CUPSI - College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational Spoken word combines social justice and activism, poetry and performance. It is an art that, at its best, exposes the performer’s vulnerability as a way to connect people. In 2010, Occidental’s Spoken Word Club brought this art form to campus, and now, members are competing on a national … Continue reading Spoken word team slams at national event (via Occidental Weekly)
One person's poetry can be another's reason for wanting to take a nap. It's all about relevance. Wordsworth and Keats may not reach many young people today, but hip hop artists from Jay Z to Notorious B.I.G. — poets in their own right — do. The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) presented a collection of … Continue reading Poetry slam at BAM features hip hop-inspired poets (via Brooklyn Daily Eagle)
As I began composing this review, I typed the word “language” incorrectly as “linguate”: tongue-shaped. According to the glossary of orchid terms—a lexicon based on the taxonomic works of Linnaeus, which I found, of course, online—the word refers to the shape of certain orchids. My “mistake” then seemed serendipitously appropriate to a discussion of Philip … Continue reading This Is Belgian Chocolate: Manifestations of Poetry (via Brooklyn Rail)
Titles include: "The Last Two Seconds," "The Tijuana Book of the Dead," "We Mammals in Hospitable Times" and "SOS: Poems 1961-2013" In "The Last Two Seconds" (Graywolf, $16 paper), her seventh collection, poet Mary Jo Bang spotlights the anxiety and obliviousness of people living in a post-postmodern world. The speaker sees danger everywhere -- mortality, … Continue reading Four collections to read for National Poetry Month (via Newsday)
Clive James' most anthologized poem is commonly known by its first two lines: "The Book of My Enemy Has Been Remaindered/And I Am Pleased." Those lines tell the uninitiated almost all they need to know about the pleasures to be found in reading James: chief among them, his wit and his appreciation of the underlying … Continue reading Open A Critic’s ‘Poetry Notebook’ And Find The Works That Shaped Him (via NPR)
Colorado State University has a Dead Poets Society. They do not stand on desks and they have not attempted to contact the ghost of Robin Williams, but they do sneak off to the cave off campus known as the Wild Boar Café to read poetry. Kelsey Easton, a sophomore English major, started the society in late … Continue reading CSU’s Dead Poets Society: Getting students excited about poetry (via Rocky Mountain Collegian)
On April 1 the organizers of the O, Miami Poetry Festival begin their annual monthlong campaign to put a poem in front of all 2.6 million residents of Miami-Dade County. “Miamians should watch out for poems on buildings, on fences, in the mail, even in the bathroom,” Scott Cunningham, the festival director, said. This year’s … Continue reading Poetry Everywhere, and They Mean Everywhere, in Miami Festival (via NY Times)
Last Friday, the Culbreth Theater hosted Charles Wright, the 2014-15 U.S. Poet Laureate, and National Book Award winner Mary Szybist. The night featured his "Shrines to Longing," a poetry reading and Q&A. The event was held in conjunction with the Virginia Festival of the Book, a "celebration of books, reading, literacy, and literary culture" according … Continue reading An evening of poetry with Charles Wright and Mary Szybist (via The Cavalier Daily)
Poetry has been pronounced dead time and time again, but literary doomsayers may want to check Instagram before nailing the coffin shut. It is there that Miami native Robert Macias, who uses the pseudonym R.M. Drake, has forged a space in the mainstream for the out-of-favor art form. And his reach is considerable — Macias … Continue reading Miami poet R.M. Drake reinvigorates enthusiasm for poetry through Instagram (via Miami Herald)
People with a knack for verse will get an opportunity to cement their legacy in Cambridge this spring. As crews from the Department of Public Works replace sidewalks damaged by the winter’s historic snowfall, they will imprint poetry written by residents into the slabs, hoping to capture the attention of pedestrians. Called the “Sidewalk Poetry” … Continue reading Cambridge offers poets chance to make their mark on sidewalks (via Boston Globe)
