Ailish Hopper (born Washington DC) is an American poet and teacher. Hopper has published a chapbook called Bird in the Head (2005); she has also published a poetry collection called Dark~Sky Society (2014), which explores racial tensions. In an interview with WYPR, she has noted her interest in race relations as being a consequence of her coming of age in DC and of her Irish heritage. Hopper's poetry has also been included in Agni, American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, Harvard Review Online, Tidal Basin Review, among others. In addition to page poetry, she has performed with the band Heroes are Gang Leaders, along with poets Thomas Sayers Ellis and Randall Horton, and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis. Hopper has also written essays about race relations, including one in Boston Revie