Through my training and experiences as a volunteer for a nonprofit focused on supporting dancer mental health, I have learned about different types of relationships, communication strategies, and how one’s perspective can warp their reality. My experience as an emotional leader of an organization that was created in response to the abusive relationships that arise…
I have always been very interested in how family and past experiences affect your life. Poetry is such an engaging way to see the world through different artists’ views of life and the world around them. Poetry allows the readers to relate to their experiences, and feel their grief and emotions while connecting it to…
Trees are perhaps one of the most consistent and prevalent things in our everyday lives, yet one of the most overlooked. Not many people notice the types of trees that they pass everyday or the specific trees that are part of significant moments. For poet Hannah Marshall, specific trees are connected in her mind to…
Ryo Yamaguchi lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he works as the publisher of Copper Canyon Press, an independent, poetry-focused press established over fifty years ago. He has worked in publishing for more than a decade, including roles at Wave Press and the University of Chicago Press. Ryo is the author of The Refusal…
I have always been fascinated by machines: cars, airplanes, trains… Every vehicle feels like it’s connecting the past where we have been with the future where we are going. Maybe that is why I’m drawn to art that deals with history and movement. When I first read Christopher Kemp’s poem “After,” I felt that same…
I have always been interested in poetry that expresses deep emotions and invokes thoughtful interpretations. Even more so, I have always had a passion for teaching and I am interested in the techniques and thoughtful lesson plans that are required to effectively pass down knowledge and inspire students. When I first saw “330 College Avenue”…
Born in 1961, Andrea Cohen grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, where she developed a love for poetry at a young age, stemming from her frequent walks with her dog through the woods where she would compose songs in her head. Currently, she teaches at Boston University and directs the Blacksmith House Poetry Series in Cambridge,…
I have always been drawn to the moments where doing something normal feels electric. Taking a test and knowing you are going to do really well, standing in the rain at night, laying down and listening to music, just to name a few. In those moments I sense that poetry isn’t just something made in…
This year, I’ll finally turn an age I can’t say in Hindi. And even if I get around to finally inputting “fifteen” into Google Translate, I still won’t know how to say it: the syllables will rust and bend around my tongue like cheap metal, and I’ll roll my “r’s” in a way learned in…
Sometimes I find it intriguing how the media portrays wars. No matter how it’s supposed to be seen by the average viewer, when watching war on the news I’m horrified. I’m horrified that humans are capable of that level of violence. I bring this up because Donika Kelly’s poem “I Never Figured How to Get…