Judy Blume on Book Censorship
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“Censors never go after books unless kids already like them.” In this 2011 video for Banned Books Week, frequently censored author Judy Blume speaks about the negative effect that book banning has on children.
Genre: Poetry
Perfect Day
Wim Wenders’s 2023 Oscar-nominated film Perfect Days follows the life of a man named Hirayama, who cleans public toilets in Tokyo for work. Hirayama adheres to routines in his daily activities, waking to the sound of someone sweeping outside, brushing his teeth, misting his plants, buying a coffee from the vending machine outside of his apartment, playing cassette tapes on his commute, and taking photos with film cameras while on his lunch break. His work tasks are completed with integrity, even using a jerry-rigged mirror to check the undersides of the toilets he cleans. The character speaks very little and the focus remains on the simple beauty of his everyday experiences. Write a poem that chronicles one day in your life, encapsulating both mundane routine and beauty beheld. Consider playing with repetition, line breaks, and spacing, to reflect the regular and irregular rhythms of your day.
2024 Eric Williams Memorial Lecture: Danez Smith
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In this event from the 2024 Eric Williams Memorial Lecture, Danez Smith reads from their work and discusses the poetics of resistance and rebellion with Jennifer M. Wilks, director of the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
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Moon Thoughts
In the four lines of the poem “Quiet Night Thoughts” by Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai, the speaker expresses a sentiment of longing for home, brought on by the somber imagery of moonlight shining in through a bedroom window. In celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival, an occasion for gatherings to gaze at the full moon that leads up to the autumnal equinox, write a poem that uses the moon as a symbol of unity to reflect on the desire to reunite with loved ones—whether they be relatives near or far, or your chosen family. As you gaze at the moon in all its luminosity, roundness, and fullness, what emotions arise surrounding social harmony or disharmony?
Séamus Isaac Fey and Lynne Thompson on Making a Poetry Collection
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In this Poetry.LA video, Lynne Thompson, author most recently of Blue on a Blue Palette (BOA Editions, 2024), and Séamus Isaac Fey, author of the debut collection, decompose (Not a Cult, 2024), read from their work and speak about playing with poetic form and organizing poetry manuscripts.
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Then & Now: Vietnamese American Literature
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In this Green Apple Books event, the Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network (DVAN) presents the Then & Now: Vietnamese American Literature reading series with opening remarks by executive director Isabelle Thuy Pelaud, followed by readings by Lan Duong, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Anastasia Le, Angie Chau, Frank Thanh Nguyen, and Carolyn Huynh with introductions by chief operating officer Kathy Nguyen.
Holding On
“The jacket doesn’t have many wears left. Its small fissures have become large ones. Its fading has become even more pronounced. And yet, I am putting it through the rigors of my living,” writes Hanif Abdurraqib, about a 1978 vintage Bruce Springsteen nylon jacket he procured, in a piece published for the Yale Review’s “Objects of Desire” series, in which writers “meditate on an everyday item that haunts them.” This week compose a poem about one such haunting object in your life. Abdurraqib describes being drawn to vintage clothing because it is a way of “extending the life of an item that someone else decided they were finished with” and “a bridge from one existence to another.” Is there a beloved item of yours with a history? Think about how you can play with diction, rhythm, and formatting to express why you hold on to this object.
Fiftieth Anniversary of Copper Canyon Press
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In this 2023 Lannan Foundation event celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Copper Canyon Press, Paisley Rekdal presents her hybrid collection, West: A Translation, and Jericho Brown, author of the Pulitzer Prize–winning collection, The Tradition, reads a selection of poems, followed by a conversation with Arthur Sze and the press’s editor in chief Michael Wiegers.
Segue Reading Series: Jackie Wang and Eileen Myles
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In this 2023 Segue Reading Series event hosted by Artists Space, Jackie Wang reads from her book Alien Daughters Walk Into the Sun: An Almanac of Extreme Girlhood (Semiotext(e), 2023) and Eileen Myles reads from their latest poetry collection, a “Working Life” (Grove Press, 2023).
Speak Now Series: Claudia Rankine
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“If the only thing we can give to each other is ourselves, we better do it. Now.” In this inaugural Speak Now series event hosted by Columbia University School of the Arts, Claudia Rankine reads from her work-in-progress “Triage” and discusses political censorship in higher education and the importance of literature in crises in a conversation with Sarah Cole.
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