Grace Akon – “Ding Dong Ditch” (Button Live)

Performing at Button Poetry Live.

“The difference between my skin and your uniform is that you get to take it off.”

Don’t miss this stunning poem by Grace Akon, performing at Button Poetry Live. If you’re in the Twin Cities, don’t miss the next Button Poetry Live show, first Monday of every month in downtown Saint Paul, or watch LIVE from our YouTube Channel.

Want to have your video featured on Button Poetry? Video submissions are open NOW, August 1st – September 15th!

While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out all our books and merch, including books by Neil Hilborn, Danez Smith, Jacqui Germain, Hanif Abdurraqib, Olivia Gatwood, Donte Collins, our newest release from Sabrina Benaim & more.

T Miller – “The Difference Between a Girlfriend and a Woman” (Button Live)

Performing at Button Poetry Live.

“A girlfriend will come over to you house and help clean up your kitchen. A woman will come into your life and help clean up your credit.”

Don’t miss this incredible poem by T Miller, performing at Button Poetry Live. If you’re in the Twin Cities, don’t miss the next Button Poetry Live show, first Monday of every month in downtown Saint Paul, or watch LIVE from our YouTube Channel.

Want to have your video featured on Button Poetry? Video submissions are open NOW, August 1st – September 15th!

While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out all our books and merch, including books by Neil Hilborn, Danez Smith, Jacqui Germain, Hanif Abdurraqib, Olivia Gatwood, Donte Collins, our newest release from Sabrina Benaim & more.

In-Depth Look: Sam Sax – “Written to be Yelled at Trump Tower…”

In-Depth Look: Sam Sax – “Written to be Yelled at Trump Tower…”

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.

“Every poem I have ever written is trying to get closer to the people I have lost.”
———

Write-up by Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre

———

The other day, poets Clint Smith and Eve Ewing engaged in a couple of great Twitter threads about the politics of being labeled a “spoken word poet” or a “poet.” This is an age when more and more artists from the slam scene are finding success in the realms of publishing and academia, but the distinction has always been muddy. So many of spoken word culture’s brightest stars– Patricia Smith, Saul Williams, Bao Phi, and beyond– are also award-winning page poets; the next generation is already continuing that trend.

Sam Sax embodies this as well as anyone. As a poet, he’s received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Lambda Literary, & The MacDowell Colony. His new book, Madness, is the winner of The National Poetry Series selected by Terrance Hayes; his upcoming second book, Bury It, is the Winner of the 2017 James Laughlin Award from The Academy of American Poems.

But Sax is also a striking performer. This poem, exploring intersections of capitalism, artistic expression, exploitation, and loss, is already so tightly constructed and consistent in terms of its imagery and thesis; the performance, though, particularly through Sax’s intentionality around tempo and rising/falling tension, adds further layers. While the stereotype that spoken word is about using performance to make up for flat writing will likely persist, Sax shows that at its best, spoken word and slam poetry are about artists using performance to give their already-powerful writing added texture, depth, and meaning.

———

While you’re here on our site, make sure to check out our books and merchandise in the Button Store, including Guante’s own book, as well as titles by Aziza Barnes, Danez Smith, Neil Hilborn, Donte Collins, and our newest release from Sabrina Benaim.

Thomas Fucaloro – “God Is a Cigarette I Want to Smoke”

2016 Button Poetry Video Contest.

“I am a cute painting but a terrible photograph.”

Don’t miss this marvelous poem by Thomas Fucaloro, featured contestant in the 2016 Button Poetry Video Contest.

Want to have your video featured on Button Poetry? Video submissions run August 1st – September 15th!

While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out all our books and merch, including books by Neil Hilborn, Danez Smith, Olivia Gatwood, Hanif Abdurraqib, Donte Collins, our newest release from Sabrina Benaim & more.

Roya Marsh – “7 Sacraments of Coming to Peace with My Molester”

Performing at the 2017 Rustbelt Poetry Festival.

“I gather my pieces, commit to being whole again.”

Don’t miss this fantastic poem by Roya Marsh, performing at the 2017 Rustbelt Poetry Festival. Want to have your video featured on Button Poetry? Video submissions are open NOW, August 1st – September 15th!

While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out all our books and merch, including books by Neil Hilborn, Danez Smith, Jacqui Germain, Hanif Abdurraqib, Olivia Gatwood, Donte Collins, our newest release from Sabrina Benaim & more.

Jamiah Lincoln – “My Brother”

2016 Button Poetry Video Contest.

“My oldest brother cannot seem to find someone to love him. I’ve placed a mirror in every room in the house, hoping he settles for the person he sees the most.”

Don’t miss this tremendous poem by Jamiah Lincoln, featured contestant in the 2016 Button Poetry Video Contest.

Want to have your video featured on Button Poetry? Video submissions run August 1st – September 15th!

While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out all our books and merch, including books by Neil Hilborn, Danez Smith, Olivia Gatwood, Hanif Abdurraqib, Donte Collins, our newest release from Sabrina Benaim & more.

Reagan Myers – “Depression Is Funny Like That” (Button Live)

Performing at Button Poetry Live.

“I’m so tired of talking about my depression as someone else: a ghost that haunts me and I am afraid of the seance.”

Don’t miss this marvelous poem by Reagan Myers, performing at Button Poetry Live. If you’re in the Twin Cities, don’t miss the next Button Poetry Live show, first Monday of every month in downtown Saint Paul, or watch LIVE from our YouTube Channel.

Want to have your video featured on Button Poetry? Video submissions are open NOW, August 1st – September 15th!

While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out all our books and merch, including books by Neil Hilborn, Danez Smith, Jacqui Germain, Hanif Abdurraqib, Olivia Gatwood, Donte Collins, our newest release from Sabrina Benaim & more.

In-Depth Look: Dave Harris – “To the Extent…”

In-Depth Look: Dave Harris – “To the Extent…”

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.

“I say my anger is my greatest joy, and I become a heaven on fire.”
———

Write-up by Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre

———

One of poetry’s most important functions is to communicate ideas in ways that honor their complexity. Speeches, academic papers, or thinkpieces don’t generally capture what this poem captures in terms of the relationships between hope and fear, resistance and rage, empathy (in a critical sense) and spite. These juxtapositions play out not just in the poem’s substance, but in Harris’ delivery as well– it’s subtle, but note how the poem “moves.” From the first line to the last line, while the overall volume/tone doesn’t shift much, the emotional charge builds and builds, finally setting up the devastating repetition of “I hope” lines that close the piece.

For further exploration, check out Marc Lamont Hill discussing Keith Scott on Democracy Now: “The Weapon Will Always Be Black Bodies.” Scholar of The Great Migration Wallace Best takes that idea beyond interpersonal interactions with “The Fear of Black Bodies in Motion.”

———

While you’re here on our site, make sure to check out our books and merchandise in the Button Store, including Guante’s own book, as well as titles by Aziza Barnes, Danez Smith, Neil Hilborn, Donte Collins, and our newest release from Sabrina Benaim.

Ikram Hussein – “Constellations”

2016 Button Poetry Video Contest.

“The most beautiful thing about a sunrise is its patience: the way it rolls over the horizon one strand at a time.”

Don’t miss this phenomenal poem by Ikram Hussein, featured contestant in the 2016 Button Poetry Video Contest.

Want to have your video featured on Button Poetry? Video submissions run August 1st – September 15th!

While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out all our books and merch, including books by Neil Hilborn, Danez Smith, Olivia Gatwood, Hanif Abdurraqib, Donte Collins, our newest release from Sabrina Benaim & more.

Andrea Gibson – “Prism” (Button Live)

Performing at Button Poetry Live.

“I suppose we wear our traumas the way the guillotine wears gravity; our lovers’ necks are so soft.”

Don’t miss this beautiful poem by Andrea Gibson, featuring at Button Poetry Live. If you’re in the Twin Cities, don’t miss the next Button Poetry Live show, first Monday of every month in downtown Saint Paul, or watch LIVE from our YouTube Channel.

Want to have your video featured on Button Poetry? Video submissions are open NOW, August 1st – September 15th!

While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out all our books and merch, including books by Neil Hilborn, Danez Smith, Jacqui Germain, Hanif Abdurraqib, Olivia Gatwood, Donte Collins, our newest release from Sabrina Benaim & more.