If you’re a poet, it’s easy to spend a lot of time worrying about how people feel about poetry. It’s also easy to dismiss how people feel because if you were to consider the blithe indifference with which most audiences actually regard poets and their poems, it would be depressing — and not depressing in … Continue reading Do People Hate Poetry? According to Ben Lerner, Yes (via NY Times)
Watch the poem here! “I’m deeply aware of the stress that’s put on our community,” artist Carrie Mae Weems states in the video above. “The stress that’s put on black women, the stress that’s put on black men.” “It’s not a play,” she adds. “It’s really this battle.” The “it” in Weems’ sentence refers to one of her … Continue reading Powerful Spoken Word Performance Commemorates The Tragic Deaths Of Black Men (via Huffington Post)
Watch the poem here! Poet Joseph LMS Green said his poem “Hands” has been a work in progress for more than three years. He started writing it after 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida. Although he was horrified by the killing of Martin, he was also dismayed by the reaction on … Continue reading This poet worries about not being able to protect his son from violence (via PBS)
Spoken word "slam poetry" — speaking, screaming and even singing poems, stories, lyrics and monologues — has exploded across Australia over the past decade. Often tackling brave subject matter and spanning the political and personal, the modern art form with no defined style is inspired by hip-hop culture and was first developed by Marc Smith … Continue reading Slam poetry: A new generation of multicultural poets empowered through the spoken word (via ABC Australia)
Daniel Nadler spends most of his waking hours running the technology start-up Kensho, which has become a darling of the financial industry, attracting big investments from Goldman Sachs and venture capitalists. But in the mornings and on weekends, Mr. Nadler, 33, writes poetry — an art he studied while at Harvard, where he was a … Continue reading Why Poets Can Make Better Search Engines (via NY Times)
Considering the sale of 3,000 poetry books at the two-day Bengaluru Poetry Festival, one would assume that sales of poetry books, in general, are quite good. But poets, publishers and booksellers collectively lamented that poetry is often dubbed “unrealistic and dramatically intellectual” compared to prose. Hence, poetry books are the least sold, say booksellers, and … Continue reading Poetry books are not always financially viable: publishers (via The Hindu)
At Berryton Elementary, young Duane Hermann tried his hand at writing poetry, and although his years at Shawnee Heights, Washburn and Fort Hays State were devoted to studying history and education, writing poetic was what he always wanted to do. His latest book of new poetry "Ichnographical 173," is going through work on its cover before it's … Continue reading 5th Generation Topekan delivers his new book of poetry (WIBW)
A young woman from a disadvantaged background stood on the stage in cap and gown, proudly holding the university diploma she had just been awarded. With perseverance, she had achieved what many thought impossible. When asked how she had done it — how she had managed to pull herself out of such difficult circumstances — … Continue reading Music and the Spoken Word: ‘A perfect brightness of hope’ (via Deseret News)
More than 400 poets from all over the United States will spend this week in Decatur, competing in the National Poetry Slam, which is being hosted in Georgia for the first time. Poets in San Francisco hosted the first National Poetry Slam competition in 1990. Host city coordinator Daryl Funn won a bid to host the competition in … Continue reading Decatur Hosts National Poetry Slam Competition (via WABE)
Jana Prikryl’s first book of poems, “The After Party” (Tim Duggan Books), brings to a close the long period of silent evaluation known as childhood. The “after party” is our memory of the past, not so much recollected in tranquillity as relived in the riotous terms of style and form. But it is also the … Continue reading Poetry of a Childhood Lost (via The New Yorker)
