“LETTING THE POEMS SAY MORE THAN I WAS AWARE THEY WANTED TO SAY” – TALK TO ME: KATE FOX
I think the rewards of communicating through neurodivergence are not using up energy on masking and hiding. Plus then embodying the fact that humans think/feel/experience the world differently.
REPLAYS: BRYSON TILLER – LIKE CLOCKWORK
In an industry where the price of fame can change a person for better or worse, Bryson Tiller has remained himself through it all.
REVIEW: MEDUSA RETOLD – SARAH WALLIS (FLY ON THE WALL PRESS)
The epic sets apart internal and external narratives through the usage of italic sections, but these lines start to blur as the story unfolds, reinforcing that our internal lives are inseparable from the outside world.
“IT’S RIGHT UNDER OUR FEET THE WHOLE TIME” – TALK TO ME: JENI DE LA O
there are thousands of Amanda Gormans submitting poems right now, being read and rejected right now, by readers and editors who simply haven’t the refined palate to discern a truffle from button mushroom.
REPLAYS: Russ – Misunderstood
I admire his appreciation for the craft. His consistency and his ability to have people relate to him through his songs is why his fanbase goes hard for the rapper.
#TPQ5: TYLER PENNOCK
What will Tyler Pennock include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: DAMIAN WARD
What will Damian Ward include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: MAGGS VIBO
What’s Maggs Vibo included in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
REVIEW: TRICKS OF LIGHT – THADDEUS RUTKOWSKI (GREAT WEATHER FOR MEDIA)
He seems to consider care to be of utmost concern, not just for family, but also for strangers.
#TPQ5: EVAN WILLIAMS
What will Evan Williams include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
REVIEW: BREEZE BLOCK – JAKE HAWKEY (LUMPEN/THE CLASS PROJECT)
There’s the story — love, relationships — and the reader follows the dots Hawkey has so carefully placed. In the same poem, the dots are connected between pop culture and the reader
POWER OF POETRY #128: JANE ROSENBERG LAFORGE
Our classmates were the children of rock stars, writers, critics,visual artists, film editors and movie executives. But everyone in the neighborhood seemed famous to us, just for having been there.
#TPQ5: MIKE HICKMAN
What will Mike Hickman include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
REVIEW: WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP – JESSIE LYNN McMAINS (BONE & INK PRESS)
They are unafraid to show the awfulness and bitterness, old beliefs and traditions, terrible acts inflicted by the people who inhabit the snowy state.
#TPQ5: KATRINA LIPPOLIS
What will Katrina Lippolis include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
DISINTEGRATION – PAUL ROBERT MULLEN (ANIMAL HEART PRESS)
Very often I felt as though the poem depicted a moment I was forgetting; frantically trying to remember the details to, as to savor some beautiful moment.
Review of Worn by Adrienne Christian (Santa Fe Writers Project, 2020)
And when she writes of family, it’s of more exclusion – the striking disconnect from those with whom we are supposed to be connected.
#TPQ5: ERICA ABBOTT
What will Erica Abbott include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
REVIEW: YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE A FRIEND – ASHLEY ELIZABETH (NIGHTINGALE & SPARROW PRESS)
…Dear John letter, ending with the words, “you are hurting me. i am letting you. i do not want to.” There it is, cut and dry: a breakup. Except it’s not.
REPLAYS: Streets by Doja Cat
Whether it’s released during an album’s rollout, planned or unplanned, music listeners ultimately choose the success as we see in Doja Cat’s single, ‘Streets’.
#TPQ5: CARSON SANDELL
What will Carson Sandell include inside in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
POETRY IN CINEMA: WE DON’T TRUST THE NATURE INSIDE US
Spoken over the shots of a child spilling milk and a mother in tears, the poem reminds that we are made by moments that can not be undone.
REVIEW: THE SAMURAI – LINDA M. CRATE (YELLOW ARROW PUBLISHING)
Or perhaps she felt this unfamiliarity with her body all along and only made sense of the reason why after her discovery of the reincarnation. – Robin D. Hendricks
REVIEW: SENTIMENTAL VIOLENCE — GABRIELLE HOGAN (GHOST CITY PRESS)
As we all know, though, joy does not exist without violence — not for Tonya, and not for any of us.
REPLAYS: ESCOBAR – Xponentbeatz featuring Kriiispy & Halfofyou
This column will take a look at songs from week of which I can’t get enough, and deep dive into my own thoughts in regards to them.
#TPQ5: SAMUEL ADEYEMI
What will Samuel Adeyemi include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
“WHICH REQUIRES ME TO BEND LANGUAGE TO MY WILL” – TALK TO ME: TAYLOR BYAS
I absolutely code switch because there isn’t an aspect of my life that doesn’t request that sort of labor from me. It’s built into my life, and therefore it manifests in my poetry. – Taylor Byas
#TPQ5: GAIA RAJAN
What will Gaia Rajan include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
@gaia_writes @Nic_Sealey @fannychoir @carmenmmachado @mfernandespoet
#TPQ5: RILEY DANVERS
What will Riley Danvers include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
REVIEW: LATE SUMMER FLOWERS – JULIAN DAY (ANSTRUTHER PRESS)
Yes, it really is just a ravine, but Day shares the significance of the place, the things that happened there. Place of sport and suicide. Place of celebration.
REVIEW: FOEVERHAUS – KAILEY TEDESCO (WHITE STAG PUBLISHING) – review by Kristin Garth
There is a candy-coated communion of saints inside these poems that encapsulates the terror of treats of childhood. A “peppermint Jesus” and “cinnamon virgin” cohabitate in these pages with the Bloody Mary.
POETRY IN CINEMA: A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH – JESSICA MOOKHERJEE
The long drawn out arguments over life and death, over decisions of who to love – are almost meaningless in the ‘heat of the moment’ and when faced with imminent destruction.
POETRY IN CINEMA: THESE HUMANS ARE EXTRAS, EXTRA HUMANS
However, there may well be a responsibility in the storyteller to carry the world’s stories. As Wings of Desire shows who bares witness makes all the difference to the end of the story. – Jessica Mookherjee
#TPQ5: KATE (8) VAN PETTEN
What will Kate (8) Van Petten include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: TYLER PENNOCK
What will Tyler Pennock include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
REVIEW: SPECTRUM OF FLIGHT – DAVID HANLON (ANIMAL HEART PRESS)
Utilizing the layout of text on the page, suggestive titles and clever wordplay, he creates an intricate narrative that enhances the reading experience.
REVIEW: LIFE IN SPACE – GALINA RYMBU ( TR. JOAN BROOKS) (UGLY DUCKLING PRESSE/AFTER HOURS EDITIONS)
Sex is set against a backdrop of war and politics, so devoid of emotion and joy you can “count the bites and hickeys from dead lovers.”
POWER OF POETRY #125: THE POWER & RISE OF UNDERGROUND VOICES – Mbizo CHIRASHA
“From the time of our birthing to these days of maturation, we are all shaped, serenaded and entertained by sweet ancient lullabies, drum beat throbs and early morning birdsongs.”
REVIEW: LET’S PHOTOGRAPH GIRLS ENJOYING LIFE – JASMINE GRAY (BROKEN SLEEP BOOKS)
This small poetry collection hits hard, it makes us voyeur and complicit in the diminishment of what gender and sex are.
Rev by @jessmkrjy
#TPQ5: LEAH MUELLER
What will Leah Mueller include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
@leahsnapdragon
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.
REVIEW: INDIGENOUS – JENNIFER REESER (ABLE MUSE PRESS)
In this work full of masterful lyricism, you will find a history once hidden, a story passed from one generation to the next, and traditions held in the hearts of Indigenous peoples.
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.
REVIEW: THE RITUALS OF MUMMIFICATION – JOSEPH D. REICH (SAGGING MENISCUS PRESS)
Each piece almost feels a ritual, setting you firm in the notion that you are not alone in your experience, or your discontent.
#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
What will Jason B. Crawford, Chief Editor for The Knight’s Library, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
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
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.
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
Love tulips differently in a time of precarity, and love often leaves some something behind.
#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
What will Chelsea Bunn, author of the chapbook Forgiveness (Finishing Line Press, 2019), include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#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
What will Mick Theebs, Poet Laureate of Milford, CT, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
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.”
#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
What will Mark Fiddes, who has two sons and two poetry books, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#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
What will Amy Janna LeBlanc include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
“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
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.”
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: 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
“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
“It seems I cannot escape poetry, even if the thought fleetingly crosses my mind.”
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.
OPEN SUBMISSION: TPQ POETRY PAMPHLET SERIES #1
Submit your manuscript today!
#TPQ5: KRISTOPHER BIERNATSKY
What will Kristopher Biernatsky, founder of Dink Press, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: BEE WALSH
What will Bee Walsh, author of Manning Up (West 44 Books), include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: WARREN CZAPA
What will Warren Czapa, longlisted for the Troubadour International Poetry Prize, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
#TPQ5: TAYLOR MALI
What will Taylor Mali, 4-time National Slam Poetry Champion and former voice of all Burger King commercials, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
FORGIVE YOURSELF THESE TINY ACTS OF SELF-DESTRUCTION – JARED SINGER @buttonpoetry
“…a manual for the last kid in the kickball line. It’s a must-read for those who can’t remember why they need to remember. It’s for those who sometimes forget they matter.”
#TPQ5: RY DOWNEY
What will Ry Downey, editor in chief of the new poetry magazine, BEATIFIC, include in today’s #TPQ5? Find out inside!
REVIEW: THE DEATH OF A CLOWN – TOM BLAND (BAD BETTY PRESS)
Bukowski and Monica Drake would be proud. This is sex and hard drugs and love and the general misfiring of everyday life when nothing is really everyday life.
POETRY IS A SEANCE – KRISTIN GARTH:
Poetry is a ritual to welcome ghosts. Invite them in again. Give them a voice and a space in the physical world. Allow ourselves to be empowered and stronger for their presence than we are alone.
Because of this she believes pain accrued is simply part of life and develops a calloused outlook on love and sex.
This is when I realized that I needed to stop running from my fate and fear of failure and face the destiny of stanza, rhymes and climaxes waiting to be crafted before me.
Because Cepeda wants you to be the paper to your lover’s pen. Because poetry is so much more than words on paper. Because sometimes sex is more than sex. Sometimes sex is the poem you become for your partner when they need you the most.
People want what they want. They want to be dominated, pissed on, talked down to, used, pleased, titillated, and teased. More than anything, they just want to feel like they don’t have to feel anything other than their truest desires for however long time, or money, can afford.
Kirby’s poem had to be read twice and three times and more because it grips you by the throat and doesn’t let go.
Elfie gives us a look at the daily struggle that can be experienced when fighting against these natures, and in the end, shows us the relief that comes with the recognition of our own personal truths.
all this can be yours is a patchwork quilt of what should have been said by all the dicks in the room.
REVIEW: UNMONSTROUS – JOHN ALLEN TAYLOR (YesYes Books):
It’s rare to read a piece that so beautifully captures the anger, emotions, beauty, and need for survival while trying to navigate all the evils of the child-to-adult journey.
If you are looking for soft, pillow talk love poetry, this is not the collection for you. If you are looking for honest, real, hilarious, disgusting, uncomfortable,and fun truths, look no further. The titles alone were a laugh out loud experience unto itself. “Get ready baby, ’cause I’m about to
from Petocha Virginity is $$$ in a vintage velvet pouch Touch her if you can for virginity is no real but she is wanting to be touched Not being a woman, and not having a daughter of my own, I think that I look at Monica McClure’s Mala (Poor Claudia)
