Poets & Writers Theater
Every day we share a new clip of interest to creative writers—author readings, book trailers, publishing panels, craft talks, and more. So grab some popcorn, filter the theater tags by keyword or genre, and explore our sizable archive of literary videos.
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“Sometimes I too want to be a poem. / I don’t want to be this pain, / but the language used / to unearth it.” In this Button Poetry video, Michael Lee reads “Just Yesterday” from his debut poetry collection, The Only Worlds We Know (Button Poetry, 2019).
Tags: Poetry | Spoken Word | Michael Lee | Button Poetry | The Only Worlds We Know | 2019 -
“I orchestrate brutality but I never wanted to compose this symphony. We batons fell into the role masterfully though as the blue Beethovens adorned in badges used us to keep the beat on black notes....” In this video, Kofi Dadzie reads his poem “Baton” at Button Poetry Live in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 2018.
Tags: Poetry | Spoken Word | Kofi Dadzie | Button Poetry | 2018 | Baton | performance -
“The men in my family wear masculinity like war medals. From birth, deem themselves protectors, providers, kings of everything their light touches....” In this Button Poetry video, Jordan Bailey reads his poem “Men in My Family” at the 2019 Rustbelt Poetry Festival in St. Louis, Missouri.
Tags: Poetry | Spoken Word | Jordan Bailey | Men in My Family | 2019 | Button Poetry | Rustbelt Poetry Festival | performance -
“It is not what drove your body here like a stolen car. / why you abandoned it on this unreasonable ledge....” This Button Poetry video features sam sax’s poem “Gay Boys & the Bridges Who Love Them” from his second collection, Bury It (Wesleyan University Press, 2018), and is directed by Seth Moore and Cole Smothers with choreography by Matthew Bovee and Sarah Adam.
Tags: Poetry | sam sax | Gay Boys & the Bridges Who Love Them | Button Poetry | video poem | Bury It | Wesleyan University Press | 2018 | 2019 -
“I watched a dandelion lose its mind in the wind / and when it did, it scattered a thousand seeds.“ Andrea Gibson, author of Lord of the Butterflies (Button Poetry, 2018), reads their poem “The Nutritionist” for this animated TED-Ed film directed by Tomás Pichardo-Espaillat.
Tags: Poetry | Andrea Gibson | The Nutritionist | Lord of the Butterflies | Button Poetry | 2018 | TED-Ed | animation | short film -
“It’s hard to imagine the pain of another without being swallowed by it.” Dave Harris reads “Preparing a Meal” from his debut poetry collection, Patricide, which was published by Button Poetry in May.
Tags: Poetry | Dave Harris | Preparing a Meal | Patricide | Button Poetry | 2019 | reading -
“She is told she does not belong, to go back where she came from, as if where she came from is not where she is.” In this video, Leah Anderson reads her poem “You Ask Me What I Am So You May Know How to Fear Me” at Button Poetry Live in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Tags: Poetry | Spoken Word | Leah Anderson | Button Poetry -
“Sometimes people love us in ways we do not understand how to be loved.” In this Button Poetry video, Blythe Baird, author of the debut poetry collection, If My Body Could Speak (Button Poetry, 2019), reads her poem “An Invitation.”
Tags: Poetry | Spoken Word | Blythe Baird | If My Body Could Speak | Button Poetry | 2019 -
“I do hope one day to be free of this body’s dry wood...” In this Button Poetry video, Kaveh Akbar, author of the poetry collection, Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Alice James Books, 2017), reads a poem that was published in Tin House’s “The Rehab Issue” in 2017.
Tags: Poetry | Spoken Word | Kaveh Akbar | Calling a Wolf a Wolf | Alice James Books | 2017 | Button Poetry | Tin House -
“We slid pride first into his car opening the new year / the way ungraceful fingers open a gift not meant for them.” William Evans reads “New Year’s Eve Party at Eric’s House and the Black Boys Have Had Enough” from his poetry collection Still Can’t Do My Daughter’s Hair (Button Poetry, 2017) at Camp Bar in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Tags: Poetry | Spoken Word | William Evans | Button Poetry | Still Can’t Do My Daughter’s Hair | 2017 -
“I can’t remember the last time / someone commented on my sunny disposition. / That doesn’t mean I’m not trying to juice / the sun for every holy drop.” In this video, Andrea Gibson reads “Living Proof” from their poetry collection Lord of the Butterflies (Button Poetry, 2018) at the Westcott Theater in Syracuse, New York.
Tags: Poetry | Spoken Word | Andrea Gibson | performance | Button Poetry | Living Proof | Lord of the Butterflies | 2018 -
“Good luck implies the death of everyone who does not have it...” Jonathan Mendoza, author of the chapbook When the Crows Come (Pizza Pi Press, 2017), reads his poem “Confessions on Gratitude” in this video for Button Poetry.
Tags: Poetry | Spoken Word | Jonathan Mendoza | Button Poetry | When the Crows Come | 2017 -
“At nine years old, I transform into things I’ve never been before...” Phil Kaye, author of the collection Date & Time, forthcoming from Button Poetry in September, reads his poem “Before the Internet.”
Tags: Poetry | Spoken Word | Phil Kaye | Date & Time | Button Poetry | 2018 -
“Most people have no idea that tragedy and silence often have the exact same address.” In this video, Rudy Francisco reads his poem “Complainers” from his debut poetry collection, Helium (Button Poetry, 2017), on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Tags: Poetry | Spoken Word | Rudy Francisco | The Tonight Show | Helium | Button Poetry | 2017 -
“Poems ask you to...really think empathetically, compassionately, and deeply about things.” Aaron Coleman, whose chapbook, St. Trigger (Button Poetry, 2016), won the 2015 Button Poetry Prize, talks about his writing interests and the power of poetry as a tool that can shift everyday language and change perspectives.
Tags: Poetry | Aaron Coleman | Button Poetry | 2016 | 2015 | Button Poetry Prize | St. Trigger -
“This joke that I heard in Arabic hurts just as much in English, and French, and in any other dialect.” In this video, Emi Mahmoud reads her poem “How to Translate a Joke” for Button Poetry Live at Camp Bar in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Tags: Poetry | Spoken Word | Emi Mahmoud | How to Translate a Joke | Button Poetry -
“We are human. We know this because we can look down on almost anything.” In this video animated by Andrés Fernández Cordón, Meghann Plunkett reads her poem “Human.” The video was one of the featured submissions for the inaugural Button Poetry Video Contest.
Tags: Poetry | animation | Meghann Plunkett | Button Poetry -
“Anything wet and eager enough to consume the skin can be called a baptism.” In this video from Button Poetry, Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib reads “Ode to Prince” from his debut poetry collection, The Crown Ain’t Worth Much (Button Poetry/Exploding Pinecone Press, 2016).
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“But what I really want to say is we gone fall into the night like we fell into each other and it won't hurt no more.” Mahogany L. Browne, author of the poetry collection Smudge (Button Poetry, 2016), reads “Redbone Shames the Devil” for the Button Poetry Live series in June 2016.
Tags: Button Poetry | 2016 | Mahogany L. Browne | Redbone Shames the Devil | Smudge | Poetry | Spoken Word -
"Character is shy yet codependent, searching for love in all the wrong men." Poet and actress Amber Tamblyn reads "Untitled Actress" from her collection Dark Sparkler (Harper Perennial, 2015) for Button Poetry.
Tags: 2015 | Button Poetry | Harper Perennial | Amber Tamblyn | Dark Sparkler | Poetry