Best of Button – Week 7

“I say, ‘I am fat.’ He says, ‘no, you’re beautiful.’ I wonder why I cannot be both.”

Don’t miss this week’s Best of Button playlist. Today’s additions: Sierra DeMulder, Rachel Wiley, Ollie Schminkey, Darius Simpson, Sabrina Benaim, Hanif Abdurraqib, Arianna Monet, Rudy Francisco, and Maggie Smith! Congrats Poets!

Come back each week to see our newest and most popular videos.

While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, or check out our newest release from Matt Coonan!

Catherine Weiss – The Joke and The Noise

Performed their poem “The Joke and The Noise”

“When the bleak chaotic void peers into my soul, I have no idea I have the ability to look back.”

Don’t miss this poem from Catherine Weiss, performing their poem “The Joke and The Noise”

Shop Button Poetry.

Arianna Monet – Mango Season

Performed their poem “Mango Season”

“Someone somewhere said happy mango season, and for a few seconds every child of the diaspora glowed green and orange and gold.”

Don’t miss this poem from Arianna Monet, performing their poem “Mango Season”

Shop Button Poetry.

Darius Simpson – A Poem in Which We Shoot Back

Performed at the Button Studio

“What’s Black life to a murder machine? What good is mattering to a wolf’s front teeth?”

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

Get Darius’s book, Never Catch Me.

Best of Button – Week 6

“But to tell me you know my pain is to stab yourself in the leg because you saw me get shot. We have two different wounds, and looking at yours does nothing to heal mine.”

Don’t miss this week’s Best of Button playlist. Today’s additions: Darius Simpson, Scout Bostley, Rachel Wiley, Ollie Schminkey, Keyma Flight, Sierra DeMulder, and Tess Siegel! Congrats Poets!

Come back each week to see our newest and most popular videos.

While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, or check out our newest release from Poetry By Chance An Anthology of Poems Powered By Metaphor Dice Edited by Taylor Mali!

Ollie Schminkey – Caregiver’s Guilt

Performed at the Strike Theater in Minneapolis, MN

“Even after my father died I couldn’t go for a walk, or take a bath, or laugh at a stupid TV show without the guilt burning in my knuckles. The alchemy of dying joy transformed to shame at the first cough.”

Don’t miss this poem from Ollie Schminkey, performing at the Strike Theater in Minneapolis, MN

Get Ollie’s book, Dead Dad Jokes.

Keyma Flight – Cigarette Women

Performed at the 2022 Womxn of the World Poetry Slam in Baltimore, MD

“Everything that we think is shining is actually burning.”

Don’t miss this poem from Keyma Flight, performing at the 2022 Womxn of the World Poetry Slam in Baltimore, MD

Shop Button Poetry.

Ollie Schminkey – I Watched Him Die

Performed at the Button studio

“The truth is, the body wants to live, and so there is always gasping.”

Don’t miss this poem from Ollie Schminkey, performing at the Button studio

Get Ollie’s book, Dead Dad Jokes.

Best of Button – Week 5

“Your job is not just to look up and imagine, your job is to look down and laugh. Your job is not just to understand flight. It’s to fly.”

Don’t miss this week’s Best of Button playlist. Today’s additions: Ebony Stewart, Kyle ‘Guante’ Tran Myhre, Steven Willis, and Edwin Bodney! Congrats Poets!

Come back each week to see our newest and most popular videos.

While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, or check out our newest release Poetry By Chance: An Anthology of Poems Powered By Metaphor Dice edited by Taylor Mali!

Porsha Olayiwola – Live @ Button Poetry

Performed LIVE @ Button Poetry

“Everything that we think is shining is actually burning.”

Don’t miss this poem from Porsha Olayiwola, performing LIVE @ Button Poetry

Get Porsha’s book, I Shimmer Sometimes, Too.