Genre: Poetry

Lovable Oddities

3.28.23

In Ada Limón’s poem “Accident Report in the Tall, Tall Weeds,” which appears in her collection Bright Dead Things (Milkweed Editions, 2015), the speaker moves through the memories of exes and accidents, including how a friend is obsessed with plane crashes: “He memorizes the wrecked metal details, / the clear cool skies cut by black scars of smoke. / Once, while driving, he told me about all the crashes: / The one in blue Kentucky, in yellow Iowa. / How people go on, and how people don’t.” Write a poem about a specific detail or unexpected obsession of a loved one. How does this trait color the memories you have with that person?

Deadline Nears for Orison Books’ Prizes in Poetry and Fiction

G&A: The Contest Blog

3.24.23

Do you have a poetry or fiction manuscript in need of a home? Try submitting to Orison Books’ Prizes in Poetry and Fiction, which offer $1,500 for a book in each genre and publication by the press.

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Using only the online submission system, submit a poetry manuscript of 50 to 100 pages or a novel, novella, or collection of short stories or flash fiction of at least 30,000 words with a $25 entry fee by April 1. Pádraig Ó Tuama will judge in poetry and David Heska Wanbli Weiden will judge in fiction. Visit the website for complete guidelines.

Last year’s winner of the Orison Poetry Prize was Hussain Ahmed for Blue Exodus. Judge Rajiv Mohabir said the collection’s “lines ask the reader to interrogate all things in new vocabularies of anguish, born from the inheritor of a war—still being fought in the muscle memory of the people who lived through it.” M. C. Benner Dixon was the winner of last year’s Orison Fiction Prize for her novel, The Height of the Land. Judge Tania James called the book “a refreshing approach to the post-apocalyptic novel, showing us both the possibilities of collective action and the power of a single dissenting voice.”

Based in Asheville, North Carolina, Orison Books is a nonprofit literary press interested in writing that engages “the life of the spirit.” Taking its name from the archaic word for “prayer,” Orison seeks writers who “call us to meditate and contemplate, rather than asking us to adopt any ideology or set of propositions.”

Poetry.LA Interviews Cynthia Guardado

Cynthia Guardado - Poetry.LA Interview

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“This name— / branded on my family—rises out of / the ashes in the wind. I can trace each syllable / back to our cantón: Buena Vista.” Cynthia Guardado reads from her collection Cenizas (University of Arizona Press, 2022) and speaks about ancestry, names, and family stories in this Poetry.LA interview with poet Douglas Manuel.

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Poetry

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Cynthia Guardado

Poetry.LA interview series

Cenizas

University of Arizona Press

2022

Douglas Manuel

Nikky Finney on Community and Legacy

How award-winning poet Nikky Finney is bringing new life to her community

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In this PBS NewsHour video, National Book Award-winning poet and professor Nikky Finney discusses the work of social justice activism and preservation in her community of Columbia, South Carolina, which includes opening a cultural arts center honoring her father’s legacy as the first Black chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court since the Reconstruction era.

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Ernest A. Finney, Jr. Cultural Arts Center

Rebellious Nature

The Time Is Now

3.21.23

In Charif Shanahan’s poem “Colonialism,” which appears in his second collection, Trace Evidence, out this week from Tin House Books, the poet captures a tense and tender moment of childhood rebellion in which the young speaker runs across a bustling four-lane street in Casablanca as his mother rushes after him, spanks him, and says: “Why / Would you do that to me?” Another poem from the book depicts a child in a department store fleeing and hiding from his mother as she searches and calls out for him. The poet’s rebellious, authoritative voice electrifies scenes from childhood while exploring themes of mixed-race identity, queerness, and belonging. Can you recall a childhood memory that, in hindsight, is tied to your identity? Write a poem that captures this scene in which you see a latent part of yourself on display. Try to draw a line, as Shanahan does, connecting your past self to your present self.

Reparations Club

Indie Bookstore, Reading Venue

Reparations Club is a Black-owned, queer woman-owned concept bookshop and creative space in Los Angeles. The independent bookshop sells a variety of books and home goods, and frequently hosts events.

The Salt Eaters Bookshop

Indie Bookstore, Reading Venue

The Salt Eaters Bookshop is an independent bookstore in Inglewood, California prioritizing books, comics, and zines by and about Black women, girls, femmes, and gender expansive people. Inspired by The Salt Eaters by Toni Cade Bambara, the shop is working to create a resting ground for all, a place to come home.

Zibby’s Bookshop

Indie Bookstore, Reading Venue

Zibby’s Bookshop is a highly-curated, warm, and inviting indie bookstore in Santa Monica, California, with intimate, frequent events designed to connect books and authors to readers and each other.

Octavia’s Bookshelf

Indie Bookstore, Reading Venue

Octavia’s Bookshelf is an independent bookstore highlighting BIPOC authors. Located in Pasadena, California, the Black-owned bookstore is inspired and named after Octavia E. Butler who lived and worked in the neighborhood.

Poetry of Resilience Interviews Ada Limón

US Poet Laureate Ada Limón on Poetry of Resilience with Danusha Laméris and James Crews

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In this Poetry of Resilience interview, U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón reads from her collection The Hurting Kind (Milkweed Editions, 2022) and speaks about the emotions she writes from and the importance of poetry for healing with hosts and poets Danusha Laméris and James Crews.

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United States Poet Laureate