“Remember that this is your job and you get paid in tips. You ain’t gonna get no tip if you tip over this motherfuckin’ table, and break this glass, and bash this racist’s face in.”
Don’t miss this incredible poem from Clarity Levine, performing at the 2017 Rustbelt Poetry Festival.
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.
“Become dust with me, my love, insignificant and everywhere.”
I always appreciate poems that take something big and universal, something that we all already “understand” on an intellectual level, and challenge us to see that something in a new way. Death, for example, is everywhere, every day, something we all have to deal with in one way or another. Because of its universality, certain tropes and motifs have sprouted up around the concept of death– the grim reaper, tombstones, caskets, skeletons, mausoleums, etc.
This poem doesn’t just repeat those tropes, but it also doesn’t completely ignore them; its imagery walks that line between what is familiar and what is new. So yes, there are skulls in the poem, but there are also “sprouts of curious grass shooting from our eye sockets.” That shift– evident in the imagery as well as the deeper issues explored in the poem– creates space for us to rethink our understanding of death. How does a conversation about death intersect with a conversation about love? What can we learn by juxtaposing the two concepts? Perhaps in doing so, we can gain a greater understanding of both, even when they’re so often held up as opposites. This poem challenges that framework in a memorable and powerful way.
“The first time I dated a white guy, I would sometimes let words from my native language slip into a text out of reflex and he’d dismiss them as typos.”
Don’t miss this brilliant poem by Diksha Bijlani, featured contestant in the 2017 Button Poetry Video Contest!
Stay tuned for more information about our 2018 Video Contest!
“Non-bisexual people definitely know more about being bisexual than I do.”
Don’t miss this week’s Best of Button playlist, featuring the top-viewed recent videos on the Button YouTube Channel. Today’s additions: Daniel, & Rachel Wiley! Congrats poets!
“I know, I do, that I feel this way now and will not feel this way soon. I know that the aphorisms, even if I hate them, are right. This too shall pass.”
Don’t miss this beautiful poem from Neil Hilborn, featuring at his book release party at Icehouse in Minneapolis. Make sure to grab a copy of Neil’s newest book, THE FUTURE.
“I imagine, when God made you, he cussed for the first time. He turned to an angel, gave him a high five and said: ‘Goddamn, I’m good!’”
Don’t miss this wonderful poem from Rudy Francisco, featuring at his book release party at Icehouse in Minneapolis. Get your copy of Rudy’s book, HELIUM.
