POWER OF POETRY #111: PAUL ROBERT MULLEN
May 27, 2020
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.”
Poetry Question
POWER OF POETRY #110: HALI CROSS
May 27, 2020
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
May 26, 2020
#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
May 25, 2020
Power of Poetry #109: CLIFFORD BROOKS
“Poetry captures sparrows, children playing, elderly couples holding hands, the reflection in shop windows….”
POWER OF POETRY #108: ERIK FUHRER
May 19, 2020
POWER OF POETRY #108: ERIK FUHRER
Love tulips differently in a time of precarity, and love often leaves some something behind.
#TPQ5: KIMBERLY RAY
May 18, 2020
#TPQ5: KIMBERLY RAY
What will Kimberly Ray, poet, spoken word performer, and songwriter, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: SERENA PICCOLI
May 13, 2020
#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
May 13, 2020
#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
May 12, 2020
#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
May 11, 2020
#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
May 8, 2020
#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
May 7, 2020
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
May 5, 2020
POWER OF POETRY #103: DEONTE OSAYANDE
“We need the beauty of language to do more than just communicate entertainment.”
#TPQ5: VALERIE VAUGHN
May 4, 2020
#TPQ5: VALERIE VAUGHN
What will Valerie Vaughn, a poet, writer, and author, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: BARNEY ASHTON-BULLOCK
May 1, 2020
#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
April 30, 2020
#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
April 29, 2020
#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
April 24, 2020
#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
April 23, 2020
#TPQ5: AMY JANNA LeBLANC
What will Amy Janna LeBlanc include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: ELLEN C SCHERER
April 22, 2020
#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
April 21, 2020
“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
April 20, 2020
#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
April 16, 2020
#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
April 15, 2020
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
April 14, 2020
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
April 13, 2020
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
April 10, 2020
#TPQ5: EVELYNN BLACK
What will Evelynn Black, a trans writer from Seattle, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: ROB CULLEN
April 9, 2020
#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
April 8, 2020
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
April 6, 2020
POWER OF POETRY #98: SK GROUT
“It seems I cannot escape poetry, even if the thought fleetingly crosses my mind.”
#TPQ5: MARTHA WARREN
April 3, 2020
#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
April 1, 2020
#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
March 31, 2020
#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
March 30, 2020
#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
March 26, 2020
#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
March 25, 2020
#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
March 24, 2020
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
March 23, 2020
#TPQ5: TYLER PUFPAFF
What will Tyler Pufpaff, Poetry Editor at Variant Literature, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: MLA CHERNOFF
March 20, 2020
#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
March 19, 2020
#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)
March 18, 2020
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
March 18, 2020
#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
March 17, 2020
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
March 17, 2020
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
March 17, 2020
#TPQ5: SIMON MEDHURST
What will Simon Medhurst, Ramsgate poet and performer, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: MARY JAIMES-SERRANO
March 16, 2020
#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
March 16, 2020
#TPQ5: CLARENCE CARVEL
What will Clarence Carvel, writer, poet and optimist, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: MELANIE JANISSE-BARLOW
March 12, 2020
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
March 11, 2020
#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
March 10, 2020
#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
March 10, 2020
#TPQ5: KENNING JP GARCIA
What will Diarist, Kenning JP García, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: WILLIAM WARD BUTLER
March 9, 2020
What will William Ward Butler, whose chapbook Life History is forthcoming from Ghost City Press, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: NATALIE ANN HOLBOROW
March 5, 2020
#TPQ5: NATALIE ANN HOLBOROW
What will Natalie Ann Holborow, a poet and blogger from Swansea, include in today’s #TPQ5?
#TPQ5: EILEEN FARRELLY
March 4, 2020
#TPQ5: EILEEN FARRELLY
What will Eileen Farrelly, musician and songwriter who can be found singing for beer in pubs around Glasgow, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: AVALINA ROBIN HARVEY
March 4, 2020
#TPQ5: AVALINA ROBIN HARVEY
What will Avalina Robin Harvey, award-winning journalist at The Toronto Star, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
REVIEW: POSTCOLONIAL LOVE POEM – NATALIE DIAZ (GRAYWOLF PRESS)
March 3, 2020
REVIEW: POSTCOLONIAL LOVE POEM – NATALIE DIAZ (GRAYWOLF PRESS)
I have never encountered a writer more capable of balancing softness and strength. These poems are quiet and technical and precise, yet the speaker never feels weak or timid. Rather, there is an everpresent sense that the rage lingering just beneath the lines may bare its teeth.
POWER OF POETRY #95: AMY SHIMSHON-SANTO
March 2, 2020
POWER OF POETRY #95: AMY SHIMSHON-SANTO
Aging has meant gaining and losing things. Two stolen bikes. Careers. Partners. A parent. Poetry never left. It shows no sign of weariness. It is eager and ready.
#TPQ5: JENNA LYNCH
February 28, 2020
#TPQ5: JENNA LYNCH
What will Jenna Lynch, whose first chapbook, The Mouth of Which You Are, from Finishing Line Press, was released November 2018, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: GABRIELLE GRACE HOGAN
February 28, 2020
#TPQ5: GABRIELLE GRACE HOGAN
What will Gabriella Grace Hogan, whose work has been published by the Academy of American Poets, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
OPEN SUBMISSION: TPQ POETRY PAMPHLET SERIES #1
February 27, 2020
OPEN SUBMISSION: TPQ POETRY PAMPHLET SERIES #1
Submit your manuscript today!
#TPQ5: TEODORA LaLOVA
February 27, 2020
#TPQ5: TEODORA LaLOVA
What will Teodora Lalova, Bulgarian author who currently lives in Brussels (Belgium), include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
POWER OF POETRY #94: JESSICA DRAKE-THOMAS
February 26, 2020
POWER OF POETRY #94: JESSICA DRAKE-THOMAS
Poetry is far from dead or dying any time soon. Like all art forms, poetry adapts. It will endure, so long as poets exist to write it.
#TPQ5: AMANDA CRUM
February 26, 2020
#TPQ5: AMANDA CRUM
What will Amanda Crum, writer and artist, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: JASON O’TOOLE
February 26, 2020
#TPQ5: JASON O’TOOLE
What will Jason O’Toole, author of Spear of Stars (2018) and Soulless Heavens (2019), include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
POWER OF POETRY #93: TRAVIS CRAVEY
February 24, 2020
POWER OF POETRY #93: TRAVIS CRAVEY:
These are human passions, after all, more than lust or greed or God: we want to connect.
#TPQ5: GLENIS G. REDMOND
February 21, 2020
#TPQ5: GLENIS G. REDMOND
What will Glenis Redmond, a nationally known touring teaching artist and a poet include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: KRISTINE ESSER SLENTZ
February 21, 2020
#TPQ5: KRISTINE ESSER SLENTZ
What will KRISTINE ESSER SLENTZ, a queer, experimental poet from northwest Indiana and the Chicagoland area, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: KEITH A. WELCH
February 20, 2020
What will Keith Welch, writer from Bloomington, Indiana where he works at the Indiana University Herman B Wells library, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: CONYER CLAYTON
February 20, 2020
#TPQ5: CONYER CLAYTON
What will Conyer Clayton, whose latest chap, Trust Only the Beasts in the Water was published by above/ground press, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: JENNY MITCHELL
February 12, 2020
#TPQ5: JENNY MITCHELL
What will Jenny Mitchell, joint winner of the Geoff Stevens Memorial Poetry Prize, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: HALA ALYAN
February 11, 2020
#TPQ5: HALA ALYAN
What will Hala Alyan, Palestinian American writer and clinical psychologist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: ELIZABETH MOURA
February 7, 2020
#TPQ5: ELIZABETH MOURA
What will Elizabeth Moura, who lives in a converted factory and works with elders, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: AARON POOCHIGIAN
February 6, 2020
#TPQ5: AARON POOCHIGIAN
What will Aaron Poochigian, whose book “Manhattanite,” won the Able Muse Poetry Prize, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: MIRIAM CALLEJA
February 6, 2020
#TPQ5: MIRIAM CALLEJA
What will Miriam Calleja, bilingual poet and Maltese wordsmith, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
POWER OF POETRY #86: THOMAS STEWART
February 3, 2020
POWER OF POETRY #88: THOMAS STEWART
A word can muster a thousand thoughts. A poem can create a universe.
#TPQ5: THOMAS STEWART
January 31, 2020
#TPQ5: THOMAS STEWART
What will Thomas Stewart, whose poetry pamphlet, ’empire of dirt’, was published by Red Squirrel Press, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: CAITLIN SCARANO
January 31, 2020
#TPQ5: CAITLIN SCARANO
What will Caitlin Scarano, whose debut collection, Do Not Bring Him Water, was released in Fall 2017 by Write Bloody, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: KATIE O’BRIEN
January 30, 2020
#TPQ5: KATIE O’BRIEN
What will katie o’brien, poet, community worker, queer activist, and Netflix enthusiast, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: RAINE GEOGHEGAN
January 30, 2020
#TPQ5: RAINE GEOGHEGAN
What will Raine Geoghegan, poet, writer, and Performance Coach, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
POWER OF POETRY #85: WILL SCHMIT
January 29, 2020
POWER OF POETRY #85: WILL SCHMIT
The poem is an artifact. Art as fact in the face a world determined to ignore the contemplative plaintiff. To hold the pen lightly enough to allow perspective to shift is to be attentive to the ghosts of chance, challenge, and chagrin.
#TPQ5: STEVE KISTULENTZ
January 28, 2020
#TPQ5: STEVE KISTULENTZ
What will Steve Kistulentz, author of the forthcoming poetry collection The Mating Calls of the Dead (Black Lawrence Press, 2021), include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
POWER OF POETRY #84: BARTON SMOCK
January 27, 2020
POWER OF POETRY #84: BARTON SMOCK
You can’t catch a fish with the shadow of a bird. But you tried, right? You tried in that poem your friend wrote, the one where a stone ate a star. And is maybe still eating.
#TPQ5: JOSHUA ROTHES
January 27, 2020
#TPQ5: JOSHUA ROTHES
What will Joshua Rothes, editor/publisher of Sublunary Editions, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: Z.M. WISE
January 24, 2020
#TPQ5: Z.M. WISE
What will Z.M. Wise, Co-Editor at Transcendent Zero Press, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: CARLIE BLUME
January 24, 2020
#TPQ5: CARLIE BLUME
What will Carlie Blume, a Vancouver, Canada born writer of poetry and fiction, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: SANDRA T
January 23, 2020
#TPQ5: SANDRA T
What will Sandra T, poet and storyteller based in Brooklyn, NY, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: OSCAR HOKEAH
January 23, 2020
#TPQ5: OSCAR HOKEAH
What will Oscar Hokeah, author of the forthcoming novel Unsettled Between, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
POWER OF POETRY #83: KARI FLICKINGER
January 22, 2020
POWER OF POETRY #83: KARI FLICKINGER
Poetry has turned me into a piece of broken technology, searching the horizon for symbols. It has estranged me from everyone I once loved, from every notion I ever thought to belong to.
#TPQ5: FRAN-CLAIRE KENNEY
January 21, 2020
#TPQ5: FRAN-CLAIRE KENNEY
What will Fran-Claire Kenney, Queer writer, filmmaker, and student, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: CHRISTINA THATCHER
January 21, 2020
#TPQ5: CHRISTINA THATCHER
What will Christina Thatcher, Creative Writing Lecturer at Cardiff Metropolitan University, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
POWER OF POETRY #82: MDSHall
January 20, 2020
POWER OF POETRY #82: MDSHall
We are soothsayers and truthsayers; warriors armed with words to be placed into action; protectors of the Univearth in search of the multiverse…
#TPQ5: ANNE GRAUE
January 16, 2020
#TPQ5: ANNE GRAUE
What will Anne Graue, author of a chapbook, Fig Tree in Winter, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: KEITH MARK GABOURY
January 15, 2020
#TPQ5: KEITH MARK GABOURY
What will Keith Mark Gaboury, whose work appears in Poetry Quarterly and New Millennium Writings, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
POWER OF POETRY #81: LAUREN BRAZEAL
January 15, 2020
POWER OF POETRY #80: LAUREN BRAZEAL
Her words pressed onto my consciousness with the immediacy of a blade to the throat, “It is not your right to feel powerless. Better people than you were powerless.”
#TPQ5: JANNA GRACE
January 15, 2020
#TPQ5: JANNA GRACE
What will Janna Grace, editor of Lamplit Underground, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: DONNA VORREYER
January 13, 2020
#TPQ5: DONNA VORREYER
What will Donna Vorreyer, author of Every Love Story is an Apocalypse Story, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: JAKE WILD HALL
January 13, 2020
#TPQ5: JAKE WILD HALL
What will Jake Wild Hall, one half of Bad Betty Press, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
THE POWER OF POETRY #80: STEPHEN FURLONG
January 13, 2020
THE POWER OF POETRY #80: STEPHEN FURLONG
He only stopped when he recognized his shoe was untied. He held such reverence for the laces and he asked us how we tied our shoes.
#TPQ5: KRISTOPHER BIERNATSKY
January 9, 2020
#TPQ5: KRISTOPHER BIERNATSKY
What will Kristopher Biernatsky, founder of Dink Press, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: CLARE E. POTTER
January 9, 2020
#TPQ5: CLARE E. POTTER
What will clare e. potter, a poet who is lucky to collaborate with other inspiring artists, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!