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“Writing can be beautiful, witty, and entertaining but it’s a serious commitment.” In this 2019 Louisiana Literature interview, Anne Waldman shares her advice to aspiring writers with emphasis on the importance of reading widely and respecting the act of writing.
“Much like his life, Neruda’s poems bridged romance and revolution by emphasizing the everyday moments worth fighting for.” Author Ilan Stavans narrates this TED-Ed animated film about the life and poetry of Pablo Neruda, directed by Ivana Bosnjak and Thomas Johnson.
“These New York City Pigeons / cooing in the air shaft / are responsible for me.” Timothy Liu reads Jayne Cortez’s poem “These New York City Pigeons” and two poems from his latest book, Let It Ride (Saturnalia Books, 2019), for the Poets House Hard Hat Reading series.
“You were not always just a You. I was whole—a symbiotic relationship between my best and worst parts—and then, in one sense of the definition, I was cleaved.” In this reading at the Kelly Writers House in 2020, Carmen Maria Machado reads from her debut memoir, In the Dream House (Graywolf Press, 2019).
“Maybe when we say love, we mean a safe place to fall apart.” Jason Bayani reads his poem “Kein/Muenchen,” which appears in his collection Locus (Omnidawn, 2019), in this Button Poetry Live reading in 2019.
“Scientists say the average human/ life gets three months longer every year. / By this math, death will be optional,” reads Nicole Sealey from her poem “The First Person Who Will Live to Be One Hundred and Fifty Years Old Has Already Been Born,” which appears in her collection Ordinary Beast (Ecco, 2017), in this reading with Morgan Parker, author of Magical Negro (Tin House, 2019), at Scripps College.
Jan-Henry Gray talks about recipe poems and the structural parallels between poetry and cooking in this short film by Talia Sadie Feder. Gray’s debut poetry collection, Documents (BOA Editions, 2019), is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
In celebration of Walt Whitman’s bicentennial birthday on May 31 of 2019, Brooklyn residents—including Mahogany L. Browne, Jason Koo, Gregory Pardlo, Ben Purkert, and Brooklyn poet laureate Tina Chang—recite his 1856 poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” from Leaves of Grass in various neighborhoods and libraries throughout the borough. This video was produced by the Brooklyn Public Library.
“Writing without purpose just becomes aimless words on the page,” says Roxane Gay offering advice on where to begin when starting a new piece of writing in this excerpt from a Skillshare class.
“[The poem] allows for a place for the reader to breathe,” says Ada Limón in this 2019 reading and conversation about her books of poetry with Washington Post book critic Ron Charles, hosted by the Library of Congress. “In that empty space we actually bring ourselves to the page, so that the writer is not the only person experiencing the poem, but the reader is part of that journey.”
