Kay Kassirer: Autism Speaks
Caption:
“Autism wants to be understood, researched, and recognized as a disability, not a disease.” In this Button Poetry video, Kay Kassirer reads their poem “Autism Speaks (after Arvind Nandakumar).”
Genre:
Theater video tags: Button Poetry
Button Poetry: Danez Smith
Caption:
In this Button Poetry video filmed at SubText Books in Saint Paul, Danez Smith reads their poem “Dede was the last person i came out to,” which appears in their fourth collection, Bluff (Graywolf Press, 2024).
Genre:
An All-Purpose Product by Patricia Smith
Caption:
In this Button Poetry video, Patricia Smith reads her poem “An All-Purpose Product,” which appears in her award-winning collection Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah (Coffee House Press, 2012), for the 2016 Get Lit Classic Slam in Los Angeles.
Genre:
A Few Things by Rudy Francisco
Caption:
“I know a few things about my body, it’s the only one that I have and it becomes everything I say it is.” In this Button Poetry video, Rudy Francisco reads his poem “A Few Things,” which appears in his collection Excuse Me as I Kiss the Sky (Button Poetry, 2023), at Icehouse in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Genre:
Summer / New York City
Caption:
“Is it any wonder our lips feel so lonesome these long evenings?” Phil Kaye reads his poem “Summer / New York City,” which appears in his collection Date & Time (Button Poetry, 2018), in this 2021 event with accompaniment by The Westerlies at Little Island in New York City.
Genre:
Cigarette Women by Keyma Flight
Caption:
“Everything that we think is shining is actually burning.” In this Button Poetry video, Keyma Flight reads her poem “Cigarette Women” at the 2022 Womxn of the World Poetry Slam in Baltimore, Maryland.
Genre:
The Role of the Artist by Darius Simpson
Caption:
“Tell the law nothin of substance / tell the people everything you can.” In this Button Poetry video, Darius Simpson reads his poem “The Role of the Artist,” which appears in his collection Never Catch Me (Button Poetry, 2022).
Genre:
Exodus 20:12 KJV by Steven Willis
Caption:
“We could no longer be threatened into submission or be stared into repentance. Their hope was that as we feared them less, we would fear God more.” Steven Willis reads his poem “Exodus 20:12 KJV” included in his collection, A Peculiar People (Button Poetry, 2022), in this video from the Button Studio in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Genre:
Kein/Muenchen by Jason Bayani
Caption:
“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.
Genre:
Teeth by Phil Kaye
Caption:
“Fear of joy is the darkest of captivities.” In this Button Poetry video, Phil Kaye reads his poem “Teeth” at Gray Area in San Francisco.
Genre:
Pages
