Rupi Kaur has published two books: 2015’s Milk and Honey, 2017’s The Sun and Her Flowers. Her epigrammatic verse is spare, the offspring of classical aphorism (if you’re feeling generous) and the language of self-help. The poems have a confessional, earnest manner; disarmingly full of feeling, they can be easy to dismiss. Nevertheless, Rupi Kaur, a Canadian … Continue reading Rupi Kaur Is the Writer of the Decade (via The New Republic)
If Olivia Gatwood had never found poetry, she would probably be dead by now. She said this nonchalantly backstage before a performance at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg for several hundred fans. A few minutes later, she was slathering lavender oil on her tattooed arms. “I don’t like perfume,” she said. “It makes me feel … Continue reading Olivia Gatwood, a Poet With a YouTube Following, Branches Out (via NY Times)
This list of horror poetry collections is sponsored by Forge Books. Four women. Four secrets. A weekend that will change them forever…if they survive. Each woman has come to the retreat for different reasons. Each has her secrets to hide. And at the end of this weekend only one will be left standing. Sherri Smith illuminates … Continue reading 10 Creepy, Captivating Horror Poetry Collections (via Book Riot)
Wine Country Spoken Word Festival canceled for 2019: What was originally announced as the “Third Inaugural Wine Country Spoken Word Festival,” set for the weekend of Nov. 8 in Petaluma, has had to be silenced, according to producers Dave and Juliet Pokorny. Blame the dreaded “Outside Circumstances” (a great name for a band or improv … Continue reading 2019 Spoken Word Fest canceled (via Argus Courier)
Full Title: "Al Alvarez, British critic and author who championed poetry and poker, dies at 90 (via Washington Post)" Al Alvarez, a British poet, critic and best-selling author who championed the work of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, wrote a provocative study of suicide and explored his own risky pastimes in books about rock climbing and … Continue reading Al Alvarez, champion of poetry and poker, dies at 90 (via Washington Post)
Full Title: "‘Artists are resilient’: Spoken word poetry functions as both creative outlet and source of support for artists of color in gentrifying Seattle (via Seattle Times)" The room was already electric. By the time Ebo Barton was preparing to walk on stage at the Northwest African American Museum’s Alchemy Spoken Word event in July, … Continue reading Support for artists of color in gentrifying Seattle (via Seattle Times)
Regie Cabico offers advice on tackling his craft. “If you don’t know what to write, write a poem,” he says. “Things that you could never tell your mother, things you could never tell your father, and a lot will come out.” Cabico, who calls himself an “accidental poet,” specializes in slam poetry, a genre that … Continue reading Why Spoken Word Artist Regie Cabico Calls Himself an ‘Accidental Poet’ (via Smithsonian)
Sarah Yerkes was in her 90s when a friend invited her to try something new. A graduate of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, Yerkes had had decades-long careers: first as a landscape architect using brick and stone; then as a sculptor creating abstract works in wood and steel, and in her later years, papier-mache. … Continue reading At age 101, this woman released her first collection of poems (via Washington Post)
It is difficult to imagine a more daunting task for a newspaper editor than planning the next day’s front page when the world has just witnessed humanity’s crowning achievement: the successful landing of two of its kind on an alien world. The headlines you write, the photos you place, the prose you edit—you are not … Continue reading Sometimes Even Newspapers Need Poetry (via The Atlantic)
Some of the most devoted theatre artists never set foot onstage, preferring to contribute from behind the scenes. Floyd Walston is among those celebrating this long and proud theatrical lineage. “I do tech,” says Walston, one of two sons of the owners of longtime Tempe bakery Great Harvest who works at the store while attending Mesa Community … Continue reading Theatre for teens exposes the hurt cast by bullies (via Wrangler News)
