national recognition to her ability to transform deeply personal narratives into resonant, universal reflections. Through fearless expression and intentional collaboration, Puryear El continues to push the boundaries of contemporary spoken-word art.
