How To Write a Love Poem: Theory, Steps and Template

How to Write a Love Poem: Theory, Steps, and Template

by Jonathan Burkhalter

Theory

When I think of love poems, a few people and their work come to mind immediately. Firstly, Katie Farris’ A Net to Catch my Body in its Weaving– in which she poses an important question: “why write love poems in a burning world?” Perhaps it’s best to start here, because if we can’t answer that, we have no business doing this. Whether or not you think art is political (it is), we must first have our own charter for this task.

Among the dystopian plotline of genocides masked as wars, while rappers beef and the super rich spend nearly twice my year’s salary on a single seat at the Met Gala and Lord knows how much on outfits (happy teacher appreciation week, everyone, by the way), we must answer for ourselves why we write, what moves us to write.

Maybe the answer sounds something like: because the lack of love or in vacuums where love is not present, we are only left with horrors. Personally, I write love poems because without everyone who has loved me, I don’t think I’d be alive. And I don’t mean just lovers, because love isn’t only romantic. Love poems are for friends, family, people you saw once on the train, crushes, or even the squirrel that stole my granola bar one morning. 

To continue with Katie Farris’ same collection, she included, “Rachel’s Chair”, which is direct, humorous and a bit randy. The power of this poem comes from its simplicity and honesty. It is hinting at a lifetime of love without expressing too much. I don’t think Farris’ poem is in juxtaposition to another favorite love poem of mine, but perhaps offers a different direction. Matthea Harvey’s “In Defense of Our Overgrown Garden” is sprawling, restless, yet succinctly universal in a way that love can require the capital letter. On first read, one could be forgiven for not expecting it to be a love poem until roughly the 15th line. The bounding whimsy and beauty envelopes the speaker’s intentions for their subject. 

There are infinite ways to write a love poem. These are examples of directions, but even writing your lover’s name twenty times on your notebook is a love poem. In the end, it’s the ink that proves the simplest fact of all– that you were there, you felt something real once, maybe twice. Documentation is another thing that a love poem must address. A love poem should wake us up! Wake us up with the unique language shared between loves. The first date, the animal that means something deeper because…, the emoji, that time that…, etc. Wake us up from the burning world. 

I’m back to circling the drain on WHY and not HOW. Perhaps we need to keep one eye focused on each.

How to write a love poem: Step-by-step

Step 1– Answer why. 

Step 2– Think of a time and place or images that matter to your love. In other words, access the language that you and your subject share.

Step 3– Never speak for your subject or objectify them or deny them a voice. For more information, read what Rae Armantrout has to say. 

Step 4– Use concrete imagery whenever possible. Look at Aria Aber’s “Waiting for Your Call”, in which she says, “My phone notes littered with lines like Beauty will not save you. / Or: mouthwash, yogurt, cilantro.” 

Step 5– Open with a banger if you can. For example, look at Maggie Nelson’s Bluets, in which she opens with, “Suppose that I were to begin by saying I’ve fallen in love with a color”. 

And if you really would like an outline, I made a guide that was inspired heavily by Oliver Baez Bendorf.

I’ll leave you with this.

Confession PrompT

After Oliver Baez Bendorf

If we ever _______________

an observation

a negation

zoom out

A rose is _______________

a confession

a question

another question

a) Another question b) zoom out c) an observation

a line that uses an exclamation point

a summary of what love is

a symbol of the space that precedes honesty 

a confession

final line. 

Writer Bio
jonathan burkhalter is a writer, event coordinator, teacher, and editor.  they hold an mfa in poetry from sarah lawrence college. they are passionate about motels, natural wine, food that moves us, and the practice of the kitchen table as a gathering place.

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Still not ready to write that love poem yourself? Hire a professional!

PSNY’s poets specialize in crafting custom, bespoke poetry with your loved ones in mind. Consider commissioning a poem, or hire one of our typewriter poets for your anniversary, engagement party, wedding, lover’s birthday, or any special occasion.

Photo by Mrika Selimi on Unsplash

Cucumbers, Pornography and Formula 1: Three Ways to Define Poetry

Whisper it: I used to hate poetry. I found verse too fey, too empty, too performatively artful. Then I realised two things: A, I was an idiot and B, poetry was everywhere. In Alanis Morissette lyrics, in faded graffiti tags, in snippets of old movies. I mean “Of all the gin joints in all the world, she had to walk into mine” — it’s the kind of sonnet opener Shakespeare would have killed to write, no?

But the more I dived into the art, courtesy of a Masters in Creative Writing course, the more I realised something. Compared to other literary forms, poetry is the most concerned with unravelling what defines it. Grappling with its genre like a snake eating its own tail.

Yet while most definitions are artful and vivid, they can lean towards the esoteric. A line often tagged to writer Jean Cocteau, for example, notes that “the poet is a liar who always speaks the truth.” A better bon mot than it is a definition.

In a bid to get to grips with my fledgling poetry, I figured I’d take a stab at three analogues of my own. You may find them equally unhelpful, and what’s wrong with that? Ask ten people to define love and you won’t get the same answer. The richest concepts are the hardest to unpack. The ephemeral, slippery nature of poetry is its key, and maybe the point isn’t to successfully unlock it, but to enjoy trying.

Here they are:

1. Poetry is Like a Cucumber (Words with the Water Squeezed Out)

There is power in the act of condensing. Have you ever pickled anything? Leave a cut cucumber swimming in salty brine for ten minutes. Return to it, and the flavor is intensified threefold. A cucumber that has lost all its excess, flushed the water away and retained what is essential. That’s what poetry is to me, compared to say, a novel. The poet cuts away every syllable that isn’t needed, so the reader is left with the fullest taste imaginable.

2. Poetry is Pornography (It's Slippery Stuff)

There’s a famous quote from a Supreme Court judge who, overseeing an obscenity trial and asked how he defined pornography, sputtered “I know it when I see it.” A line that has the pulse of poetry itself, no? And the gleam of truth. We know poetry when we see it. Perhaps that’s the most important test of all; if it echoes against the little bones in our ear that react to poetry.

3. Poetry is Engine-Noise (We're Here for the Sound)

Fiction, nonfiction, flash fiction — these matters are concerned with happenings. They are plot-forward, concerned with propulsion. A big-nosed street racer, urging on the guy behind the wheel (that’s you, reader).

Now poetry, it moves forward too. Things happen: wheelbarrows stand in the rain. Ravens cry “nevermore”. Travellers choose between two paths in the wood. The difference is that we’re here for the journey, not the destination. The plot can take a back-seat: we want the noise of the engine and the way it makes those hairs rise. You know, the ones on the back of your neck.

Written by Daniel Seifert - Member of PSNY

Become a Member with PSNY and gain the opportunity to submit your writing to How to Poet. Find out more here: PSNY Membership.

Writer Bio: Dan's writing is published or forthcoming in The New York Times, Consequence, Open: The Journal of Arts and Letters, and the anthology Missed Connections: Microfiction From Asia. In 2023 he was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize, and longlisted for the Letter Review Prize. He is currently undertaking a Masters in Creative Writing at Lasalle College of the Arts in Singapore. Find him on Twitter @DanSeifwrites

PSNY's Places to Write #3

As much as there’s plentiful opportunity to be inspired in darling NYC, often quiet times to write are harder to come by. We’re launching this series on First Mondays as a monthly reminder to take some time out for the poet in you. Carve out some you-time and head down to this month’s PTW spot & give this Prompt a free write.

Greenacre Park

Directions: Find your way to Midtown on 51st Street between 2nd and 3rd Ave. There you will discover a beautiful hidden gem nestled in the middle of the city.

Writing Prompt:

The eye-catching centerpiece of the park will drown out the usual sounds of the city with rushes of water.
Water has so many functions and properties. It can cleanse, drown, lift up, restore and calm us.

Focus on the soundtrack of this place & ask yourself: What does your body need from the water today?

Do you need the trickling streams to carry something away? Or the force of its waterfall to wash you clean?

Hashtag #PSNYPlacestoWrite when you visit our PTW Location 3.

Feel free to share what you write, we’ll repost it @poetrysocietyny. 

Series by F.M Papaz

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F.M Papaz is a Greek-Australian creative and writer who believes that there is space at the literary table for everyone and is excitedly setting up your cutlery. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Wild Roof Journal, Five South & Mantissa Poetry Review amongst others. She does Editorial work for Milk Press and Tabula Rasa Review as well as being a Marketing Associate for PSNY. Connect @fmpapaz on Instagram & TikTok and visit fmpapaz.com/ings to find her monthly newsletter about living a creative life and to find her chapbook, ‘Distance Makes the Heart Grow.’

Fools (and Foolishness) in Poetry - By Joshua John Smithe

Everyone knows poets don’t get into poetry to make money. But we also know no one gets into poetry to make people laugh.

History has taught us that poetry is a serious sport which is supposed to work around themes of romance, political commentary, death, and creative descriptions of sunlight entering windows. And since poetry’s inception, thought to date back 2500 to 3000 years BC with the carving of “Hymn to the Death of Tammuz” into a tablet of clay, never has one, feeling a little low in mood and in need of a good laugh, raised an index finger in the air and thought, ‘Ah, yes, poetry, that oughta do it.’ 

So where does humour belong in poetry?

In so many places. And for so many reasons. I’ll discuss some with you now.

Poets certainly aren’t known for their hilarity. When you picture a poet, an image of elbow patches and male pattern baldness may come to mind, perhaps a greying woman with tiny glasses, or a guy with a goatee and a beret who speaks no French mansplaining Proust.

These present as largely unfunny characters, it must be said. I personally don’t know any poets who are also stand-up comedians, though many poets are creatures of quick wit.

Humour, being a natural device for ducking and weaving around emotionally difficult situations in my daily life with amusing or sarcastic comments, could not help but burst through the door into my writing. So, if for no other reason than this, humour belongs in poetry if it serves that originating purpose of revealing our inner self.

But as for the ducking and weaving, I suppose that’s one of the reasons humour exists in poetry: a way of getting to or accessing harder, less funny things.

Philip Larkin’s most famous poem This Be The Verse, for instance, opens with this stanza:

‘They fuck you up, your mom and dad / They may not mean to, but they do / They fill you with the faults they had / And add some extra, just for you.’

A pretty whimsical approach to the subject matter of generational trauma, if you ask me. But the comic spirit feels right.

I also tend to think that good poems move and swerve around, and humour is one way for taking a poem in a different direction. In the sonnet form, we know the volta is the turn of thought or direction, in Petrarchan or Italian sonnets it happens between the octave and the sestet, and in Shakespearean or English before the final couplet (funny, right?).

We can go as far back as Shakespeare, to Sonnet 130—in which Shakespeare describes his mistress as a wiry haired, smelly woman with dull boobs, putting the brakes on just before the end to declare that despite her apparent vulgarity, their love is beautiful and worthwhile after all—to see how turning poems into and and away from humour has been a technique for quite some time. Or maybe Shakespeare just grew bored with comparing his lovers to particularly seasonal days, who really knows?

My personal favourite example of this technique is a poem called What I Want by George Bilgere, though I won’t spoil the fun by giving away the joke. 

A poem’s premise can also be amusing, focusing in on some minor detail to comedic effect, of which Billy Collins is an expert. His poem titled I Chop Some Parsley While Listening to Art Blakey’s Version of “Three Blind Mice” begins: “And I start wondering how they came to be blind.” The entire poem then becomes an investigation of this thought…

“Was it a common accident, all three caught / in a searing explosion, a firework perhaps? / If not, / if each came to his or her blindness separately, / how did they ever manage to find one another? Would it not be difficult for a blind mouse / to locate even one fellow mouse with vision / let alone two other blind ones?”

If anyone has ever said to you, ‘Do you want to hear a joke?’, you’ll know that the question almost invariably defeats the possibility of laughter. It is the wet blanket of comedy. As with humour in life, humour in poetry seems to prosper in its spontaneity.

I would refer to Charles Bukowski as someone who seemed to enjoy dramatizing the reveal of humour in his work. His poem 8 count is short enough for me to include in its entirety.

“from my bed / I watch / 3 birds / on a telephone / wire. / one flies / off. / then / another. / one is left, / then / it too / is gone. / my typewriter is / tombstone / still. / and I am / reduced to bird / watching. / just thought I'd / let you / know, / fucker.”

That said, a poem’s title can signpost playfulness to come.

Sharon Olds’ poem The Pope’s Penis amuses me before I begin, and delivers on its promise with the opening lines:

“It hangs deep in his robes, / a delicate clapper at the center of a bell.”

So too does the poem To the delete button by Matthew Yeager, an ode in praise of the backspace key, which says, “you have changed / literature like the pill / changed sex”. 

I’ll leave it there. The next time you sit down to write poetry, don’t be shy to think about laughter as a response as worthy as someone thinking your poem is smart or meaningful, doing your bit to help to shift the public image of poets away from the pretentious few who in conversations at parties across the world are dragging our good name through the mud.

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Joshua John Smithe is a poet and writer from Melbourne, Australia. See more of his work at: https://www.joshuajohnsmithe.com/

PSNY's Places to Write #2

As much as there’s plentiful opportunity to be inspired in darling NYC, often quiet times to write are harder to come by. We’re launching this series on First Mondays as a monthly reminder to take some time out for the poet in you.
Carve out some you-time and head down to this month’s PTW spot & give this Prompt a free write.

Aye Simon Reading Room

Directions: On the corner of 5th & E 89th, you’ll find the entry of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Grab a $30 ticket and head inside to the iconic atrium designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. As you travel up the Level 1 ramp, halfway up you will find a semi-circle opening on your right that leads to the Aye Simon Reading Room.

Writing Prompt: You have the option within the room, to peruse the many art and poetry books for inspiration. In 2023, Ama Codjoe was the Poet-in-Residence of the Museum. There are materials within the Reading Room that she created. A screen with headphones to the back of the room, will offer you options to listen to poems Ama has written as well Writing Prompts she created during her residency.

Alternatively, take a walk around the museum and take in the artworks, paying special attention to shape.

Shape makes this museum everything that it is.

Artworks you’ll find also reflect their nature, in the form the artists have chosen to present them in.

Create a poem whose form reflects its nature.

Hashtag #PSNYPlacestoWrite when you visit our PTW Location 2.

Feel free to share what you write, we’ll repost it @poetrysocietyny. 

Series by F.M Papaz

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F.M Papaz is a Greek-Australian creative and writer who believes that there is space at the literary table for everyone and is excitedly setting up your cutlery. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Wild Roof Journal, Five South & Mantissa Poetry Review amongst others. She does Editorial work for Milk Press and Tabula Rasa Review as well as being a Marketing Associate for PSNY. Connect @fmpapaz on Instagram & TikTok and visit fmpapaz.com/ings to find her monthly newsletter about living a creative life and to find her chapbook, ‘Distance Makes the Heart Grow.’

Poetry is Magic: My First Intensive Poetry Class by F.M Papaz

Artwork: The Improvement by René Magritte

After taking a few PSNY Virtual Workshops here and there from 2022 to mid-2023, I decided to take the plunge and sign up for a Milk Press Intensive. I have never studied poetry formally, by that I mean, beyond high school. I was yearning for more insight into the Craft of poetry & also to know how the poems I’d been writing the past couple years, read to people who read poetry (no shade to my Mum and besties, your feedback has been great).

I got so much more than I bargained for. I discovered, Poetry is Magic.

The Summer Intensive was taught by the remarkable Jackie Braje. The reverence she holds for poetry allows her to hold space for everyone regardless of poetry experience but also to expect that we engage with the material and challenge our preconceived notions. Each week she curated thought-provoking readings and poems to initiate discussions. We workshopped our poems with these readings in mind.

Up until then, how I conducted myself in poetry had come from an intuitive place within me that was difficult to regale. The amazing part of getting into Theory was the discovery and affirmation that the craft of poetry does have this spiritual origin and operation to it that lives within and is executed by the Poet.

We spoke about Voice, Form, the Line and Method in Poetry and common to all of these devices is the imploration that these poetic tools lead you more than you lead them. You must be open to discovering the ecosystem that already exists, more than you are creating something that did not exist prior to your writing about it.

Barbara Guest challenges us to “[lose] the arrogance of dominion over the poem to an invisible hand” because while “the poet campaigns for a passage over which the poet has control..[the] unstableness of the poem is important. Also the frequent lapses of control.”

Alice Notley acknowledges that “there is no way not to impose yourself as an author on your material” but also that the Voice of the Poem “seems to have come into existence just a moment prior to the poem” and “is really only for the poem.” “The things that are said in poems are for poems - for the unity of the occasion of a poem, which is made by one poet only. In life one person blends with another, but rarely in poetry…each [poem] is a cosmos.”

As a poet, I am seeing myself more and more, not as a creator, but a conduit or a channel.

Anne Carson’s ‘Notes on Method’ distilled this epiphany to me with the inclusion of György Lukács’s philosophical statement “I do not want to be a windowless monad.” Carson speaks about the poem being reflective of “withness.” In these two concepts, I understand my role. A poem is two entities, a part of the poet’s ‘Self’ and the ‘cosmos’ they have discovered and positioned themselves ‘with’ in the container of the poem. I must allow the reader to look through a part of me, to see what scenery I have sought out and sat ‘with’ on the other side.

In short, Poetry is Magic.

Works Referenced:

Barbara Guest, Invisible Architecture

Alice Notley, ‘Voice’ from ‘Coming After’

Some Notes on Organic Form by Denise Levertov

On the Line by Stacy Szymaszek

Notes on Method by Anne Carson

Writer Bio

F.M Papaz is a Greek-Australian creative and writer who believes that there is space at the literary table for everyone and is excitedly setting up your cutlery. Her poems have appeared in Wild Roof Journal, Mantissa Poetry Review and The Victorian Writer. She does Editorial work for Tabula Rasa Review and Milk Press. Connect @fmpapaz or fmpapaz.com/ings to find her monthly newsletter about living a creative life.

Poetry Opens Up the World, Like Spring

Fishing in the Spring, the Pont de Clichy (Asnires) 1887 - Vincent van Gogh

Well, who doesn’t want the sun after the long winter? From “Spring” by Mary Oliver.

Within the poem “Spring,” Mary Oliver likens the coming of spring to the serpent emerging from his “winter-death” and searching for the sun. But, even more, his search for the sun is not simple or easy. This metaphor struck me. I have felt like that serpent, having been in a cave, unable to find that euphoric feeling of connecting to the world. I have waited and waited through the long winter, and now I am searching for the sun. This is because to me, poetry opens up the world, like spring. It brings color and extended light. It ushers in rebirth, growth, and fruitfulness. 

Poetry has consistently been the light that I search for as I emerge from the dark, cold cavern of my mind. When I read poems that put feelings into words, it is illumination. Spring is nature’s manifestation of that experience. It is the reminder that although there has been a prolonged period of darkness, the long light also comes. With this reminder, poetry is the gift of clarity to capture and articulate all of the wonder this life holds.

Even now, the birds are singing their soft songs. The sun has not yet  performed its graceful bow to the horizon. The day is longer. I find comfort in knowing that the world continues to open itself up to us. Our imaginations, the fertile grounds ripe for planting. Poetry is the budding garden.

It is during this time that I feel the most joyful and delighted. May poetry continue to tend to us and feed us new light, as spring does. May you, too, go about singing your soft songs. They are little gratitudes that we can give the earth for its promise of spring after the dark, cold cavern of winter. May poetry continue to help us emerge from ourselves.

Ebony Kenae (ekg) is a poet and writer who was born and raised in Paterson, NJ. Following her fascination with outer space, her poems center on what connects us to the seemingly grand and the ways in which we are little planets too. Her poems have appeared in Mixed Mag, Harness Magazine, and elsewhere. When she is not writing, she loves reading and sharing her thoughts on her Youtube channel and TikTok.

Feeling Like a Poet

Written by Joelis Rodriguez

Header Image: Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird (Autorretrato con Collar de Espinas) 1940 Frida Kahlo

In the public sphere, a straightforward conclusion is drawn about the vocation of the poet: too emotional. They’re penniless! Get a real job! The jokes are endless. But I’m here to argue our right to exist, and exist with feeling. What does it mean to feel like a poet? To be a poet, with feelings?

A poet is a person that feeds themselves and others with words from a  language that they manufacture, a language that each poet births as their own. It is time that, as poets, we embrace our blessing and curse of feeling intensely. It is the fire that engraves our pages as we write.  It’s the voice that camouflages in between letters, tangling words, creating sentences. It’s the children inside of us, treating stanzas and rhymes as building blocks. It’s the roots that molded us into what we are today: intense poets living in an intense world where literature is not appreciated. 

Feeling like a poet is translating life into verses. We highlight uncomplicated scenarios and turn them raw. Dissecting contrasting emotions and molding them into our favor creates a pathway for poets to express themselves. There are no rights and wrongs while writing poetry. It is only you, your emotions, and an empty piece of paper. No one can dictate the way you feel. There is no shame in feeling. Feel like there are no consequences, like the only world that matters is the one you’re creating. 

The world of poetry is enchanting. It’s made up of time periods, all the way from Shakespeare’s sonnets to contemporary free verse. It’s a majestic place of different forms that would never let the reader stand in trial. There is no judgment.. Everything is raw. Just break this stanza here, create a new verse there, even make the first stanza your title, because rules are not the point here. 

Expert from Aimee Nezhukumamathil’s When You Select the Daughter Card

By seeking

to understand and accept the more salty aspects

of yourself, you might grow another arm or leg,

pointing at your truest love. If you fear that you

have not fully accepted all the many hard

and wondrous ways you are loved, don’t siphon

away your frustration.

Allow yourself to visit the poetry world and feel. Let your bare feet touch the fictional rough and prickly green grass and feel. Tear it out with your bare hands and allow your fingers to get cuts and feel.

Feel.

Feel.

Feel.

Feel until your physical body cannot hold for any longer. Feel until your brain enters another dimension. Feel until poetry removes the numbness that our world has to offer. Don’t be scared and just feel. Feel until the pen on your hand runs out of ink.

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Joelis Rodriguez is a born & raised Puerto Rican poet who uses poetry as a refuge from real life. Through verses, she desires to represent her heritage and raise awareness to the past and present events happening in the small Carribean island. She currently studies at Stony Brook University, majoring in Creative Writing & Literature with a minor in TV writing. When she’s not reading or writing, you can find her at the beach collecting seashells or singing her heart out at some concert.

PSNY's Place to Write #1

As much as there’s plentiful opportunity to be inspired in darling NYC, often quiet times to write are harder to come by. We’re launching this series on First Mondays as a monthly reminder to take some time out for the poet in you.
Carve out some you-time and head down to this month’s PTW spot & give this Prompt a free write.

The Rose Main Reading Room 

Directions: Take the B/D/F/M or 7 to Bryant Park Subway Station. Enter the Public Library via 5th Ave and take either staircase from the gorgeous stone lobby, up two flights to the top floor, a very mahogany landing spot with frescoes upon the ceilings and two rooms on either side. The Reading Room has a security guard who you tell the top-secret code, “I’m just here to study” to be let through. Find a seat beneath the clouds.

Your Prompt

The entrance to the Rose Main Reading Room bears an Olde English version of this inscription:
A good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose, to a life beyond life.

Let this quote guide a free write for 25 minutes. What would an examination of your own blood yield, what gives it life? What runs through it? Genetically, emotionally, spiritually. 

When that blood stops flowing, what lives on about you? What treasures? What is there to embalm?

Hashtag #PSNYPlacestoWrite when you visit our PTW Location 1. Feel free to share what you write, we’ll repost it @poetrysocietyofny. 

Series by F.M Papaz

Directions to The Rose Main Reading & a Prompt for this month’s PSNY ‘Places to Write.’

F.M Papaz is a Greek-Australian creative and writer who believes that there is space at the literary table for everyone and is excitedly setting up your cutlery. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Wild Roof Journal, Five South & Mantissa Poetry Review amongst others. She does Editorial work for Milk Press and Tabula Rasa Review as well as being a Marketing Associate for PSNY. Connect @fmpapaz on Instagram & TikTok and visit fmpapaz.com/ings to find her monthly newsletter about living a creative life and to find her chapbook, ‘Distance Makes the Heart Grow.’

Black History Always (Not Just a Month) - Written by Faith-Marie McHenry

Although Black History Month is coming to a close, we must remember that the influence of Black art and culture in the poetry world and the world beyond deserves acknowledgement and utmost appreciation 24/7/365. We mustn't forget nor discard the contributions that Black authors have made to the writing world, nor the ways Black poets have used their writing voices to pave paths towards representation in a creative world that lacks the centering of Black experiences in celebrated poetry. 

When we think of Black poets, most often, the eras of the Harlem Renaissance and Civil Rights Movements throughout the 1950s and 60s come to mind. In reality, Black poets have been writing verse reflective of their experiences in America as early as the American Revolution, with just a few examples being Jupiter Hammon (1711-1800), Lucy Terry (1730-1821), and Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784).

Before this white-washing of history, African poetry had long existed in the Motherland, spanning the continent with scripts documenting the kings and queens of Ethiopia and Ghana. A selection of traditional ancient African poems can be found in Margaret Busby's 1992 anthology Daughters of Africa. Art, in all its forms, including poetry, was essential in preserving the spirit and dignity of African people as oppressors stripped Black people of their freedom. Jupiter Hammon wrote religious poems as an enslaved person and, in his writings, longed for salvation from this world.

Though his real name was taken from him, along with his humanity, Hammon put a light to what hope and perseverance he had remaining, and let it shine through in his poem titled, "An Essay on Slavery, with submission to Divine providence, knowing that God Rules over all things" (November 10th, 1786), that I encourage all to read for an eye-opening perspective on how poetry can act as a reclamation of power in even the most atrocious periods of history. 

Excerpt from Hammon's poem: 

Although we came from Africa 

We look unto our God

To help with our hearts to sigh and pray 

And Love his holy word 

Although we are in slavery 

Bound by the yoke of Man 

We must always have a single Eye 

And do the best we can.

Black art, Black spirit, Black love, and Black people are not to be celebrated just once a month, especially not for the profit or for the patting yourself on the back for wishing your coworker a Happy Black History Month. As lovers of poetry, it is our obligation to know its history, and that includes the historical Black writers who paved their own way. As a Black woman and poet myself, I know how much representation matters. How are we to move forward and progress in a growingly culturally diverse writing world if we are not aware of the ground we are standing on, nor the roots beneath it?

We owe it not only to the Black community, but to ourselves to become admirers of the Black and brown poets who came before us, who are with us today, and who are on their way to being in this world and changing it for the better. Black History Month might end, but Black History never does. Read it, and remember it. Make your knowledge and activism real, not a performance.

And to the Black and brown poets, know how important your voice is, even when it feels like the  world might be trying to silence you. You have a right and an obligation to tell your story freely and fully in whatever way you please.

On that note, I will end with a short piece from Etheridge Knight (who, if you don't know, do your research now!) that I feel perfectly encapsulates the power and magic of being a poet no matter who you are, no matter where you are, no matter what you're going through, and no matter how much or how little you have. Your voice matters.

"On the Projects Playground" 

Say, Mister! 

Uh-huh? 

You a poet / man? 

Uh-huh, uh-huh. 

Me too. 

Uh-huh, uh-huh!

Faith-Marie McHenry is a junior at Sarah Lawrence College, concentrating on creative writing and cultural studies. She couldn’t imagine a world without poetry and has been writing for her sanity since was a preteen. When not writing, you can find her singing karaoke, walking by the Bronx River, or on a shopping spree. Since 2023, she has been an editor for Sarah Lawrence’s literary magazine, Love & Squalor.

References:
Hammon, Jupiter, Cedrick May, and Julie Mccown. 2013. “‘An Essay on Slavery’: An Unpublished Poem.” 1 American Literature 48 (2): 457–71. https://preservationlongisland.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Cedrick May_An-Essay-on-Slavery-An-Unpublished-Poem-by-Jupiter-Hammon.pdf.

 Knight, Etheridge. 1986. The Essential Etheridge Knight. University Of Pittsburgh Press.

Why We Need More Love Poems This Valentine’s Day (And Every Day!)

By Faith-Marie McHenry

In our modern dating world, romance has been thrown out the window.

There’s an uptick in screen-time over tactile experiences like candlelit dinners, fresh-picked flowers, or handheld walks around a park. For Gen Z and Millennials alike, romance is dying. But we know a secret to revive it…

That’s right, poetry—specifically, the art of the love poem. As a self-proclaimed sap, I find myself writing and consuming love poems for much of my waking time (and wishing someone would write them about me, but that’s another story). Though most of us might find the act cheesy, cliché, or corny (there are so many ways to say it), we must admit that, sometimes, actions don’t have the same effect. Only words can suffice for certain feelings so robust, whether unrequited or not.

Think about it: how often have you caught yourself staring at a special someone, wishing you had the words to convey how much you adore them? Well, maybe you do! You’ll never know until you try to write them down. And it’ll be good practice for eventually saying them in person. 

If you’re unsure what to get your lover for this Valentine’s Day, write them a poem. I dare you. I bet you’ll realize your feelings were more profound than you ever knew once you put them into words. Try writing in a world that has been overtaken by dating apps and instant interactions with human beings that feel as meaningless as scrolling past another 15-second video on TikTok. Put down something cliché if you’ve got nothing (there’d be no originals without the clichés!). Compare someone to a summer’s day. 

Poetry forces you to tap into the heart; you’ll never know what’s in there until you try cracking it open with a pen. If you’re dreading this Valentine’s because you’ve recently fallen out of a relationship or are hung up on someone who doesn’t look back your way, writing your feelings down could be the best cure for sorting them all out. 

And poetry doesn’t just have to be an act of loving someone else. I think it’s even more beautiful as an act of self-love. So, for all the single minglers walking past the heart-shaped chocolate box aisles with scowls on their faces, I dare you to look in the mirror and into your mind and write down all the beautiful things you see and find. You don’t need a Valentine to be loved! 

Moral of the story: don’t be afraid to be a hopeless romantic. I know, we’ve heard the same lines again and again; roses are red and violets are blue… But as long as we’re human, it will always warm the heart to hear these three words from someone: I love you. So grab a paper and pen and put down your poetic, heartfelt twist on love. 

Happy Valentine’s Day, and happy writing. ♡

AI & Poetry: Nemeses to Lovers?

Image Credit: Possessed Photography

Written by Fi / F.M Papaz (@fmpapaz)

If you’re a technology-challenged poet like me, whose browser activities don’t elevate past Google Suite, I can probably guess your feelings on the use of Artificial Intelligence in poetry and literature. We have many reasons to fear the murky territory of AI, especially in regards to the ethical concerns around privacy, intellectual property and plagiarism.

But should we be so quick to toss out the tube-grown baby with the bathwater? 

I pushed my discomfort aside and asked the biddable bot itself – Chat GPT.

Fi: Do you think you should be used for writing poems?

ChatGPT: Certainly! I can be a helpful tool for generating ideas, providing inspiration, or even assisting in the drafting process when it comes to writing poems. Whether you're looking for creative prompts, exploring different styles, or seeking assistance with specific elements of your poem, I'm here to help.

However, it's important to note that while I can generate content, the true depth and personal touch in poetry often come from the unique voice and experiences of the poet. So, consider using me as a tool to complement your creative process rather than replace it entirely.

Wow, that’s very intellectually honest of you Chat-bae. 

This was my first time using the tech, so I spent a couple minutes poking around to test its capabilities before I got bored. Hilariously, both Chat-bae and Google’s Bard, could not produce for me a poem without an AABB rhyme scheme, no matter how many times I asked it to rewrite it. But I digress.

Last year, in an effort to diversify my poetry arsenal, I sought out various workshops online and stumbled upon, ‘If, Then: Technology & Poetics.’ They are a working group and monthly workshop series that “bring together writers, coders, and scholars investigating the relationships between humans and machines and the works of art, literature, and visual knowledge they produce together.”

It is their founder Carly Schnitzler’s belief that, “writing itself is a technology—creative computational practices bring this truth into sharp and productively defamiliarizing relief.” She started ‘If, Then’ in the Fall of 2020 “as a way to connect with others invested in creative computation and to create an accessible, friendly, and generative space for folks, of all backgrounds and interests, to explore creative computational methods in their writing and art-making practices.”  Their archives are available for free online and all their workshops are free, virtual and open to everyone.

Via the ‘If, Then’ community, I have discovered many creatives doing mind-boggling things with Tech. In one of the first workshops I attended, Amira Hanifa presented their digital work CreaTures Glossary.

Amira is interested in “language as material,” and the way that our use of words to categorize, has a by-product of the “particularities [being] blurred in the naming.” Her project, which you can find at this website address, desires to provide a space for nonviolent language; pushing back on our human tendency to assign categorization that will inevitably fall short of sufficiently capturing phenomena or beings.

Amira encourages free play and contributions to the definitions of the words provided on the website, a living, digital dictionary that reflects the evolutionary reality of language. My favorite function is the ‘Interview with a Word’ function which you can find by:
> Start by defining a word
> Select one of the terms on the left, E.g. “regeneration”
> Scroll to beneath the second text box.
> Read but also contribute answers to questions asked and answered as if you were that word’s persona.

Another poet and smarty-pants programmer I was introduced to from ‘If, Then’ is Natalie Jane Edson. On her website - https://nataliejaneedson.com/poetry-tool/ - she has some very intuitive, very fun poetry tools that go by the following names: Cut Up Machine, Erasure, Homolinguistic Translator, Marshmallow Experiment 1 and Mirror Poems. I promise you endless awe and the unblocking of any stuck poem if you play around with these tools! Please credit Natalie if you use her free tools.

Natalie and Amira are just two examples of brilliant, creative minds dispelling myths around the compatibility of technology and poetics.

I asked Natalie to provide me further insight into her philosophy around the use of AI in poetry. She said, and I conclude (emphatic, exclamation mark implied) with her response:

“The idea that current AI language models can only make poetry worse reeks of the same cynicism that makes people ask: is it even possible to write anything new? Hasn’t it already all been said before?

The answer is of course not, because we’ve never had a world like this. We’ve never had the same people here. I am a different artist than I was yesterday, and I’m also a different artist than anyone else I have ever met. If you give a room of poets a prompt or a set of words from which to write a poem, it is inconceivable that any two poets would come up with identical works.

So there is always an element of curation in artmaking, which people are ignoring in this conversation about emergent technologies. The things that you pick up as inspiration rely on your personality, your memories, your geography, etc.

When people are working with AI, for example, the generated parts that get shared or pulled into a final work depend on the artist’s perspective and interests. It’s not as if they are not present.  The artist’s hand is in whatever they do, every miniscule choice they make. I believe in the uniqueness of the lens. As long as we have humanity and individuality there will be artistry.

Furthermore, art always expands itself according to the technology that is available. When photography came around, people believed that it would be the death of painting. The average person in 1900 could not possibly have conceived of the work of video artists like Nam June Paik. I don’t think people realize that the first computer generated poems were written in the 1950s, that as long as we have had the ability to code we have been using it to create literature.

I personally think that it would be a shame for us to abandon our curiosity and desire to experiment because of a media frenzy about what we’re calling “AI”, which in reality is a set of technologies that doesn’t even come close to having the capabilities described in science fiction. Existing mediums are not diminished by the creation of new ones.

As for my own work, I see both my digital poems and my poetry tools as part of the legacy of early 20th century surrealist movements. I have a tool called the “Cut-up Machine” that mimics the methods of Burroughs and the Dadaists. I am interested in randomness, sense and nonsense.

And I am doing things that would be impossible to do without the use of code and the internet.”

*Mic Drop*

____________________________________________________________________

Other freebies to check out:

• Cliche-finder: Avoid cliches in your poetry by pasting your draft into this handy-dandy tool, it’ll highlight overused words and phrases.
  “[Political] prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house.                             -George Orwell, Politics and the English Language”

• Hemingway Editor: Highlights passive voice, complex sentences and adverbs in your writing.

• PoetrySoup: A more communal tool, you can post on PoetrySoup and receive free constructive criticism from other poets, while offering your insights to others too.
  
  Article Contributors:

Natalie Jane Edson is a queer poet and programmer based in Portland, Oregon. Her work focuses on the mind, the body, the mundane, and the practice of being alive. You can find out more about her work at nataliejaneedson.com.

Dr. Carly Schnitzler is the founder and co-director of If, Then and a lecturer in the University Writing Program at Johns Hopkins. Her teaching and research center on digital rhetoric, creative computation, and the public humanities. Drop her a line at cschnit1 [at] jh [dot] edu!

Amira Hanafi is a Poet and Artist. See more of Amira’s work at https://amirahanafi.com

F.M Papaz is a Greek-Australian creative and writer who believes that there is space at the literary table for everyone and is excitedly setting up your cutlery. Her poems have appeared in Mantissa Poetry Review, Literary Revelation’s Poetry Anthology ‘Hidden in Childhood’ and The Victorian Writer. In 2023, she joined Tabula Rasa Review as an Editorial Assistant & in 2024, she became a Marketing Intern at PSNY. Connect @fmpapaz or fmpapaz.com/ings to find her monthly newsletter about living a creative life.

Best Valentine’s Day Gifts for Each Love Language Accompanied by a Rant on Redefining Love

The season of love is on the way!!! While we should show love and gratitude for our loved ones all year long, it sure is sweet to have a day dedicated to it. I know Valentine’s Day can be difficult for those who feel that constant dread of being/dying alone. (Definitely can’t relate…) BUT I’ve found that V-Day can still be sweet and special when you branch out of the idea that romantic love is the most important type of love. You have friends! And pets! And parents or parental figures! Redefining your concept of love will help with feeling less alone, especially on Valentine’s Day. It’s important to give a gift that makes them feel special, heard and understood. I have compiled for you a list of the gifts that I think each love language would appreciate most. And remember, anyone can be a lover!!!

Receiving Gifts:

It may seem obvious to gift jewelry, but here is the thing: you need to specifically gift it in the color that your loved one wears. Massive mistake of gifting jewelry is getting a gold girlie something silver. They will say a very sweet thank you and then only wear it when around you. You’ve gotta respect the aesthetic baby. If jewelry is not your or their thing, us gift receiving lovers love trinkets. Those who feel special by receiving gifts are truly not expecting something expensive. It’s not about the money. Receiving a gift says to us: Even when I’m alone I think of you.

Words of Affirmation:

Shamelessly and in my personal opinion, the perfect gift is to get them one of our personalized typewriter poems! From my side of things, I see your google searches. “How to write a love poem.” “Poem for girlfriend.” “Love poem for girlfriend.” “Valentine’s Day poem example.” My darlings, we are here to help you. We have loads of poets at your service to write something specific to and for your lover(s) that is also incredibly aesthetic and cute. Give it a try!

Acts of Service:

There is no one on this earth who does not have a list of projects that they are so totally going to do some day at some time. I cannot be the only one who has a trunk full of items I have collected over the years because one day I will need it for an art project. Help your lover get started on their project! Go to the store to get the extra things needed. Bring them snacks and water to bite and sip while they work on it. Do the chores that are keeping them from having the time to do said project. For our acts of service lovers, it really is the little things that count.

Quality Time:

If you haven’t made a reservation for dinner yet, you probably will not get one at the place that you want. We all mistakes and that is so fine! If your honey or bestie enjoys quality time and trying new things together, it’s your lucky day to be reading this article. Our NYC Poetry Brothel is on Valentine’s Day this year and I promise you it is an experience that you and they will not forget. For those who do not know, it is an immersive literary cabaret that fuses poetry, activism, vaudeville, burlesque & magic with 1-on-1 poetry readings. Picture this: you walk down the stairs to the venue, as you walk in the door you are greeted by our lovely poetry whores ready to seduce you into exchanging a token to get brought into a private space and have poetry read directly to you. I can truly tell you that is not an experience you will get anywhere else.

Physical Touch:

I have never been good at this one. Take a nap together??? Try to imitate those pictures of the cats that look like little hearts with your bodies! Kiss them on the face! (This includes your friends! There is literally nothing stopping you from giving your friend a little forehead kiss.) Hold hands walking through the park and play along when people mention how cute of a couple you and your friend are. Lie through your teeth about how you just got engaged but the ring is at the shop for sizing. Run your fingers through their hair. Intimacy is not just for romantic lovers!!!

The bottom line is that true love comes from understanding them fully. Try this year to show everyone in your life that you love that you love them. We all need a little treat to get us through the day. Cheers! <3

Poet Math

You’ve heard of girl math. You’ve heard of boy math. But have you heard of… poet math?

Poet math is the ways in which we use mental gymnastics and acrobatics to rationalize our silly little habits and desire to write and read anytime, anywhere. It justifies, rationalizes, and whispers into our ear don’t worry, you’ve earned it. Follow along to see if our minds think alike. Cheers!

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• Poet math is believing that if I bought a book for someone else, I didn’t spend any money…

• Poet math is believing that a new notebook is an opportunity to write more, making it an investment in your future. And if it’s pretty to look at, it is an investment in your mental health. Economics!

• Poet math tells us it doesn’t count if you’re late if you were writing a poem in your notes app on the way there.

• Poet math justifies that $25 submission fees don’t count if you get an encouraging rejection letter.

• Poet math is wholeheartedly concluding that if you write best at cafés, $10 lattes are a career-based investment.

• Poet math is only writing Haikus to save money on ink.

• Poet math is thinking that a poem is an appropriate gift for any occasion. The fact that it doesn’t cost anything is merely a coincidence!

• Poet math is romanticizing your dead end job as an inspirational struggle that connects you to your favorite authors.

• Poet math causes us to make extraordinary efforts such as living WELL beyond our means, to cure or prevent writers block.

Relate to us or have your own? Let us know on Insta! We always love to hear from you. 💖

2023 Holiday Poetry Horoscopes

It’s holiday season and we’re seeing so many beautiful things in store for you, poetry besties! We’ve been sharing poetry horoscopes with our PSNY Members and this month we’re spreading the cheer for poetry-lovers everywhere!

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Aries

Your strive to be the best takes you places. Maybe not always the best places, but places nonetheless! December is the season of joy and celebration and fights at the dinner table… Remember to choose your battles wisely this year. You deserve a happy holiday season just as much as the next fiery sign! If you’re looking for a reprieve, come join us for a glass of wine and a night of learning about poet and cultural critic Alejandra Pizarnik. (Check out our holiday market for discounts!) We think it will be right up your alley.

Gemini

For the genuine Gemini December is bound to be, while gloomy and grey, a time of practicing gratitude, giving and getting! (Alright, done with the alliteration.) Picking the perfect present can be near painful due to your indecision. And while practicality may not be your strong suit, don’t panic. We invite you to give the gift of poetry this season. (Alright, I lied. Now I’m done.) Happy holidays to you and we hope to see you at one of our happenings! (OKAY, I’m done.)

Leo

Hello lovely Leos! The holiday season was MADE for you all. Maybe not as great as Leo season, (Birthdays are a holiday.) it’s time to lean into your generous and warm-hearted nature to celebrate others. (Definitely not because giving means getting…) It’s okay to splurge on yourself as well! We’d love for you to check out our holiday market to find the perfect personalized present for your loved ones, and yourself. Cheers!

Libra

Hello fellow Libras! We hope you’ve had a year of love and harmony. You deserve it! It’s the season of sharing and we’d love to celebrate such a season with you. Picking the perfect present is maybe our worst nightmare? (Fun fact for you: PSNY is chock full of Libras! So we really get it.) If you want something personalized for each of your lovers, check out our holiday market. We think you’d especially love our commissioned poems. Our poets will write your love language so you don’t have to.

Sagittarius

Holiday season? I think you mean Sagittarius season… It’s your time to shine and be grateful you were born early enough to not have your birthday on Christmas. Can you imagine? No thank you! It is the time to splurge on yourself a little. Looking for an idealistic adventure to look forward to as we bare this winter? We have a feeling Poetry Camp night spark your interest. Disappearing into the woods surrounded by creatives? Yes please!

Aquarius

Happy holidays to our favorite humanitarian! As the year comes to an end, it’s time to reflect on the last 12 months. Emphasis on reflect. (Not the same thing as overthink!) As the most outspoken zodiac of the signs, it is a great time of the year for you to express gratitude to your loved ones and get them (and yourself!) something as unique as you are! Our holiday market has plenty of options for you — from wine to workshops, we know you’ll find something that catches your eye. Feel free to think on it, we’ll be here until the end of the year.

Taurus

We salute you, Taurus, for the devotion and stability you bring into the world. It could use more Tauruses! (Taurusi?) December is the best month to spread love and admire beauty as the city lights up and people cheer. If you want to delve into the kindness that runs deep in your veins and find a personalized gift to your loved ones (or yourself!), check out our holiday market to find the perfect gift for everyone on your list.

Cancer

While it may not technically be your season, what’s more cancer-esque than a season of cozy. candle-lit homes and families sitting around the fire? This month, try and explore celebrating the season out in the world! But if that’s too much for your gentle heart, we welcome you to create community with us virtually from the comfort of your bed. Confessional poetry? What’s more Cancer than that. (And Taylor’s moon is in Cancer too… just saying.)

Virgo

Welcome to December Virgos! You’ve worked hard this year (as per usual) and it’s time to be a little selfish and give yourself the grace to take a break as the year comes to an end. Sit by the fire! Read a book from the TBR list! Buy new books and chapbooks instead (or read Milk Press for free) for yourself or others. Whatever you decide, we wish you the best and would love to see you at one of our happenings. (Discounted until the end of the year!) No stress, we will be here when you decide to give yourself a break. <3

Scorpio

This holiday season is a time to celebate all of the people who stood by your side this past year. You might just find that your love with be reciprocated more when you speak your love gently to your loved ones. Poetry can be hard, but if you pour your heart out to one of our poets, they can help you express those deeply passionate feelings that you have. Take your time, we’re here when you need us.

Capricorn

It is almost the new year! While the world is drinking hot cocoa and listening to Mariah Carey, we’re not judging youfor assessing the fiscal quarter. Someone’s gotta do it! (And it’s you.) As we celebrate the holiday season, it’s time to tell your friends and family how much you love them. The presents you are looking for are likely to be practical. Which isn’t a bad thing! Check out our holiday market for some gifts that fit the budget, and the personality of your aforementioned loved ones. There’s truly something for everyone.

Pisces

Happy holidays to our gentle, loving sign! We hope your year was full of love platonic and romantic alike. You deserve the best from people because you give the best of yourself. As you search for the best gifts to give those loved ones, just know that we’ve got options for you. From event discounts to PSNY merch, you just might find the perfect thing for someone (or everyone) on your list. And remember, it’s okay give to yourself a little something too! Go be a little selfish.

twenty-one ways to prosper as a child of a dying world

by Anne Gallagher

1. Never take clean socks for granted

2. Make your bed every morning

3. Never buy college textbooks. Do people still go to college?

4. Wipe front to back

5. Eat your lab grown vegetables

6. Call your mother

7. Call your representatives

8. Go on walks

9. Go on walks and do your best to avoid falling flaming branches (if you even still have

   trees)

10. Flossing is really important. It’s not lame to floss.

11. Try not to panic about the future, you’re probably not going to have one anyway so why

    freak out about it now?

12. Give yourself an hour a day to read, draw, or write

13. Rising sea levels provide fantastic waves for body surfing. Or normal surfing. Whatever

    floats your boat!

14. Florida is gone-- get over it.

15. So is California. You can mourn that one a little. But not too much.

16. The past is the past! Try not to be too angry with your great grandparents for placing

    wealth over you or your spawn’s well being-- maybe you would have done the same.

17. Organize

18. Collaborate

19. Yell, scream, and or cry cry cry about the injustice of it all.

20. Gather some friends and storm some politician’s palatial mansion-- torches optional but

    definitely encouraged.

21. Learn to dance in the acid rain

Ten Poet Pairs Who Would Have Been Best Friends If They Were Born in the Same Period

Written by Jane Brinkley, Festival Development Intern

Sappho and Adrienne Rich

Though one was born in Lesbos and the other in Baltimore, both boast a generational re-innovation of what it means to be a gay woman– Sappho with her love poems, Adrienne with her introduction of the term “compulsory heterosexuality.” To fall in love with another woman– to fall in love with letters and poems –maybe these things would make them good community members. But if not, they could at least commune with each other, critiquing work over a couple of drinks and commiserating over what it means to be a queer writer in this– and any– time.

Lord Byron and T.S. Eliot

Known for their adaptation of modern themes in surprising ways and dying of diseases of the lung, these two men separated by time and an ocean offered similar lyrics of being and love befitting their personal experiences. Maybe they wandered similar streets looking agape at the night sky, maybe they sat on similar benches as they composed similar poems. Both often assigned as long-form writers to new students learning to annotate and analyze, they might share a laugh or build a friendship imagining the worlds their poems have built in the hearts of poets new and old.

Emerson and Mary Oliver

This one is fairly obvious– nature bends toward the page when it comes to both authors. Though Oliver writes a hundred years or so after Emerson, the two likely wandered in the early morning dew and thought of flowers and mountains and what it means to be free, even if they belonged to different schools of poetry. What does it mean to be human? What does it mean to belong to the world? Who knows– yet Walt and Mary might, writing on behalf of any and everyone who wanders.

Baudelaire and Allen Ginsberg

If the heartbeat of the metropolis were a genre, both of these poets would be in the business of capturing it– though they dealt with different moments, one in Paris and one in New York, their long-form poems of radical change, of fervor and the death of culture, work well in concert. Though Ginsberg’s disciples wouldn’t likely read too much Baudelaire, there is no doubt that they would have been friends if given the chance.

Ocean Vuong and Langston Hughes

As gay writers in the city writing of diaspora, belonging, and change, these men would have much to talk about. Reviews call them pariahs and voices of a generation, they’re headers on recommended reading lists for social justice and change, but most importantly their prose and poetry sings with an understated quality of the quotidian, little moments that build up into a resolute and alchemical change in feeling across neighborhoods and then worlds of meaning.

Maggie Nelson and Anne Sexton

Nelson wrote her thesis at Wesleyan on Sexton, but that isn’t the only reason we see these two women as being part of the same poetic family. Nelson’s brash and prosaic language and Sexton’s feminist confessionalism belong on the same bookshelf, and not only for their literary similarities– they share a certain feminine yet brutal verve that transcends the particularities of their personal oeuvres. Besides, what makes better Sunday brunch conversation than the inherent carnality of womanhood and its attending frustrations? At the very least, this is a meet-up I would like to attend.

ten things poets don't want you to know

Written by Heikki Huotari

These trees are helices, all saints and sinners

per their birth certificates, unloved or loved with

strings attached. A blushing husband in a blushing

husband's body, you would choose the barber with

the bad haircut, the dentist with the crooked teeth,

the cop that's black and blue.

As hemispheres are glued together crudely

so entangled cantilevers are grandfathered, four and

twenty to a pie. To monopeds on unicycles there is

no emotion but in person, advanced placement or

domesticated carnivore. Let's stipulate im-

provisation, Chubby Checker, like we did in 1964.

Unmitigated hummingbirds belittle your

position. Barriers are bustle-supplemented. On the

butter sculpture you like best perhaps you'll pin this

ribbon. Every deity a distribution, my center of

gravity is yours. So subsequent to radiator failure

you may stay in Grant's Pass, Oregon forever.

how to discuss your ex-lover

Written by Nicolette Daskalakis

Speak of them in the past tense, like they are deceased, or moved to a far-off country

devoid of an internet connection and cell reception.

Do not use their name in conversation, refer to them instead as “a friend of mine” or

“someone I knew.” This is less intimidating to present and future romantic prospects.

Allow them to take on the qualities of an estranged elementary school friend or a

distant cousin whose name you occasionally forget. Always occasionally forget their

name.

When someone mentions them, nod slowly, like you’re trying to remember what their

face looks like. Try to forget their face, especially if the person you’re talking to has a

face like their face.

If you find yourself in conversation with someone who regularly sees them, do not ask

about them. Instead, talk about yourself, preferably using a lot of positive adjectives

like wonderful and amazing, even if adjectives like shitty and depressed would be more

accurate.

Rewrite memories as to make the new ones more accessible in conversation: Go to the

museums you went to together, with someone new. Eat at the restaurants you ate at

together, with someone new. Listen to the music you listened to together, with

someone new. Speak about something new, with someone new.

Avoid discussing your ex-lover.

january blue (night I)

Written by Evan Neiden

the night i lost january, they were playing pretty music on the radio

[we interrupt this broadcast to bring]

the music told me first, and then the calls came in

[you breaking news tonight a body was]

i turned the music up until i couldn’t hear the ringing

[found washed up, frozen on the edge of lake michigan]

i don’t remember what they were playing on the radio but

[the body was waterlogged past recognition but]

i remember i listened in all night long

[whatever the cause, it happened weeks ago]

even as, hour after hour, my ringing phone went quiet; even

[before the body found its way into the water, it was]

when the sun came up and the frequency went

[dead.]

dead.

[once again,]

the night i lost january was the last night anyone called, it was

[those investigating could not identify the deceased but hey are]

the last night i called myself my name

[still attempting to put a name to the body; the coroner was]

and found something else in the radio silence

[unable to determine an exact time of death, but]

I don’t know whether their name was really

[they’ve surmised that the individual died sometime in]

january

[january]

but it’s my name now

[now back to your regularly scheduled programming]

and tonight, as i listen to the radio

[good night]

my name is pretty music too