Best of Button – Week 11

““Love arrives exactly when love is supposed to, and love leaves exactly when love must.”

Don’t miss this week’s Best of Button playlist. Today’s additions: Rudy Francisco,Cameron Dada, Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre, and Sam Sax! 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 Mason!

Sam Sax – “Gay Boys and the Bridges Who Love Them”

A Short Film.

“It’s not the six seconds between here and impact, though each is its own poem.”

Don’t miss this powerful film from Sam Sax.

Make sure to check out Sam’s book, A GUIDE TO UNDRESSING YOUR MONSTERS, now available!

While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including books by Sabrina Benaim, Neil Hilborn, Blythe Baird, Desireé Dallagiacomo, & our newest release from Dave Harris!

Sam Sax – “Ode To The Belt” (Button Live)


Featuring at Button Poetry Live.

“Bless all this life thrashing against death’s garish precipice.”

Don’t miss this awesome poem from Sam Sax, featuring at Button Poetry Live.

Send us your poetry! 2018 Chapbook Contest is NOW OPEN! Submit Here!

Make sure to check out Sam’s book, A GUIDE TO UNDRESSING YOUR MONSTERS.


Get Sam’s Book Here
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While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including books by Olivia Gatwood, Sabrina Benaim, Rachel Wiley, Neil Hilborn, Phil Kaye, & our newest release from Andrea Gibson!

Sam Sax – “Lisp” (Button Live)


Featuring at Button Poetry Live.

“Sound shapes how we think about objects, the mouth shapes how sound spills out, how the speaker’s seen.”

Don’t miss this phenomenal poem from Sam Sax, featuring at Button Poetry Live.

Make sure to check out Sam’s book, A GUIDE TO UNDRESSING YOUR MONSTERS.


Get Sam’s Book Here
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While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, Hanif Abdurraqib, Donte Collins, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, Rachel Wiley, & our newest release from Neil Hilborn!

Sam Sax – “Learning to Twerk Alone in My Room” (100K Views!)

“Trying to train the awkward wing of my ass to fly…”

Congratulations to Sam Sax on topping 100,000 views on this incredible poem! Make sure to check out Sam’s book, A GUIDE TO UNDRESSING YOUR MONSTERS.


Get Sam’s Book Here
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And while you’re here, make sure to check out our other books and merch as well, including our awesome t-shirts and posters, and books by Olivia Gatwood, Donte Collins, Melissa Lozada-Oliva, Rudy Francisco, Rachel Wiley, and our newest release from Neil Hilborn!

Best of Button Week 153

“I’m not here to make you comfortable, I’m here to free myself.”



Don’t miss this week’s Best of Button playlist, featuring the top-viewed recent videos on the Button YouTube Channel. Today’s additions: Neil Hilborn, Sam Sax, & Paul Tran! Congratulations poets!

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, Rudy Francisco, Stevie Edwards, Claire Schwartz, & our newest release from Guante!

Best of Button Week 134

“I text myself, ‘I knew you would need me.’”



Don’t miss this week’s Best of Button playlist, featuring the top-viewed recent videos on the Button YouTube Channel. Today’s additions: Olivia Gatwood, Andrea Gibson, Sam Sax, & Melissa Lozada-Oliva. Congratulations poets!

While you’re here on our site, make sure to check out our books and merchandise in the Button Store, including books by Aziza Barnes, Danez Smith, Neil Hilborn, Donte Collins, Sabrina Benaim, and our newest release from Melissa Lozada-Oliva.

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.”
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Write-up by Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre

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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.

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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 Aziza Barnes, Danez Smith, Neil Hilborn, Donte Collins, and our newest release from Sabrina Benaim.

Sam Sax – “Essay on Crying in Public” (250K Views!)

“How bad does the news have to be before you get to shoot the messenger? How can we bury the hatchet when it always ends up in my back?”

Congratulations to Button author Sam Sax on topping 250,000 views on this incredible poem. Check out more of Sam’s work in his book, A Guide to Undressing Your Monsters.



And while you’re here, make sure to check out our books and merch as well, including our awesome t-shirts and poster and new books by Jacqui Germain, Hanif Abdurraqib, and Aaron Coleman!

Sam Sax – “Kaddish” (Rustbelt 2016)

Performing at Rustbelt 2016.

“I wonder what they found when they cut him open. Wings, I bet.
I bet they found wings.”

Don’t miss this stunning poem from Sam Sax, performing at the 2016 Rustbelt Regional Poetry Slam in Columbus, OH. You can check out more of Sam’s work in his brilliant book, A Guide to Undressing Your Monsters. Watch more of Sam’s videos here, here and 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.