“Do not be okay, because heartbreak is not about being okay. It’s about remembering you were okay before.”
Congratulations to Victoria Morgan on topping 250,000 views! You can check out more excellent poems on love in our Love Poems Playlist.
And while you’re here, make sure to check out our books and merch as well, including our awesome t-shirts (which are on a start-of-summer sale!) and new books by Jacqui Germain and Hanif Abdurraqib!
Performing at the 2016 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational
“Depression was the storm, but my name
was the home my family gave me to survive it.”
Don’t miss this powerful poem from Sarah Ogutu, performing for the University of Minnesota during prelims 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 (on sale for the start of summer!) in both female and unisex cuts, and books by many of your favorite Button artists.
It’s been another great week in the world of poetry, and it just keeps getting better! Take a gander at some of these links to kick off your summery weekend.
Small Press Distribution Staff Picks – Button author Jacqui Germain’s new release, When the Ghosts Come Ashore, was selected by Small Press Distribution for their recommended books. Included is a review by Janice Worthen. Check it out, and then order yourself a copy from our online store!
BeHeard Team Send-Off Show, June 17th – For our local fans, BeHeard is the Twin Cities’ own youth slam team, and they are ridiculously talented. They are gearing up to head to the Brave New Voices national youth slam competition and festival in Washington D.C. and this is your chance to send them off right!
Maps For Teeth Submissions –If you’ve been jotting down pretty lines and are looking for an online home for them, Maps For Teeth has a solution for you! Submissions for this online literary magazine are open for one more week. Join the ranks of poets such as Melissa Newman-Evans, Adam Tedesco, and Noel Quinones.
Jamila Woods Gives Us #BlackGirlMagic Anthem – Jamila Woods is a member of the Dark Noise collective, and her work spans poetry and music. She recently released the video for her song “Blk Girl Soldier,” and the good folks over at the Black Youth Project did a brief write-up on the video, including links to other songs by Woods and an interview with her in Complex.
AWP Podcast Series Episode 121 – Recorded at the 2016 Association of Writers and Writing Programs conference in Los Angeles, this podcast features readings from Ross Gay, Tarfia Faizullah, Jamaal May, and others as a part of the 12 year anniversary reading of the Fishouse, an online audio library of emerging poets.
Redbone Stones by Mahogany Browne – Write About Now poetry, a slam and open mic venue in Houston, Texas, and one of our Button Live Supporters, took amazing video of this month’s Button Poetry Live feature and Button Author, Mahogany Browne, reading. So if you missed the livestream on Monday, here’s a chance to get your badass poetry performance fix!
“How do we forgive ourselves for all of the things we did not become?”
Congratulations to Doc Luben on topping 500,000 views! Check out more of Doc’s work here and here. And make sure to check out our books and merch as well, including new books by Jacqui Germain and Hanif Abdurraqib!
Holy wow, it’s been another great week in poetry! Take a look at some of the newest poems, essays, and lists floating around the internet:
Literary Juneteenth (or Why I Left the Offing) – This piece technically came out last week, but it is too important and too well-written to not feature. Casey Rocheteau explores some of the racial inequities and specific instances of ignorance that led her to leave the Offing. Intention can only take you so far, especially as an editor working for a magazine that seeks to uplift and empower marginalized voices.
“It Doesn’t Feel Like a Time to Write” – Button author Danez Smith, back at it again with the evocative, urgent poems. He presents readers with an honest portrait of exhaustion, of how a continual state of mourning and fear wears on black people in America. An especially important piece for those whose reaction to the murder of unarmed black people is to insist on more information, more calm reason from affected communities, more, more, more.
Three Poems by Rachel McKibbens – If you know Rachel’s work, you know she has two full-length collections and one chapbook already published (Pink Elephant, Into the Dark and Emptying Field, and Mammoth), and you are probably waiting anxiously for a third book. Here are a few poems from her third manuscript, published in Vinyl earlier this week. These poems vibrate with elegantly depicted pain, never melodramatic, but clear and tightly constructed.
Poetry Foundation Launches Poetry Incubator – Applications are open until June 1st for the first ever Poetry Incubator and Chicago Poetry Block Party. This is a three-day program meant to encourage professional development and collaboration for poets engaged with their communities. The weekend ends with a block party celebrating poetry, community, and Chicago. This is open to writers across the country, so get those applications in!
SPIT POET! 5 Poetry Collectives You Should Know – Taylor Steele, an amazing poet herself, is also writing a column highlighting emerging writers you should know about. In this piece, we get introduced to five poetry collectives, including Dark Noise and divine fabrics, two groups that include Button authors, Danez Smith and Aziza Barnes respectively. You get collective information, poems and interviews, everything you need to develop your love of these incredible talents.
DOGBYTES INTERVIEW: Camille Rankine – Author of Incorrect Merciful Impulses, (Copper Canyon Press 2016), Camille Rankine is interviewed in a new blog project from Cave Canem, an esteemed writing retreat for African-American writers. The interview covers her thoughts on the place of social justice in poetry, book recommendations, and the secret to driving in the snow.
“Single, female, 20-years-old. Looking for a man who likes a girl who…doesn’t really…look…like 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: Hanif Abdurraqib, Adam Hamze, Kate Hao & Kristen Sze-Tu. Congratulations poets!
Make sure to check out our books and merchandise in the Button Store, including Hanif’s new book!
“Too many people have claimed they can read me like a book and then they went and put me on a shelf.”
Don’t miss this week’s Best of Button playlist, featuring the top-viewed recent videos on the Button YouTube Channel. Today’s additions: Jamie Mortara & Jon Ratz. Congratulations poets!
Make sure to check out our books and merchandise in the Button Store!
