REVIEW: SWEET, YOUNG, AND WORRIED – BLYTHE BAIRD (BUTTON POETRY)
December 29, 2022
Baird truly pours her heart onto each page, and it can be felt beating in every single word. – Isabella Ciraco
THE POWER OF POETRY
REVIEW: SYMMETRY OF FISH – SU CHO (PENGUIN BOOKS)
December 27, 2022
Su Cho’s The Symmetry of Fish is a summon into experience, adventure, loss, sadness, pain and enlightenment. – Michael Imossan
REVIEW: URBANSHEE BY SIAARA FREEMAN (BUTTON POETRY)
December 27, 2022
Siaara Freeman shrieks and wails, but she also knows when to pull back, when to whisper and when to let the blank space reverberate like the ghost of a storm – Ronnie K. Stephens
THE STUDY OF HUMAN LIFE – JOSHUA BENNETT (PENGUIN POETS)
November 30, 2022
Bennett has established himself as an intensely patient and deliberate writer capable of upending genre as seamlessly as he upends our understanding of the world. – Ronnie K. Stephens
REPLAYS: FEEL ALRIGHT BY KRIIISPY
November 29, 2022
This year I been moving different
People acting mad funny – Peter griffin
People shooting for the stars
When they should’ve just stayed wishing
– Reggie Johnson
TPQ20 – S4EP2: COURTNEY FAYE TAYLOR
October 23, 2022
Join Chris of The Poetry Question in conversation with Courtney Faye Taylor, author of Concentrate (Graywolf Press) and winner of the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, about passions, process, pitfalls, and Poetry!
REPLAYS: MIXY BY QUAVO, TAKEOFF & SUMMER WALKER
October 18, 2022
I ain’t mixy
If my actions change
Adjusting to your nonsense
Now all of sudden I’m acting strange
– Reggie Johnson
TPQ20 – SAIDA AGOSTINI BOSTIC
September 25, 2022
Join Chris in a sit down with Saida Agostini Bostic, author of Let the Dead In (Alan Squire Publishing), about passions, process, pitfalls, and Poetry!
REPLAYS: OUTSIDE BY BRYSON TILLER
September 13, 2022
Luckily I clean it up well
Yeah prepare for the tide
Not a stain on me
We take off on our ride
– Reggie Johnson
TPQ20: S3EP14 – SANDRA CISNEROS
September 12, 2022
Join Chris in a sit-down with the legendary Sandra Cisneros, author of Woman Without Shame (Alfred A. Knopf), about passions, process, pitfalls, and poetry!
REVIEW: A SHIVER IN THE LEAVES – LUTHER HUGHES (BOA EDITIONS)
August 29, 2022
His use of structure, rhythm and extended metaphor are among the best, and his particular utilization of the crow throughout A Shiver in the Leaves sets this debut apart as one of the most layered, complex collections of the year. – Ronnie K. Stephens
TALK TO ME: NOLCHA FOX
August 26, 2022
I love putting odd images together, playing with alternate definitions of words, twisting the end. My adult me is the one who figures out where to submit the glorious mess I make of a poem. – Nolcha Fox
REPLAYS: TOXIC BY YG
August 23, 2022
Dramamine because I’m sick of you
When patience ran thin
Where was thick for you?
What didn’t click for you?
– Reggie Johnson
TPQ20: S3EP11 – H. MELT
August 21, 2022
Join Chris in a sit down with H. MELT, about passions, process, pitfalls, and Poetry!
REVIEW: LOTUS & THE APOCALYPSE – AUSTIN DAVIS (OUTCAST PRESS)
August 18, 2022
It’s a testament to all of us holding depression and joy in both hands, to everyone that has ever felt their world could end before the sun goes down. – Caitie L. Young
REVIEW: SO, STRANGER – TOPAZ WINTERS (BUTTON POETRY)
August 3, 2022
Winters offers a layered and thoughtful critique of the immigrant experience in America, the nuances of her relationship with her father and how borders operate in our lives. – Ronnie K. Stephens
SPEAK FREELY: MEANING AND METAPHOR IN RACHEL MCKIBBENS’ “THE WIDOWER”
July 28, 2022
Rachel McKibbens “The Widower” captures students because it’s visceral, emotional, and refuses to be ignored. – Ronnie K. Stephens
REVIEW: DIARIES OF A TERRORIST – CHRISTOPHER SOTO (COPPER CANYON PRESS)
July 20, 2022
Soto’s poems are meant to be rough, triggering at times, and cut straight to the point. Readers can’t help but understand the message, empathize, and feel like we’re supposed to fix things ourselves.
REPLAYS: THE SIGN BY LIZZO
July 19, 2022
Hey how you doing?
Are you getting tired yet?
I might forgive you
But I never forget
– Reggie Johnson
REVIEW: LET THE DEAD IN – SAIDA AGOSTINI (ALAN SQUIRE PUBLISHING)
July 18, 2022
The language, lyrically dispensed in its distinct style, portrays bravery and reveals a poet whose voice is both an ache and a cure. – Martins Deep
REVIEW: TIME IS A MOTHER – OCEAN VUONG (PENGUIN PRESS)
July 11, 2022
Vuong uses structure to further disrupt linear fluidity. His poems frequently utilize a style of enjambment that eschews natural speech, presenting fragments that time and again force the reader forward. – Ronnie K. Stephens
REVIEW: ALL THE BLOOD INVOLVED IN LOVE (HAYMARKET BOOKS)
June 29, 2022
Maya Marshall’s debut interrogates the current sociopolitical nature and its threat to reproductive rights, choice, and Blackness. – Caitie L. Young
REPLAYS: SURPRISE BY CHLÖE BAILEY
June 21, 2022
Not into too many surprises
Unless it’s a special occasion
And whenever I’m with you
It’s a cause for a celebration
– Reggie Johnson
REVIEW: ALL THE FLOWERS KNEELING – PAUL TRAN (PENGUIN POETS)
June 21, 2022
Paul Tran’s long-awaited debut collection, All the Flowers Kneeling, is a fierce reminder that Tran is one of the most talented and visceral poets writing in America today. – Ronnie K. Stephens
RELEASE DAY: HALF-BRED – ANTHONY SALANDY
June 14, 2022
Order your copy of A.R. Salandy’s Half-Bred! Only 100 copies available!
SPEAK FREELY: MENTAL HEALTH AND THE POETICS OF COLLECTIVE HEALING
May 25, 2022
Discussing mental health in the classroom can be incredibly daunting, especially as educators face public criticism and accusations of indoctrinating students. – Ronnie K. Stephens
SPEAK FREELY: NATIONAL POETRY MONTH EDITION
April 20, 2022
This month, I’m sharing some of my favorite pedagogical practices to introduce during National Poetry Month, as well as some of the poems I return to in my classes year after year. – Ronnie K. Stephens
REVIEW: BLOODFRESH BY EBONY STEWART (BUTTON POETRY)
February 22, 2022
Stewart is at her best, masterfully blending her understanding of craft with her keen ear for orality to offer a collection readers will be talking about for years. – Ronnie K. Stephens
REPLAYS: OVER – DRAKE
August 16, 2021
The song served as a reintroduction for my love for writing. For the first time, I was able to combine my love for both music and writing together.
CHAPBOOK CONTEST: SUBMISSIONS OPEN!
April 8, 2021
CHAPBOOK CONTEST: SUBMISSIONS OPEN!
Submit your chapbook manuscripts to The Poetry Question! Guest Judges: Sofia Fey & Chris L. Butler.
BROWN STUDY: “SELF PORTRAIT AS A MERMAID OR DEAD GIRL” – GAIA RAJAN
April 1, 2021
BROWN STUDY: “SELF PORTRAIT AS A MERMAID OR DEAD GIRL” – GAIA RAJAN
I started thinking about who owns grief, how memory and grief affect the body, and soon enough, the poem turned into an elegy for someone I’ve lost.
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.
THE POWER OF POETRY #29: A.M. O’MALLEY
September 1, 2015
THE POWER OF POETRY — A.M. O’Malley I first found poetry when I was nine years old in a beat up paperback copy of Alfred Tennyson’s collected poems that my father had. One Saturday, when no one was around, I stole the book away to my corner of the back
THE POWER OF POETRY #6: “A POND, A STICK” – DIANE SEUSS
June 12, 2015
A Pond, a Stick I just finished grading final portfolios for two of my poetry courses, here at the tail end of the academic year when teachers feel foul, ragged, bone-tired, and heartbroken. I have found myself wondering if poetry is in a losing battle with Kim Kardashian’s ass
THE POWER OF POETRY #5 – TONGO EISEN-MARTIN
June 9, 2015
The Power of Poetry Tongo Eisen-Martin Poetry does as much as the reader is ready for. Does as much as the writer can walk through her or his walls. Therefore poetry is every stitch of an expanding universe; every stitch of an expanding universe speaking for itself. Or therefore
THE POWER OF POETRY #3: JENNY DRAI
May 28, 2015
“The Power of Poetry” by JENNY DRAI 1. I remember the poem that made me want to be a poet—it was Paul Celan’s “Night Ray” (“Nachtstrahl”) from Poppy and Memory. (I first encountered Celan as an undergraduate German major. Up to that point, I had written almost exclusively fiction
POWER OF POETRY #2 – EBONY STEWART
May 26, 2015
“Power of Poetry” by EBONY STEWART I remember being eight or nine when my parents finally got divorced. Or should I say, when my mother finally gathered all her strength to leave my father. She took us with her. I wasn’t sad, I knew they shouldn’t be together.