For many readers, poetry can seem daunting, freighted with mistaken notions taught long ago by well-meaning but misguided English teachers: that what a poem says and what a poem means are always two different things, and it’s up to the reader to puzzle out the actual meaning; and that true poetry is an “elevated” art,…Read more Tod Marshall’s new anthology proves poetry alive in Washington (via Spokesman-Review)

College and high school teachers took turns behind the podium, interpreting award-winning poetry as the introverted author sat in his favorite spot — the middle of the crowd. JMU and the Furious Flower Poetry Center hosted a week-long seminar based on the works of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa. The week culminated Saturday with educators…Read more Pulitzer Prize-winning poet visits JMU for week-long seminar (via The Breeze)

Staff at a bookshop were surprised to get an anonymous letter complaining the poetry read out at fortnightly evening events is too rude. The unsigned letter arrived at the Tree House Bookshop on Wednesday. The letter posted to the shop in The Square, Kenilworth, says: “Please ask the owners to stop allowing rude and offensive…Read more Bookshop receives complaint about ‘rude and naughty poetry’ (via Coventry Telegraph)

Hollie McNish has stopped talking for a moment; this doesn’t happen much during the interview. I have just asked her why she thinks her “poetic memoir”, Nobody Told Me, recently won the Poetry Society’s Ted Hughes award (previous recipients include Kate Tempest and Alice Oswald). “I really don’t know,” she says after a brief pause, shrugging and…Read more Hollie McNish: the politics and poetry of boyfriends, babies and breastfeeding (via Guardian)

Tracy K. Smith grew up in a house lined with books, an eclectic library that included dime-store mysteries, 19th-century novels, science fiction paperbacks, Shakespeare’s sonnets and Reader’s Digest Abridged Classics. It seemed vast to her as a child, but soon she’ll have full run of the world’s largest library: On Wednesday, Smith was named the…Read more Poetry on the National Stage (via Valley News)

Full Title: "Russell Simmons’ All Def Digital Gets Behind Spoken Word Documentary ‘Romeo is Bleeding’" All Def Digital and Russell Simmons have partnered with award-winning editor Jason Zeldes to executive produce Zeldes’ documentary feature directorial debut Romeo Is Bleeding, a stirring documentary that explores the power of spoken word poetry to save and elevate youth, in…Read more Russell Simmons’ All Def Digital Gets Behind Spoken Word Documentary (via EURWeb)

At 4 feet, 11 inches, Vanessa Tahay is what you might call a chaparrita. Her skin is dark, her accent is thick, and if you ask her, she will tell you these are the things she’s proudest of. Tahay is a poet, and at 18, considered among the best in the city. The high school…Read more At 18, this L.A. high school poet often makes audiences go silent (via L.A. Times)