Featuring at Intermedia Arts.
“No one should need a piece of paper to prove they belong.”
Don’t miss this amazing poem from Ariana Brown, performing at Intermedia Arts in Minneapolis, MN.
While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including books by Olivia Gatwood, Hanif Abdurraqib, Donte Collins, Sabrina Benaim, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, William Evans, Guante, Rachel Wiley, & our newest release from Neil Hilborn!
“I have never had a mother, or no longer, or once did, briefly, for a day or two.”
Don’t miss this remarkable poem from Rachel McKibbens, performing at the 2017 Rustbelt Poetry Festival.
While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including books by Olivia Gatwood, Hanif Abdurraqib, Donte Collins, Sabrina Benaim, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, William Evans, Guante, Rachel Wiley, & our newest release from Neil Hilborn!
“I do not fear that grief will make itself a home within me.”
Don’t miss this heartbreaking poem from Ephraim Nehemiah, performing at the 2017 Rustbelt Poetry Festival.
While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including books by Olivia Gatwood, Hanif Abdurraqib, Donte Collins, Sabrina Benaim, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, William Evans, Guante, Rachel Wiley, & our newest release from Neil Hilborn!
“I wait in line at the pharmacy counter to pick up the refills for my anti-depressants, and prominently placed right next to the counter is a five-foot display of religious books promising a happy fulfilled life through prayer. I should’ve known. I should have known my mother would follow me in here like that.”
Don’t miss this breathtaking poem from Patrick Roche, performing at the 2017 Rustbelt Poetry Festival.
While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including books by Olivia Gatwood, Hanif Abdurraqib, Donte Collins, Sabrina Benaim, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, William Evans, Guante, Rachel Wiley, & our newest release from Neil Hilborn!
“My niece is 8 and skipping pizza day because all of a sudden worried if she’s thin enough to be a queen or pretty enough to be someone’s trophy.”
Don’t miss this impeccable poem from Rachel Wiley, featuring at Button Poetry Live.
Check out Rachel’s newest book, NOTHING IS OKAY, now available!
While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including books by Neil Hilborn, Olivia Gatwood, Hanif Abdurraqib, Donte Collins, Sabrina Benaim, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, William Evans, Guante, Rachel Wiley, & our newest release from Neil Hilborn!
“‘God makes no mistakes’ is the string that keeps us tied to him.”
Don’t miss this marvelous poem from Raych Jackson, performing at the 2017 Rustbelt Poetry Festival.
While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including books by Olivia Gatwood, Hanif Abdurraqib, Donte Collins, Sabrina Benaim, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, William Evans, Guante, Rachel Wiley, & our newest release from Neil Hilborn!
In-Depth Look: Isha Camara – “Loudest Burial”
Appreciating poetry is often about patience: sitting with a poem, meditating on it, and re-reading it multiple times. With spoken word, we don’t always get a chance to do that. This series is about taking that chance, and diving a little deeper into some of the new poems going up on Button.
“Eye for an eye? More like tooth for whole skull.”
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Write-up by Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre
The stereotype about spoken word is that it’s all “big,” capital-P Political Poems, and there is some truth in that. When the stage is one of the only public forums we have to discuss the things that we care about, it’s only natural that it becomes a platform for work that engages with the world. That stereotype, however, often seems to be framed negatively, as though “political poems” were inherently hollow, just “ranting and raving” without any craft or heart.
This poem is a great counterpoint to that, showing how a poem can be both explicitly political and very much grounded, concrete, and human. From “the hands of your loved ones,” to a mother’s voice, to a clear-eyed view of Obama’s legacy, this isn’t a poem about “those people over there,” a stumble that some attempts at political poetry make; the poem finds a way to comment on world events through the lens of personal experience.
In “Why Authoritarians Attack the Arts,” scholar and poet Eve Ewing writes: “Art creates pathways for subversion, for political understanding and solidarity among coalition builders. Art teaches us that lives other than our own have value.” I’m hearing this poem in that context; the work that this poem is doing is important, and is work that we (especially those of us who are poets) can and should contribute to as well.
Hear another one of Isha Camara’s poems here!
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While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including books by Neil Hilborn, Olivia Gatwood, Hanif Abdurraqib, Donte Collins, Sabrina Benaim, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, William Evans, Guante, Rachel Wiley, & our newest release from Neil Hilborn!
“It doesn’t matter if I can remember the passage correctly, because I remember the way it made me feel.”
Don’t miss this fantastic poem from Melissa Lozada-Oliva, featuring at her book release party at Icehouse in Minneapolis.
Get your copy of Melissa’s stellar book, PELUDA, now available!
While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including books by Neil Hilborn, Olivia Gatwood, Hanif Abdurraqib, Donte Collins, Sabrina Benaim, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, William Evans, Guante, Rachel Wiley, & our newest release from Neil Hilborn!
“I told my ex that I didn’t pray. I believe in God, but it’s just something that I didn’t do. After this discovery, she said she didn’t know if she could date me anymore.”
Don’t miss this hilarious poem from Omar Holmon, featuring at Button Poetry Live.
While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including books by Neil Hilborn, Olivia Gatwood, Hanif Abdurraqib, Donte Collins, Sabrina Benaim, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, William Evans, Guante, Rachel Wiley, & our newest release from Neil Hilborn!
“If you tear the part that says ‘peanut’ off of a peanut butter jar, that does not make it butter. That does not make it any less brown, any more yellow.”
Don’t miss this magnificent poem from T. Miller, featuring at Button Poetry Live.
While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including books by Neil Hilborn, Olivia Gatwood, Hanif Abdurraqib, Donte Collins, Sabrina Benaim, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, William Evans, Guante, Rachel Wiley, & our newest release from Neil Hilborn!
