Autumn Update

Hey Buttoneers,

Sam and Dylan here with what we hope will be the start of more regular updates! So the last few months have been pretty ridiculous here at Button. Word on the street is that we’ve gone viral! Our first few YouTube successes have become the foundation for a body of work totalling over 13 million views including Neil Hilborn’s “OCD”, the most viewed poetry performance on the internet (and thus anywhere, ever). We published our first book, Aziza Barnes’s me Aunt Jemima and the nailgun, and hosted a release show for her in Minneapolis. We ran the second Exploding Pinecone Chapbook Contest, and traveled to Massachusetts, Nebraska and Texas to film poetry tournaments. And it’s only speeding up from here.

In the next few months, watch for more video, our first ever Ebook release, new books from new authors, more contests, entirely new products (maybe even sweaters!), and much more. Thanks to everyone for supporting us and this art form. We can’t wait to see what’s next.

-Sam & Dylan

D: Is buttoneers a pun on boutonnières? There’s really no reason for it to be. Our community are not tiny flowers.

S: Nah, I think it’s more like being a poetry buccaneer. Fans of poetry with snazzy boots.

D: As long as it’s not like being a Tampa Bay Buccaneer. ‘Cause they are bad at football. Sports reference. We’re not nerds.

Aziza Barnes

Aziza Barnes is a brown woman poet from Los Angeles currently living in New York. She is a senior at Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, pursuing her BFA in theater, creative writing and Africana Studies. She was a member of NYU’s poetry slam teams in 2011 and 2012, winning first place in the nation. A member of the Dance Cartel, Aziza performs in venues around New York and is finishing a residency at the Ace Hotel. She is a co-founder of the Divine Fabrics Collective. Winner of the 2012 Button Poetry Prize and author of me Aunt Jemima and the nailgun.

Book release incoming!

There is no doubt about it – things are definitely heating up here, over at Button! As we inch closer to a major first for both our org and for author Aziza Barnes (you guessed it, it’s our first book release!) there seems to be an increasingly audible hum in the air around the ‘office’. Some might say that the hum is just tinnitus, or the air conditioner, but I say it is the merry sound of progress! Cannot wait for the 12th of July and the official release of me Aunt Jemima and the nailgun.

Sam Van Cook

Sam Van Cook is the Founder and President of Button Poetry. He is a recipient of the 2012 Verve Grant, a National Poetry Slam champion and a decorated College Slam coach.

Sam has worked with students nationwide as a Poetry instructor and Performance Poetry coach. He helped found and establish Spoken Word Poetry programs in colleges across Minnesota including Carleton, the U of M, Hamline, MCTC and Macalester. Most notably, Sam spent 4 years as an instructor for Macalester College, coaching and coordinating their championship College Union Spoken Word Invitational (CUPSI) Poetry Slam program. The students Van Cook coached, won the tournament, appeared on numerous final stages and won awards and accolades including Association of College Unions International’s highest award – the “Best Individual Poet”, five years running.

Additionally, Sam was the Director of the two-time national champion St. Paul Soap Boxing Poetry Slam (2009 & 2010) that ran for many years out of The Artists Quarter in St. Paul. He also helped bring the national poetry slam to downtown St Paul in 2010.

Sam is committed to reaching out to folks of all ages in Minnesota and nationwide through poetry, performance and a deep love for tomfoolery.

New Site Launch

Welcome to the new design of Buttonpoetry.com.

Aside from a complete visual overhaul, the site now offers more information about us and our poets, a fully functional store, and a better way to keep up with current projects, so check it out!

We’ve done the best to make this new website work well for everyone. That said, if part of the site isn’t working for you, please let us know along with your browser, version, and OS so we can correct it ASAP. 

CUPSI 2013

In April of 2013, Button Poetry traveled to the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational to capture video of dozens of poets. We believe that documenting the voices of our art form–especially these rising stars–plays a vital role in the growth and innovation of poetry. The videos are available on our YouTube page.

Dylan Book Interview

<b>Book description: </b>The poems in “Blueprints” investigate love, invention, creation, and the act of writing itself, positioning the reader as not just audience, but artist as well. “Blueprints” is Dylan Garity’s second chapbook, and contains poems from his senior honors thesis for Macalester College.

<b>Adverbs:</b> Tomorrow. Often upstairs. Home, accidentally.
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<div><b>Why this book? </b>”Blueprints” is the culmination of almost four years of writing. This isn’t to say that there are four years of writing contained in the book; rather, I wrote all of these poems over the course of the last year. But this collection really brings together and builds on all the work I’ve been doing as a writer for much longer. I reached the point where I needed to create something unified, something cohesive, as opposed to just a scattering of individual pieces. “Blueprints” allowed me to create new work with a focus, work that explored my entire history as a writer, while simultaneously pushing me somewhere new.</div>
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<div><b>Soundtrack: </b></div>
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<div>Tallest Man on Earth – “The Gardener”</div>
<div>Bob Dylan – “Girl from the North Country”</div>
<div>Bright Eyes – “Nothing Gets Crossed Out”</div>
<div>Simon and Garfunkel – “Blues Run the Game”</div>
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<div><b>Cardigan: </b>I tried to wear a cardigan once, and I didn’t like it. But I like my book.</div>
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<div><b>My own question: </b>What’s your favorite poem in the collection?

Probably “Hanging Gardeners”. I feel like, with this poem, I’ve finally succeeded in something I’ve been trying to do in my poetry for a long time: move smoothly between multiple stories/narratives/scenes without losing momentum or direction in the overall piece.</div>