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Jackson, Raych 2019

Saturday, October 12 2019
Blue Hour Reading Series with Raych Jackson and Berry Grass
The Whistler

bw+elbow

Your hands have no more worth than tree stumps at harvest.
Don’t sit on my porch while I make myself useful.
Braid secrets in scalps on summer days for my sisters.
Secure every strand of gossip with tight rubber bands of value.
What possessed you to ever grow your nails so long?
How can you have history without braids?

– Raych Jackson, “A sestina for a black girl who does not know how to braid hair”

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Watch Raych Jackson’s 2019 reading of her poem, Church Girl Learns to Pray Again, with Button Poetry:

When my stomach protested, my momma would bring ginger ale.
Without ice in the cup, she’d pray over bubbling ginger ale.
It’s the medicine & the communion. The lone drink & the chaser. You’re balanced on that high-string ginger ale.

– Raych Jackson, “for Ginger Ale”

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Watch Raych Jackson perform her poem My Mom Doesn’t Like My Haircut with Button Poetry:

More info on Raych Jackson⇒

Jackson, Raych 2019

Saturday, October 12, 2019
Six Points Reading Series with Raych Jackson and Camellia-Berry Grass
The Whistler

 

 

he forced me awake by snoring after
commendable I was able to fall asleep
this is his bed now he is rooted I am
snapped hanging on to assault charges by
splinters commendable I was able to fall
asleep maybe it was the best defense

            – Raych Jackson, “pantoum for his snoring”

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Watch Raych Jackson perform her poem “Numbers 16”:

Raych Jackson – Numbers 16

Get Raych’s book, EVEN THE SAINTS AUDITION: http://bit.ly/raychsaints Become a Member for exclusive perks and videos: https://bit.ly/ButtonMember Raych Jackson, performing at Rustbelt 2018 in Detroit, MI. Help us decide which videos go up on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ButtonCurator About Button: Button Poetry is committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for spoken word and performance poetry.

A black girl is happiest when rooted to the scalp are braids.
She dances with them whipping down her back like corn in winds of harvest.
Braiding forces our reunions to be like the shifts your mothers work, long.
I find that being surrounded by only your own is more useful.
Gives our mixed blood more value.
Solidifies your place with your race, with your sisters.

Raych Jackson, “A sestina for a black girl who does not know how to braid hair”

Continue reading this poem⇒

Watch Raych Jackson perform her poem “Jonah Was Trapped Before He Met the Fish”:

Raych Jackson – Jonah Was Trapped Before He Met the Fish

Get Raych’s book, EVEN THE SAINTS AUDITION: http://bit.ly/raychsaints Become a Member for exclusive perks and videos: https://bit.ly/ButtonMember Raych Jackson, performing at Honey in Minneapolis, MN. Help us decide which videos go up on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ButtonCurator About Button: Button Poetry is committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for spoken word and performance poetry.

More info on Raych Jackson⇒

Jackson-Opoku, Sandra 2017

Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Reading the Black Library: Celebrating Brooks with Quraysh Ali Lansana
Bing Reading Room

 

 

What you mean, you trying to catch a train? I don’t care a bit more than nothing about no train. You know what they say about trains. If you miss one now, there’ll soon come another. You don’t want to be riding on an empty stomach no how. 

              – Sandra Jackson-Opoku, “Dirty Rice”

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Read this interview with Sandra Jackson-Opoku from the Journal Standard:

Letters to the Editor: Friday, April 30, 2010

Don’t consolidate school for cognitively impaired … Invest in future with vote for Addison bond … Accept ‘Redskins’ name or move somewhere else.

You are just like your father. I would only say those words in tenderness. When he was born with that booty chin,
a cleft just like his father’s. When the baby fat began to melt from his bones and long, lean warrior limbs emerged. When I noticed that his laugh was developing a husky vibrato. 

              – Sandra Jackson-Opoku, “Muskmelon”

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Watch Sandra Jackson-Opoku speak here:

Sandra Jackson Opoku: The Tie Between Past, Present & Future

Sandra Jackson-Opoku is an award-winning poet, fiction writer, screenwriter, and journalist who writes frequently on culture and travel in the African diaspora. Related link: http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/jacksonopokuSandra.php

More info on Sandra Jackson-Opoku⇒

Jemc, Jac 2016

Wednesday, July 20, 2016
with Kevin Coval
Innertown Pub

JAC_JEMC_DZANC_PHOTO_EDITS-2

This the longing
Housed beneath my shoulder blades
Therefore
My lungs became like this for me:
small and unsteady. 

– Jac Jemc, “Wound”

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Read this interview with Jac Jemc from The Austin Review:

http://theaustinreview.org/blog/2014/5/13/an-interview-with-jac-jemc-author-of-my-only-wife

the catenary course of depression
like italics forced the opposite
if you get depressed remember
you have a body

– Jac Jemc, “Subterranean Triptych”

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Watch Jac Jemc read her work at Notre Dame University:

Jac Jemc Reading on September 9, 2015

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More info on Jac Jemc⇒

Johnson, Denis

The traveling salesmen fed me pills that made the lining of my veins feel scraped out, my jaw ached… I knew every raindrop by its name, I sensed everything before it happened. Like I knew a certain oldsmobile would stop even before it slowed, and by the sweet voices of the family inside, I knew we’d have an accident in the rain. I didn’t care. They said they’d take me all the way.

– Denis Johnson, “Jesus’ Son”

Listen to Denis Johnson’s reading at the Poetry Center of Chicago:

Read this interview with Denis Johnson in the Yale Literary Magazine:

http://yalelitmag.com/denis-johnson-interview/

Watch the trailer for the movie version of Denis Johnson’s book Jesus’ Son:

Jesus’ Son – Trailer

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More info on Denis Johnson⇒

Jordan, A. Van 2007

Wednesday, October 17, 2007
with Tyehimba Jess

A-Van-Jordan

If one rainy night you find yourself
leaving a phone booth, and you meet a man
with a lavendar umbrella, resist
your desire to follow him, to seek
shelter from the night in his solace.

– A. Van Jordan, “Old Boy”

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Listen to A. Van Jordan’s 2007 reading with Tyehimba Jess at the Poetry Center of Chicago:

A. Van Jordan begins at 21:22 minutes.

Watch A. Van Jordan read some of his poetry:

In my car, driving through Black Mountain,
North Carolina, I listen to what
sounds like Doris Day shooting
heroin inside Sly Stone’s throat.

– A. Van Jordan, “‘Que Sera Sera'”

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Read this interview with A. Van Jordan from storySouth:

http://www.storysouth.com/2013/09/interview-with-a-van-jordan.html

More info on A. Van Jordan ⇒

Justice, Donald 1979; 1997

Friday, November 9, 1979
Wednesday, April 16, 1997
Vintage poster of Donald Justice's reading at the Poetry Center of Chicago.

Vintage poster of Donald Justice’s reading at the Poetry Center of Chicago.

We have climbed the mountain,
There’s nothing more to do.
It is terrible to come down
To the valley
Where, amidst many flower,
One thinks of snow…

– Donald Justice, “Here in Katmandu”

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Read this interview with Donald Justice from The Iowa Review:

Research Portal

No Description

You would not recognize me.
Mine is the face which blooms in
The dank mirrors of washrooms
As you grope for the light switch.

– Donald Justice, “The Tourist From Syracuse”

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Watch a short documentary on Donald Justice:

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No Description

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Joseph, Allison 1999

Wednesday, October 13, 1999
with Carolyn Kizer

rather scurry to my driveway to study
the moon’s abrupt phrases than kneel
with bucket and mop to banish shadows
that have sprung up on my kitchen…

– Allison Joseph, “Little Epiphanies”

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Listen to Allison Joseph’s 1999 reading with Carolyn Kizer at the Poetry Center of Chicago:

Allison Joseph begins at 5:00 minutes.

Watch Allison Joseph read her work:

Poetry@Tech: Allison Joseph

Poetry@Tech Presents: Allison Joseph September 25, 2009 http://www.poetry.gatech.edu/index.php Produced by the Georgia Tech Cable Network

Don’t show your face in a sundown  town,
or forget your race in a sundown town.
What ancient shame flushes my cheeks?
Reminded of my place in a sundown town.

– Allison Joseph, “Sundown Ghazal”

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Read an interview with Allison Joseph from Lunch Ticket:

Allison Joseph, Poet, Interviewed by Kiandra Jimenez

Allison Joseph is the author of six poetry books: What Keeps Us Here (Ampersand, 1992), Soul Train (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 1997), In Every Seam (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997), Imitation of Life (Carnegie Mellon, 2003), Worldly Pleasures (WordTech Communications, 2004), Voice: Poems (Mayapple Press, 2009), and My Father’s Kites: Poems (Steel Toe Books, 2010).

More info on Allison Joseph⇒

Jess, Tyehimba 2007; 2016

Wednesday, October 17, 2007
with A. Van Jordan
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
with Aricka Foreman
City Lit Books

you got to have the wildweed and treebark boiled
and calmed, wating for his skin like a shining baptism
back into what he was before gun barrels and bars
chewed their claim in his hide and spit him
stumbling backwards into screaming sunlight.

– Tyehimba Jess, “martha promise receives leadbelly, 1935”

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Listen to Tyehimba Jess’ 2007 reading with A. Van Jordan at the Poetry Center of Chicago:

 

Audio recording of the Poetry Center Reading Series featuring Tom Raworth, Diane di Prima, Kimiko Hahn, Eugene Gloria, Patricia Smith, Luis Rodriguez, Robert Bly, Brian Turner, Bruce Weigl, Tyehimba Jess, A. Van Jordan, Arielle Greenberg, Billy Corgan, Franz Wright, Czeslaw Milosz, Louise Glück, and Alicia Ostriker.

Audio recording of the Poetry Center Reading Series featuring Tom Raworth, Diane di Prima, Kimiko Hahn, Eugene Gloria, Patricia Smith, Luis Rodriguez, Robert Bly, Brian Turner, Bruce Weigl, Tyehimba Jess, A. Van Jordan, Arielle Greenberg, Billy Corgan, Franz Wright, Czeslaw Milosz, Louise Glück, and Alicia Ostriker.

Buy this audio recording featuring Tyehimba Jess⇒

I sing this body ad libitum, Europe scraped raw between my teeth until, presto, “Ave Maria” floats to the surface from a Tituba 
tributary of “Swanee.” Until I’m a legatodarkling whole note, my voice shimmering up from the Atlantic’s hold; until I’m a coda of sail song whipped in salted wind…

– Tyehimba Jess, “Sissieretta Jones”

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Watch an interview with Tyehimba Jess:

An Arts@UNH Interview with Poet Tyehimba Jess

Jess, a Detroit first book of poetry, leadbelly, was a winner of the 2004 National Poetry Series. The Library Journal and Black Issues Book Review both named it one of the “Best Poetry Books of 2005.”

Watch Tyehimba Jess read for the Chicago Poetry Center, with Aricka Foreman:

Six Points Reading Series

Poets Tyehimba Jess and Aricka Foreman are featured in an event hosted by the Poetry Center of Chicago and curated by Natasha Mijares. This program was recorded by Chicago Access Network (CAN TV).

Tyehimba Jess starts reading at 25:41. 

More info on Tyehimba Jess⇒