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“Black of pure tint, I cry and laugh / the vibration of being a black statue; / a chunk of night, in which my white / teeth are lightning.” In this video for the Favorite Poem Project, bilingual special education teacher Glaisma Pérez-Silva reads Julia de Burgos’s poem “Ay, Ay, Ay, de la Grifa Negra,” translated from the Spanish by Jack Agüeros.
Poets looking to publish their first or second poetry collections have until the end of the month to submit manuscripts to the Changes Press Bergman Prize. Offered annually, the prize awards the winner $10,000, publication by Changes Press, a book launch in New York City, and other opportunities for publicity.
Using only the online submission system, submit a manuscript of 48 to 80 pages, a brief bio, and a list of previously published poems by October 31. Louise Glück, winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature, will judge. There is no entry fee. Visit the website for complete guidelines.
The Bergman Prize was established in 2020 in memory of Judson and Susan Bergman. The prize’s inaugural winner was Rachel Mannheimer, whose collection Earth Room was selected by Glück and released by Changes Press in April. An independent publisher based in New York City, Changes Press also publishes the online periodical Changes Review. Submissions for the journal are currently closed.
“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.
“Poetry is impossible, but it is not difficult.” —Olena Kalytiak Davis, author of Late Summer Ode
“I spent most of my life trying to blend in. / Try to fade into the background. / Try not to be noticed.” Abby Orbeta reads their poem “Chameleon” (“Hunyango”), which has been translated into Filipino, for this Ours Poetica video, sponsored by Complexly and the Poetry Foundation.
In Derrick Austin’s poem “Jesus Year,” he creates a portrait of his life on the occasion of his thirty-third birthday. Instead of leaning toward the more familiar images of birthday cakes or candles, Austin begins by describing his immediate surroundings: “My clogged sink coughs up foul water. / My skeletal philodendron,” he writes. The poem then offers more about his life; family members, a cerulean sweater worn through a winter without work, memories of the last time he smoked a cigarette. Taking inspiration from Austin, write a poem that paints a portrait of your life. Try to color the poem with unexpected images to offer a complete picture.
The author of Selected Books of the Beloved investigates the uses of specificity in narrative poetry.
“I no longer want to do this thing of speaking for the voiceless, it’s about passing the microphone and allowing those people to finally speak for themselves.” In this video produced by the Guardian Labs, author and spoken word artist Pages Matam talks about the power of poetry and creating spaces where shared experiences can act as both inspiration and a catalyst for change.
“That’s one of the reasons I write. I’ve needed to create the narrative of my life, its abiding metaphors, so that my story would not be determined for me.” In this 2022 video, former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey delivers the annual Windham-Campbell Lecture “Why I Write” for the prize ceremony at Yale University.
“My friend Michael and I are walking home arguing about the movie. / He says that he believes a person can love someone / and still be able to murder that person.” Marie Howe reads her poem “After the Movie,” which appears in her collection The Kingdom of Ordinary Time (Norton, 2008), in this 2014 video for the Page Meets Stage series in New York City.
