Poets & Writers Theater

“Bodies weren’t meant to last / but the reverb dance eternal.” Accompanied by the music of Rhythm Science Sound, poet Idris Goodwin reads “More Statues Need High Heels,” an ode to Prince, from his new collection, Can I Kick It? (Haymarket Books, 2019). The book is part of Haymarket Books’ BreakBeat Poets series, a publishing project curated by Kevin Coval and Nate Marshall that is committed to writing that “brings the aesthetic of hip-hop practice to the page.”

“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).

"Dive into the words—here lies / fashion, here lies grace." E. Kristin Anderson reads from her chapbook Pray, Pray, Pray: Poems I Wrote to Prince in the Middle of the Night (Porkbelly Press, 2015), a collection of poems penned to, and inspired by, the late Prince.