Author: Christopher Margolin

Chris Margolin (he/him) bleeds semantics & poetry. With almost 20 years in education, he has seen words change lives. He began TPQ when a student asked him to prove the relevancy of poetry in modern times; his work here strives to do just that.

#TPQ5: ANNA GRACE DU NOYER

#TPQ5: ANNA GRACE DU NOYER
What will Anna Grace Du Noyer include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@poemsannagrace

REVIEW: A QUARTER LIFE- TYLER PUFPAFF (SELF-PUBLISHED)

REVIEW: A QUARTER LIFE- TYLER PUFPAFF (SELF-PUBLISHED)
We can put ourselves in these cracks and pops of a body learning how to be on its own. 

@tylerpufpaff @lanniestabile

#TPQ5: DAVID LEO SIROIS

#TPQ5: DAVID LEO SIROIS
What will David Leo Sirois, Canadian -American poet who lived & worked in Paris, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@DavidSirois3

#TPQ5: CLIFFORD VENHO

#TPQ5: CLIFFORD VENHO
What will Clifford Venho, poet, translator, and author, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@cliffordvenho

#TPQ5: D.T. ROBBINS

#TPQ5: D.T. ROBBINS
What will D.T. Robbins, writer with roots in Southeastern Louisiana and Southern California, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@dt_robbins

#TPQ5: MIRIAM E. MILES

#TPQ5: MIRIAM E. MILES
What will Miriam E. Miles, writer based in the Hunter Valley, Australia, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: RACHEL MWIHAKI WANJIKU

#TPQ5: RACHEL MWIHAKI WANJIKU
What will Rachel Mwihaki Wanjiku, who when isn’t writing, plays with wax, paint, thread and plants, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@Ray_the_Ray

POWER OF POETRY #123: RAY MWIHAKI

POWER OF POETRY #123: RAY MWIHAKI

I’m the kind of person who bottles things up till they froth and bubble with the wrath of an erupting volcano yet …I realize more pain has been lived by those brave ones who choose to share their lives with us through art.

#TPQ5: DR. CHRISTOPHER W. CLARK

#TPQ5: DR. CHRISTOPHER W. CLARK
What will Christopher W. Clark (@chriswillclark), who reads, writes, and teaches things, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

POWER OF POETRY #122: CATHRYN McCARTHY

POWER OF POETRY #122: CATHRYN McCARTHY

Poetry distils the voice to its very essence; if you have nothing to say, poetry betrays that instantly. – ‪@katysue1828‬

#TPQ5: TOM ELLYS LAWLOR

#TPQ5: TOM ELLYS LAWLOR
What will Tom Lawlor, a writer from Coventry, UK, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@ellysdoespoems

#TPQ5: S.T. BRANT

#TPQ5: S.T. BRANT

What will S. T. Brant, a high school teacher from Las Vegas, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
@terriblebinth

#TPQ5: OLIVIA BRALEY

#TPQ5: OLIVIA BRALEY
What will Olivia Braley, co-founder and Editor in Chief of Stone of Madness Press, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@OliviaBraley
‪@madness_press ‬

#TPQ5: KATIE PROCTOR

#TPQ5: KATIE PROCTOR
What will Katie Proctor, an LGBTQ+ poet from Yorkshire, England, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@katiiewrites

REVIEW: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE CALLED? – KIRBY (ANSTRUTHER PRESS)

REVIEW: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE CALLED? – KIRBY (ANSTRUTHER PRESS)

Maybe the boy would look up from his gadget. Where no one cares if it’s a vulva or a penis. Where everyone has the sensibility of a 2-year-old. Because at two it’s really just a silly question. It’s not judgement.

#TPQ5: RAGINI MOHITE

#TPQ5: RAGINI MOHITE

What will Ragini Mohite, whose monograph Modern Writers, Transnational Literatures: Rabindranath Tagore and W.B. Yeats is forthcoming, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@RaginiMohite

REVIEW: LITTLE MASTICATED DARLINGS – LANNIE STABILE (WILD PRESSED BOOKS)

REVIEW: LITTLE MASTICATED DARLINGS – LANNIE STABILE (WILD PRESSED BOOKS)
It’s just a photograph. It’s just a reminder of a moment in time. That smile…the style of clothing, the wallpaper, the innocence, the murderer.

@LannieStabile
@Wildpressed

POWER OF POETRY #121: MACKENZIE MOORE

POWER OF POETRY #121: MACKENZIE MOORE

I never had a revelation that completely hoodwinked me into poetry — my parents were more Bob Dylan than Anne Bradstreet.

‪@mxkmoore‬

#TPQ5: C.M. CROCKFORD

#TPQ5: C.M. CROCKFORD
What will C.M. Crockford, whose second chapbook Mark The Place is out via ThirtyWest Publishing, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@stoneryeats

#TPQ5: KENNETH POBO

#TPQ5: KENNETH POBO
What will Kenneth Pobo who has a new book forthcoming from Assure Press, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
@kenpobo

REVIEW: SUMMERTIME FINE – JASON B. CRAWFORD (VARIANT LITERATURE)

This is a scream that you are not tainted water. You are part of the moment, not the moment gone. You will not be discarded. Somewhere you remember “that joy of being alive”.

REVIEW: HOT WITH THE BAD THINGS – LUCIA LOTEMPIO (ALICE JAMES BOOKS)

REVIEW: HOT WITH THE BAD THINGS – LUCIA LOTEMPIO (ALICE JAMES BOOKS)
You tell yourself who you are – the good, the bad. You have opinions but wonder if they are yours. LoTempio challenges you to look for a life somewhere between love, abuse, and self.
@alicejamesbooks
‪@lucialo ‬

POWER OF POETRY #120: NISHA BHAKOO

POWER OF POETRY #120: NISHA BHAKOO
What will Nisha Bhakoo, author of “You found a beating heart” (The Onslaught Press, 2016) and “Black & White Dream (@brokensleep, 2018), include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
@nishabhakoo

#TPQ5: MADELEINE BARNES

#TPQ5: MADELEINE BARNES
What will Madeleine Barnes, whose debut poetry collection, You Do Not Have To Be Good, is forthcoming from Trio House Press, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@maddsnacks

#TPQ5: ADRIAN SOBOL

#TPQ5: ADRIAN SOBOL

What will Adrian Sobol, author of THE LIFE OF THE PARTY IS HARDER TO FIND UNTIL YOU’RE THE LAST ONE AROUND (@MalarkeyBooks), include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@yo_adrianididit

POWER OF POETRY #119: CHRISTOPHER W. CLARK

POWER OF POETRY #119: CHRISTOPHER W. CLARK

Allowing yourself to become absorbed by the poem means you lose a part of yourself too, creating a small fracture. We might think of this as another gap being created, allowing for the new potential of ideas to be explored. This is the joy of poetry—for writer and reader.

REVIEW: DISINTEGRATION – PAUL ROBERT MULLEN (ANIMAL HEART PRESS)

REVIEW: DISINTEGRATION – PAUL ROBERT MULLEN (ANIMAL HEART PRESS)

It’s the idea that maybe if one could be anything other than a poet – like maybe a bird – they should still be a poet. It’s the notebook of words you can’t remember or won’t dare to write down.

#TPQ5: MONICA ONG

#TPQ5: MONICA ONG
What will Monica ong, author of Silent Anatomies (2015), selected by Joy Harjo as winner of the Kore Press First Book Award in poetry, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@mongmedia

REVIEW: CUT TO BLOOM – ARHM CHOI WILD (WRITE BLOODY)

REVIEW: CUT TO BLOOM – ARHM CHOI WILD (WRITE BLOODY)

Wrong leads to cuts and bruises. Cuts and bruises lead to silence, lead to knives and stomaches, and the need to become “the fracture that makes the needle jump, land on anything but this”. But in the end, cuts and bruises can bloom and become anew.

POWER OF POETRY #118: MIRIAM E. MILES

Despite my attempts to have a ‘legitimate’ kind of work-life, this was not going to happen, and my Swiss-cheese work history led me back to the pen yet again.

POWER OF POETRY #117: NOREEN OCAMPO

POWER OF POETRY #117: NOREEN OCAMPO

Staying silent for two years made everything build up and burst, and it turned out that poetry was still my favorite way to make peace, understand, and remember.


#TPQ5: SOPHIE GREGORY

#TPQ5: SOPHIE GREGORY

Whaat will Sophie Gregory, published online and in print by Twist in Time magazine, Blink Ink Print, Lecker Zine and Mythic Picnic, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@esseegee

POWER OF POETRY #116: LUBOMIRA KOURTEVA

POWER OF POETRY #116: LUBOMIRA KOURTEVA

We were never meant to know it all anyway – and learning to feel comfortable in the unknowingness is a humility to be treasured. This is something that poetry teaches us very well….

#TPQ5: DIANA RADOVAN

#TPQ5: DIANA RADOVAN

What will Diana Radovan, founder of the multicultural writing group Creative Writing in Munich, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@midoridia

#TPQ5: MARK DANOWSKY

#TPQ5: MARK DANOWSKY

What will Mark Danowsky, Managing Editor for the Schuylkill Valley Journal, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@markdanowsky

REVIEW: DAWN’S FOOL – KYLA HOUBOLT (ICE FLOE PRESS)

REVIEW: DAWN’S FOOL – KYLA HOUBOLT (ICE FLOE PRESS)

If this is poetry of place, it is the pastoral idyll rendered uninhabitable by a human species.

‪@luaz_poet‬ ‪@IcefloeP ‬
Review by ‪@aliner ‬

POWER OF POETRY #115: SHULY XÓCHITL CAWOOD

POWER OF POETRY #115: SHULY XÓCHITL CAWOOD

The best poems ask us to think twice about something. They ask us to see a moment in a different light. The poem, for me, is about how difficult it can be to figure out who we are and what we want…. – ‪@shulycawood‬

#TPQ5: IAN RICHARDSON

#TPQ5: IAN RICHARDSON

What will Ian Richardson, whose been reading for a long time, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

@IanRich10562022

#TPQ5: AMANDA ANASTASI

#TPQ5: AMANDA ANASTASI

What will Amanda Anastasi, a poet from Melbourne, Australia, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

POWER OF POETRY #114: SAMANTHA MOYA

POWER OF POETRY #114: SAMANTHA MOYA

In short, the power of poetry in my life has been many things – a literary exercise, an expression of empathy, an exorcism.

#TPQ5: SAMANTHA JONES

#TPQ5: SAMANTHA JONES

What will Samantha Jones, whose poetry appears in Blanket Sea, blue skies poetry, Eunoia Review, Grain Magazine, and Room Magazine, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

POWER OF POETRY #113: DIANA RADOVAN

POWER OF POETRY #113: DIANA RADOVAN

Our world is fractured, but it was already fractured before the pandemic. Free-form poetry and hybrid forms are simply reflective of our times.

POWER OF POETRY #112: MARK MAYES

POWER OF POETRY #112: MARK MAYES

“[Poetry] came via a late-teens desire to be an actor. And in the speech and drama classes I had with a nice lady called Vivienne….”

#TPQ5: ANGELA GREGORY DRIBBEN

#TPQ5: ANGELA GREGORY DRIBBEN

What will Angela Gregory Dribben, who loves living and writing down in a bottom in Southside Virginia, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: JASON B. CRAWFORD

#TPQ5: JASON B. CRAWFORD

What will Jason B. Crawford, Chief Editor for The Knight’s Library, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

POWER OF POETRY #111: PAUL ROBERT MULLEN

POWER OF POETRY #105: PAUL ROBERT MULLEN

“Poetry has always gripped me because it is an unquantifiable mystery that holds no more answers than it does questions.”

POWER OF POETRY #110: HALI CROSS

POWER OF POETRY #110: HALI CROSS

Many a poem attempts to say—and she loved him. However, whatever the poet could write about love, it also isn’t. This is why there will never be enough love poems.

#TPQ5: TOM BLAND

#TPQ5: TOM BLAND

what will Tom Bland, author of The Death of a Clown (Bad Betty Press), include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

Power of Poetry #109: CLIFFORD BROOKS

Power of Poetry #109: CLIFFORD BROOKS

“Poetry captures sparrows, children playing, elderly couples holding hands, the reflection in shop windows….”

#TPQ5: JEAN ÒRE

#TPQ5: JEAN ÒRE

What will Jean Òre (Gianfranco Orecchioni), Italian songwriter and poet, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

POWER OF POETRY #108: ERIK FUHRER

POWER OF POETRY #108: ERIK FUHRER

Love tulips differently in a time of precarity, and love often leaves some something behind.

#TPQ5: KIMBERLY RAY

#TPQ5: KIMBERLY RAY

What will Kimberly Ray, poet, spoken word performer, and songwriter, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: SERENA PICCOLI

#TPQ5: SERENA PICCOLI

What will Serena Piccoli, co-founder and director of the well acclaimed Poetry and Sister Arts International Festival, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: CHELSEA BUNN

#TPQ5: CHELSEA BUNN
What will Chelsea Bunn, author of the chapbook Forgiveness (Finishing Line Press, 2019), include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: RACHEL KASS

#TPQ5: RACHEL KASS

What will Rachel Kass, weirdo living in New England with her two minions – I mean cats – include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: BRYAN LOWE

#TPQ5: BRYAN LOWE

What will Bryon Lowe, an actor and poet born and bred in the Kingdom of Fife, Scotland, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: MICK THEEBS

#TPQ5: MICK THEEBS
What will Mick Theebs, Poet Laureate of Milford, CT, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

POWER OF POETRY #104: MARTHA WARREN

POWER OF POETRY #104: MARTHA WARREN

“But instead of giving up, I think of this: My most successful poem ever, in my opinion, was so because it provided comfort.”

POWER OF POETRY #103: DEONTE OSAYANDE

POWER OF POETRY #103: DEONTE OSAYANDE

“We need the beauty of language to do more than just communicate entertainment.”

#TPQ5: VALERIE VAUGHN

#TPQ5: VALERIE VAUGHN
What will Valerie Vaughn, a poet, writer, and author, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: BARNEY ASHTON-BULLOCK

#TPQ5: BARNEY ASHTON-BULLOCK
What will Barney Ashton-Bullock, a regular contributing poet to the Wellington Street Review, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: BILL ARNOTT

#TPQ5: BILL ARNOTT

What will Bill Arnott, author of Dromomania and contributor to numerous journals and anthologies, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: MARK FIDDES

#TPQ5: MARK FIDDES

What will Mark Fiddes, who has two sons and two poetry books, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: MO LYNN STOYCOFF

#TPQ5: MO LYNN STOYCOFF

What will Mo Lynn Stoycoff, writer and visual artist from Central California, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: AMY JANNA LeBLANC

#TPQ5: AMY JANNA LeBLANC
What will Amy Janna LeBlanc include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: ELLEN C SCHERER

#TPQ5: ELLEN C SCHERER
What will Ellen C Scherer, Co-Founder of Green Buffalo Productions, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

POWER OF POETRY #102: KAYLEIGH CAMPBELL

“Poetry, I feel, is a tyrannical discipline. You’ve got to go so far so fast in such a small space; you’ve got to burn away all the peripherals.” — Sylvia Plath Poetry has always, and will continue doing I hope, held a special potency. In what are often very short

#TPQ5: TWILA NEWEY

#TPQ5: TWILA NEWEY
That will Twila Newey, finalist for the 2019 Coniston Prize at Radar Poetry, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: JANE ZWART

#TPQ5: JANE ZWART

What will Jane Zwart, co-director of the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

POWER OF POETRY #101: CHRISTOPHER MIGUEL FLAKUS

POWER OF POETRY #101: CHRISTOPHER MIGUEL FLAKUS

“Through poetry we can reduce the mythic to the mundane and elevate the ordinary to the sublime. We can understand ourselves, and each other, in a deeply necessary and fundamental way.”

REVIEW: THE LIFE OF THE PARTY IS HARDER TO FIND UNTIL YOU’RE THE LAST ONE AROUND – ADRIAN SOBOL

REVIEW: THE LIFE OF THE PARTY- ADRIAN SOBOL

It’s in the checkout magazine’s interest to make you wait & consider options, the difference between content, contentment, & continent—which one, you think, is big enough for you?

POWER OF POETRY #100: BRIAN S. ELLIS

POWER OF POETRY #100: BRIAN S. ELLIS

“These poems are seeds that will one day grow into religions, cultures, planets, multiverses. Snowballs that become avalanches.”

#TPQ5: EVELYNN BLACK

#TPQ5: EVELYNN BLACK

What will Evelynn Black, a trans writer from Seattle, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: ROB CULLEN

#TPQ5: ROB CULLEN
What will Rob Cullen, gardener, environmentalist, poet, writer, artist, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

POWER OF POETRY #99: MATÉ JARAI

POWER OF POETRY #99: MATÉ JARAI

“Poetry is confession for the Godless. If my mind is a fury, if I can’t make sense of my own feelings, I scribble or I type, and whatever comes out, ‘quality’ doesn’t matter, it’s real and it’s there.”

POWER OF POETRY #98: SK GROUT

POWER OF POETRY #98: SK GROUT

“It seems I cannot escape poetry, even if the thought fleetingly crosses my mind.”

#TPQ5: MARTHA WARREN

#TPQ5: MARTHA WARREN

What will Martha Warren, whose work has appeared in The Canadian League of Poets’ Poetry Pause and Headline Press, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: Bára Hladík

#TPQ5: Bára Hladík

What will Bára Hladík, poet based in Tio’tiá:ke, Montréal, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: JENNY ROBBINS

#TPQ5: JENNY ROBBINS

What will Jenny Robbins is an English teacher, comedienne and CNF Editor for @Heroin_Chic_Mag, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: TOM ALEXANDER

#TPQ5: TOM ALEXANDER
What will Tom Alexander, author of one collection of poetry and is working on a second, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: NAOMI ORTIZ

#TPQ5: NAOMI ORTIZ

What will Naomi Ortiz, writer, poet, visual artist, facilitator, and the author of Sustaining Spirit: Self-Care for Social Justice (Reclamation), a guide on self-care for diverse communities, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: CLIFFORD BROOKS

#TPQ5: CLIFFORD BROOKS
What will Clifford Brooks, Editor-in-Chief of the Blue Mountain Review, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

POETRY IN THE NEW WORLD #1: ERNESTO CEPEDA

POETRY IN THE NEW WORLD #1: ERNESTO CEPEDA

Let us use poetry to be the spark that lights up others who are consumed by darkness. We will be the flames, the candles and the fire, keep writing, reading, submitting and posting our work.

#TPQ5: TYLER PUFPAFF

#TPQ5: TYLER PUFPAFF

What will Tyler Pufpaff, Poetry Editor at Variant Literature, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: MLA CHERNOFF

#TPQ5: MLA CHERNOFF

What will MLA Chernoff, a Jewish, non-binary pome machine, include in today’s #TPQ? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: JULEIGH HOWARD-HOBSON

#TPQ5: JULEIGH HOWARD-HOBSON

What will Juleigh Howard-Hobson, urban drop out, living off-grid in middle of rural nowhere where nothing can bother her, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

REVIEW: ALCOHOLIC BETTY- ELISABETH HORAN (FLY ON THE WALL PRESS)

it’s the TKO after 12 rounds at the bar. But you’re looking up from the mattress wondering where Dr. Bottle and Nurse Amphetamine were to throw in the towel.

#TPQ5: JULIANNA MAY

#TPQ5: JULIANNA MAY

What will Julianna May, a poet from Eastern, Pennsylvania, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

WE HAVE THE GREATEST COMMUNITY

WE HAVE THE GREATEST COMMUNITY

This is not a post about poetry. This is a post about reaching out to the community for help in a time of need. The outpouring of love and help thus far has been beyond overwhelming. We are humbled and grateful.

POWER OF POETRY #97: CASEY BOTTONO

POWER OF POETRY #97: CASEY BOTTONO

My truth rarely comes to the page easily, but it is always worth the work. Abandoning ‘perfection’ has brought me to a point where I can be utterly honest. 

#TPQ5: SIMON MEDHURST

#TPQ5: SIMON MEDHURST

What will Simon Medhurst, Ramsgate poet and performer, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: MARY JAIMES-SERRANO

#TPQ5: MARY JAIMES-SERRANO

What will Mary Jaimes-Serrano, who lives in Kansas with her family and writes poetry, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: CLARENCE CARVEL

#TPQ5: CLARENCE CARVEL

What will Clarence Carvel, writer, poet and optimist, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: MELANIE JANISSE-BARLOW

What will Melanie Janisse-Barlow, whose ongoing Poet Series, a self-curating/practopoietic series of portraits of Canadian poets, has reached 80 pieces and has gained national media coverage in Canada and the US, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: DARBY LYONS

#TPQ5: DARBY LYONS
What will Darby Lyons, reader of poetry submissions for The Cincinnati Review, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: RISA DENENBERG

#TPQ5: RISA DENENBERG
What will Risa Dememberg, co-founder and editor at Headmistress Press, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: KENNING JP GARCIA

#TPQ5: KENNING JP GARCIA
What will Diarist, Kenning JP García, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: WILLIAM WARD BUTLER

What will William Ward Butler, whose chapbook Life History is forthcoming from Ghost City Press, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: SEAN SINGER

What will Sean Singer, author of Discography (Yale University Press) and Honey & Smoke (Eyewear publishing), include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!

#TPQ5: MAGI GIBSON

What will Magi Gibson author of the popular Wild Women of a Certain Age, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!