Feb 26 This poet imagines black victims of police violence ‘alive someplace better’ By Jennifer Hijazi Danez Smith sees another life for the black victims of police violence: at last living in a world where blackness is celebrated and “everything/is a sanctuary & nothing is a gun.”… Continue reading
Feb 19 ‘What we did while we made more guns’ confronts the violence of extreme belief By Jennifer Hijazi Dorothy Barresi's “What We Did While We Made More Guns” examines Americans’ anxieties and moral uncertainties in poems on international torture, war and police brutality. Continue reading
Feb 13 For Valentine’s Day, put down your phone and face your feelings with these poems By Jennifer Hijazi We are more connected than ever, but poet Matthew Siegel finds it’s made communication and knowing our own feelings more difficult. Continue reading
Feb 05 This Osage writer remembers one of the first victims of infamous ‘reign of terror’ By Jennifer Hijazi Named for the Osage word meaning ‘prayer,’ the poem was Elise Paschen's way of tapping into a tragedy to which she feels intimately linked. Continue reading
Feb 02 Feminist poetry is having a renaissance. Here are 3 poets to watch By Jennifer Hijazi Feminist poetry is flourishing -- particularly for women of color. Continue reading
Jan 15 This Salvadoran poet writes to humanize the immigrant story By Patty Gorena Morales Javier Zamora began writing poetry as a teenager after a wave of national protests over immigration reform. Zamora’s poems piece together the strained but inherent connection between the U.S. and El Salvador, and aim to shed light on the immigrant… Continue reading
Jan 08 After Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rican poets ask again what it means to belong By Jennifer Hijazi For artists who are both New Yorkers and Puerto Ricans, the concept of identity is fluid and complicated. Continue reading
Jan 02 Watch 8:09 How poet Rupi Kaur became a hero to millions of young women By PBS NewsHour, Jaywon Choe, Elizabeth Flock Rupi Kaur, one of Instagram’s favorite poets, writes about love, heartbreak and womanhood. She speaks to Jeffrey Brown about her rise to fame and her message for young women. Continue watching
Jan 01 This New Year’s poem honors ‘the wrong roads we’ve taken’ By Jennifer Hijazi Jimmy Santiago Baca wrote the collection, “Winter Poems Along the Rio Grande” in 2004 after living on the banks of that river. Every morning, he ran through snow, rain and mud in a ritual that he called a spiritual experience. Continue reading
Dec 29 Watch 2:41 The practical reasons to welcome poetry into our lives By PBS News Hour Whether it’s simply to enliven our day or help us bear a heartache, great poetry can add balance and beauty to our over-connected and over-tweeted lives. Stephen Kloepfer offers his humble opinion on ow poetry elevates our lives. Continue watching