Trapeta B. Mayson (born 1967) is a Liberian-born poet, teacher, social worker, and non-profit administrator residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US.
Later, local writers guided the high-schoolers in creating poems reflecting on their learned experiences, which the students presented live at a Historic Germantown open house.
[13] 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.
[3] Her second chapbook, She Was Once Herself, tells the story of her mother's immigration from Liberia to the United States, her struggles and triumphs in adapting to a new country, the family's problems obtaining citizenship, and later her nervous breakdown with subsequent diagnosis of schizophrenia.
[19] 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.
[20] 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.
[17] In past workshops, the author has fostered the creation of toolkits for healing that she calls "Recipe For", in which participants reveal the key issues impacting their lives, and facilitators assist them to create a list of writing "ingredients" that they can use independently to promote self-healing.
[17] In January 2021, Mayson launched the Healing Verse Philly Poetry Line, a toll-free phone number where callers can hear a 90-second poem authored by a poet connected with Philadelphia, as well as obtain information about how to access mental health care in the city.
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.