The Poetry Vlog (TPV): A Poetry, Arts, & Social Justice Teaching Channel

In keeping with poems as hope and resistance world building: today, I am reading Solmaz Sharif's "The Master's House." The title most likely refers to Audre Lorde's famous quote, "The Master's tools will never dismantle the Master's house." This poem was published in the April 2018 issue of poetry, and the repetition creates the tense it moves into, an "is was." It is four minutes, but hearing/reading the whole poem is worth it. More on Solmaz Sharif -- (https://solmazsharif.com/) // Reading their own work aloud: (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/podcasts/146387/the-end-of-exile) // Transcript of the published poem: (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/146216/the-masters-house) ● The Poetry Vlog is a YouTube Channel and Podcast dedicated to building social justice coalitions through poetry, pop culture, cultural studies, and related arts dialogues. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to join our fast-growing arts & scholarship community (youtube.com/c/thepoetryvlog?sub_confirmation=1). Connect with us on Instagram (instagram.com/thepoetryvlog), Twitter (twitter.com/thepoetryvlog), Facebook (facebook.com/thepoetryvlog), and our website (thepoetryvlog.com).

My tireless activist and scholar friend, Laura De Vos, requested this one today. It is "The Housing Poem" by local poet, scholar, activist, and more from Dian Million. I cannot emphasize enough how much you should hear Dian read it herself in the link below, but for now, this one's for you, Laura. Thank you for joining me in poetry as resistance and coalition building, today. The poem AND more on Dian Million (including her reading it -- better -- herself): (http://www.talkingpeople.net/tp/literature/million/dianmillion.html) // On Laura De Vos -- (https://english.washington.edu/people/laura-m-de-vos) ● The Poetry Vlog is a YouTube Channel and Podcast dedicated to building social justice coalitions through poetry, pop culture, cultural studies, and related arts dialogues. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to join our fast-growing arts & scholarship community (youtube.com/c/thepoetryvlog?sub_confirmation=1). Connect with us on Instagram (instagram.com/thepoetryvlog), Twitter (twitter.com/thepoetryvlog), Facebook (facebook.com/thepoetryvlog), and our website (thepoetryvlog.com).

Unbelievably brilliant and relevant artist, writer, and editor Colleen Burner requested this Ocean Vuong poem, "Prayer for the Newly Damned," for today's reading as resistance and healing (and coping). And I am so, so glad they did. The poem in The American Review: (https://www.aprweb.org/poems/prayer-for-the-newly-damned) // On Ocean Vuong: (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ocean-vuong) // Colleen Burner: (https://colleenburnerwrites.wordpress.com/about/) ● The Poetry Vlog is a YouTube Channel and Podcast dedicated to building social justice coalitions through poetry, pop culture, cultural studies, and related arts dialogues. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to join our fast-growing arts & scholarship community (youtube.com/c/thepoetryvlog?sub_confirmation=1). Connect with us on Instagram (instagram.com/thepoetryvlog), Twitter (twitter.com/thepoetryvlog), Facebook (facebook.com/thepoetryvlog), and our website (thepoetryvlog.com).

Adrienne Rich seems like a great poet to turn to today for her tireless work on behalf of queers and female-identified folx. Here, I read her poem, "A Mark of Resistance." More on Adrienne Rich -- (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/adrienne-rich) ● The Poetry Vlog is a YouTube Channel and Podcast dedicated to building social justice coalitions through poetry, pop culture, cultural studies, and related arts dialogues. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to join our fast-growing arts & scholarship community (youtube.com/c/thepoetryvlog?sub_confirmation=1). Connect with us on Instagram (instagram.com/thepoetryvlog), Twitter (twitter.com/thepoetryvlog), Facebook (facebook.com/thepoetryvlog), and our website (thepoetryvlog.com).

In today's flash briefing, I read Audre Lorde's "Litany for Survival." It is sickening to realize how it so accurately applies to today's Kavanaugh hearing, while also heartening to move through that space of potential coalition and care. Link to it: (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/147275/a-litany-for-survival) // Excerpt: "And when the sun rises we are afraid it might not remain when the sun sets we are afraid it might not rise in the morning when our stomachs are full we are afraid of indigestion when our stomachs are empty we are afraid we may never eat again when we are loved we are afraid love will vanish when we are alone we are afraid love will never return and when we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard nor welcomed but when we are silent we are still afraid So it is better to speak remembering we were never meant to survive." ● The Poetry Vlog is a YouTube Channel and Podcast dedicated to building social justice coalitions through poetry, pop culture, cultural studies, and related arts dialogues. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to join our fast-growing arts & scholarship community (youtube.com/c/thepoetryvlog?sub_confirmation=1). Connect with us on Instagram (instagram.com/thepoetryvlog), Twitter (twitter.com/thepoetryvlog), Facebook (facebook.com/thepoetryvlog), and our website (thepoetryvlog.com).

In today's flash briefing, I read Don Mee Choi's poem, "6.25" in her book, "Hardly War." It is one of my favorite books out from Wave Press, and Don Mee Choi's performance and print work continues to inspire both myself and my students. I would like to note that in my audio recording, I described the title as "like the date," but that is a mis-speaking. It is not necessarily in reference to the date. More on Don Mee Choi -- (http://www.donmeechoi.com/) // Some Audio/Visual Work: (https://www.wavepoetry.com/products/don-mee-choi) // BOMB Magazine Article: (https://bombmagazine.org/articles/bad-news/) ● The Poetry Vlog is a YouTube Channel and Podcast dedicated to building social justice coalitions through poetry, pop culture, cultural studies, and related arts dialogues. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to join our fast-growing arts & scholarship community (youtube.com/c/thepoetryvlog?sub_confirmation=1). Connect with us on Instagram (instagram.com/thepoetryvlog), Twitter (twitter.com/thepoetryvlog), Facebook (facebook.com/thepoetryvlog), and our website (thepoetryvlog.com).

In today's flash briefing, I read from Morgan Parker's book, "There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce." I love her poem, "The President Has Never Said the Word 'Black'", and I hope that if you love it, too, it will encourage you to get a copy of her book for yourself! More on Morgan Parker -- (http://www.morgan-parker.com/) // Morgan Parker Reading Her Own Work: (https://pankmagazine.com/piece/two-poems-67/) // "The President Has Never Said the Word Black" in The NY Times: (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/09/18/magazine/morgan-parker-the-president-has-never-said-the-word-black.html?_r=0) ● The Poetry Vlog is a YouTube Channel and Podcast dedicated to building social justice coalitions through poetry, pop culture, cultural studies, and related arts dialogues. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to join our fast-growing arts & scholarship community (youtube.com/c/thepoetryvlog?sub_confirmation=1). Connect with us on Instagram (instagram.com/thepoetryvlog), Twitter (twitter.com/thepoetryvlog), Facebook (facebook.com/thepoetryvlog), and our website (thepoetryvlog.com).

In today's flash briefing, I read Ariana Reines first poem, "Milk Debt," in her book, "The Cow." This is the first book on which I published a paper, so it holds a special place in my heart. I thought of it after it came up in my conversation with Gabrielle Bates, which you can catch from this weekend here on the podcast or over on the YouTube channel. More on Ariana Reines: (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ariana-reines) ● The Poetry Vlog is a YouTube Channel and Podcast dedicated to building social justice coalitions through poetry, pop culture, cultural studies, and related arts dialogues. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to join our fast-growing arts & scholarship community (youtube.com/c/thepoetryvlog?sub_confirmation=1). Connect with us on Instagram (instagram.com/thepoetryvlog), Twitter (twitter.com/thepoetryvlog), Facebook (facebook.com/thepoetryvlog), and our website (thepoetryvlog.com).

Today's flash briefing Guest Interlocutor Gabrielle Bates reading "The Masters." For more of her work and her thoughts on BoJack Horseman, watch our full discussion on YouTube: (bit.ly/2O289VU). More on Gabby -- Gabrielle Bates is the Social Media Manager of Open Books: A Poem Emporium, managing editor of the Seattle Review, an editorial assistant and contributing editor for Poetry Northwest, the official voice of Broadsided Press on twitter, and a contributing editor for Bull City Press. Her poems and poetry comics appear or are forthcoming in the New Yorker, Poetry, New England Review, and Gulf Coast, among other journals, and she is the recipient of support from the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Hugo House, and Artist Trust. She is originally from Birmingham, Alabama. // (www.gabriellebat.es) // Twitter: @GabrielleBates // Poetry Comics via Poetry: (www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/91320/-582211e3b89) ● The Poetry Vlog is a YouTube Channel and Podcast dedicated to building social justice coalitions through poetry, pop culture, cultural studies, and related arts dialogues. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to join our fast-growing arts & scholarship community (youtube.com/c/thepoetryvlog?sub_confirmation=1). Connect with us on Instagram (instagram.com/thepoetryvlog), Twitter (twitter.com/thepoetryvlog), Facebook (facebook.com/thepoetryvlog), and our website (thepoetryvlog.com).