Best of Button Week 144

“A rich girl once told me she didn’t shop in thrift stores because they were ‘sad places’.”




Don’t miss this week’s Best of Button playlist, featuring the top-viewed recent videos on the Button YouTube Channel. Today’s additions: Ariana Brown & Samantha Healy. Congrats poets!

Want to get your book published on Button? The 2017 Button Poetry Chapbook Contest is now open for submissions. November 15th – January 5th, 2017-2018. Check out the full information and guidelines for the contest here!

While you’re here on our site, make sure to check out our books and merchandise in the Button Store, including books by Danez Smith, Olivia Gatwood, Neil Hilborn, Donte Collins, Sabrina Benaim, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, William Evans, our newest release from Rudy Francisco and more!

In-Depth Look: Ariana Brown – “Ode to Thrift Stores”

In-Depth Look: Ariana Brown – “Ode to Thrift Stores”

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.

What can you create when the only thing in front of you is your hands?

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Write-up by Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre

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My favorite extended metaphors also function on a literal level. I hear this poem as a profound exploration of how wisdom is handed down through generations, how class identity is shaped through family relationships, how necessity is the mother of invention (with “mother” being intentional phrasing)– of course. But I also hear it as a literal ode to thrift stores; the imagery is so specific, the sense of place so well-defined. The fact that the poem works so well on both levels is stunning; the thrift store is not just the tool used to get to the “deep stuff” in the poem; it’s inextricably linked to it.

That fusion of form and content, aside from just being gorgeous on a poetic level, generates an emotional energy that brings the audience into the poem, that gives the poem weight. Related to that, I’d also just point out how powerful the opening and closing lines of the poem are; both are quotes, both could be seen as “small” interpersonal interactions, and both do so much work for the poem.

Find more from Ariana Brown here!

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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 Danez Smith, Neil Hilborn, Donte Collins, Sabrina Benaim, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, William Evans, and our newest release from Rudy Francisco!

Ariana Brown – “Supremacy”

Featuring at Intermedia Arts.

“They wanted to swallow a white girl’s smile, fold it in their pockets to keep them warm.”

Don’t miss this fantastic 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 Neil Hilborn, Mahogany L. Browne, Olivia Gatwood, Hanif Abdurraqib, Jacqui Germain, Aaron Coleman, Donte Collins, Sabrina Benaim, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, our newest release from William Evans & more.

Ariana Brown – “Curanderismo” (CUPSI 2016)


Performing at CUPSI 2016.

“If you are alive, you are descended from a people who refused to die.”

Don’t miss this powerful poem from Ariana Brown, performing for UT Austin at the 2016 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational.
While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including Button t-shirts in both female and unisex cuts, and books and more by many of your favorite Button artists.