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gonna post poems from poets i love v much 1/30:
“Invasive Species Self-Questionnaire” by Marwa Helal:
“yes, this is a performance of my humanity. i am saying, “look, look at me. how intelligent i am. look, see: how i am, how i am avoiding death.”
“Invasive Species Self-Questionnaire” by Marwa Helal:
“yes, this is a performance of my humanity. i am saying, “look, look at me. how intelligent i am. look, see: how i am, how i am avoiding death.”
Marwa Helal is the author of Invasive Species (Nightboat Books, 2019) and the chapbook I Am Made To Leave I Am Made To Return (No Dear, 2017), winner of BOMB Magazine’s Biennial 2016 Poetry Contest.
their book can be purchased here: https://nightboat.org/bio/marwa-helal/
their book can be purchased here: https://nightboat.org/bio/marwa-helal/
2/30: “apology” by George Abraham: “at this point i too want to disappear: in the office of this therapist: who is perhaps a topologist: who asks so what shape does this anxiety take inside of you? & i want to say: tooth of a mouth: eye of a hurricane in my chest:“
about the author: @IntifadaBatata is a Palestinian American poet from Jacksonville, Florida. They are the author of Birthright (Button Poetry, 2020). Their debut collection is forthcoming with Button Poetry. Their book can be pre-ordered here: https://buttonpoetry.com/product/birthright/
3/30: "Woman Looking for the Disappeared Disappears on Way to Conference on Disappearances" by Nour Kamel:
"To speak a woman’s existence
demands her existence.
Does she exist if
there is no blood
no virginity tests
no orbital wounds
ashed over."
"To speak a woman’s existence
demands her existence.
Does she exist if
there is no blood
no virginity tests
no orbital wounds
ashed over."
about the author: Nour Kamel is perfectly lit and writes things from Cairo, Egypt. Their chapbook Noon is part of the New-Generation African Poets series and their writing appears or is forthcoming in Asameena, Anomaly, Rusted Radishes, Khabar Keslan, and Sukoon.
their chapbook can be purchased here: http://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/new-generation-african-poets-a-chapbook-box-set-sita/ & you can listen to their poem @voicemailpoems here: https://voicemailpoems.org/2020/02/17/woman-looking-for-the-disappeared-disappears-on-way-to-conference-on-disappearances/
4/30: from Afaq’s unnamed sequence on the Sudanese uprising: “i was thrown into the nile river when i was nine years old (another day’s story). until this day, i am still afraid of the sea”
about the author: afaq is a philly based daughter with grandmother tendencies. assembled in yemen (from sudanese parts). afaq considers herself a global citizen. you can watch a segment of their poem “On Stargazing From Rock Bottom” here:
5/30: “Kismet” By K. Eltinaé ( @keltinae): “I cough up sand and answer, That I am the son of a dove and a panther. From their blood and feathers I have learned about love.”
about the author: K. Eltinaé is a Sudanese poet of Nubian descent. His work has appeared in Baphash Literary & Arts Quarterly, Illya’s Honey and elsewhere. He is the 2019 Winner of International Beverly Prize for Literature as chosen by Illya Kaminsky.
6/30: from “Fruit” by Tariq Luthun: “before each dawn, i ask: what is it about
a seed shedding itself into
a seed reborn that makes it
its name?”
a seed shedding itself into
a seed reborn that makes it
its name?”
about the author: Tariq Luthun is a Detroit-born community organizer, and Emmy Award-winning poet. Luthun serves as Editor of the Micro Department at The Offing magazine. His chapbook “HOW THE WATER HOLDS ME,” is forthcoming with @BullCityPress in 2021.
you can order the book here: https://bullcitypress.com/product/how-the-water-holds-me-by-tariq-luthun/
7/30: “legendary” by Nicole Sealey:
“Whatever else white affords, I want. In multiples of white.”
“Whatever else white affords, I want. In multiples of white.”
about the author: Nicole Sealey is the author of Ordinary Beast (Ecco Press, 2017). Her chapbook, The Animal After Whom Other Animals are Named (Northwestern University Press, 2016), was the winner of the 2016 Drinking Gourd Chapbook Prize.
Nicole Sealey is my president & you can order her book here: https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062688828/ordinary-beast/
and read this one of hers too:
8/30: “High Fidelity” by @tarabetts “curves, to rewind in a deck or twist with a pencil so that song plays, maybe go back and find more.”
about the author: Tara Betts is the author of Break the Habit (Trio House Press, 2016) and Arc & Hue (Willow Books, 2009). Her work has appeared in POETRY, American Poetry Review, Essence, NYLON, and numerous anthologies. Tara holds a Ph.D. in English from Binghamton University.
you can purchase @tarabetts book here: https://www.triohousepress.org/breakthehabit.html. Betts was also recently featured in the New York Times for her reading this friday: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/arts/national-poetry-month-coronavirus.html
