Darius Simpson – What We Doin Here

Performed at the Button Studio

“These days I don’t want to make art that can’t also be a weapon against oppressors.”

Don’t miss this poem from Darius Simpson, performing at the Button Studio

Get Darius’s book, Never Catch Me.

Amina ‘Illypsis’ Jordan-Melendez – Bloodlines

Performed their poem “Bloodlines”

“I would not be healed, but would it satisfy my fury?”

Don’t miss this poem from Amina ‘Illypsis’ Jordan-Melendez, performing their poem “Bloodlines”

Shop Button Poetry.

Miya Coleman – God is a Black Woman

Performed at The Roxbury Poetry Festival in Boston, MA

“Because she gave man consciousness and watched him callously misplace credit, yet she is undeterred.”

Don’t miss this poem from Miya Coleman, performing at The Roxbury Poetry Festival in Boston, MA

Get Miya’s book, Cottonmouth.

Rudy Francisco – My Hoop Dreams

Performed at Icehouse in Minneapolis, MN

“Sports kept many neighborhood kids out of trouble; my brother decided to pass that savior down to me.”

Don’t miss this poem from Rudy Francisco, performing at Icehouse in Minneapolis, MN

Get Rudy’s book, Excuse Me As I Kiss The Sky.

Lyric – A Reclamation

Performed at IWPS 2019 in San Diego, CA

“You police my words back down my throat and they return with a vengeance.”

Don’t miss this poem from Lyric, performing at IWPS 2019 in San Diego, CA

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Andrea Gibson – Pursuit of Happiness

Performed in Longmont, CO

“Tell me again how you intend to rescue their women. How you will teach them how to read in the schools you have turned to prisons, how you will offer them doctors in the hospitals you have burned with their children inside.”

Don’t miss this poem from Andrea Gibson, performing in Longmont, CO

Get Andrea’s book, You Better Be Lightning

Daniel – A Blade by Any Other Name

Performed at Park Square Theatre in Saint Paul, MN

“How I see his guilt in every message after. More ashamed of being queer than of being a rapist.”

Don’t miss this poem from Daniel, performing at Park Square Theatre in Saint Paul, MN

Shop Button Poetry.