The Break

Spend an hour online with poet Kaveh Akbar on the last Monday of every month, 5:00-6:00pm Pacific, as The Break celebrates “amongness, collaboration, and interdisciplinary creative experimentation.” It’s free. Follow the link to learn more and mark your calendar for The Break: Monday, May 29, 2023.

coming up

Seattle Arts & Lectures has some terrific programming lined up for the months ahead. Among other speakers and performances, SAL will present poets Maggie Nelson, Kaveh Akbar, Sherwin Bitsui & Kenzie Allen, Rita Dove, Cathy Park Hong, and Don Mee Choi.

Venues vary; as of this writing, some presentations will be in person, some online. See the SAL site for details and ticketing information.

on poetry

“I really do sincerely feel that bewilderment is at the core of every great poem, and in order to be bewildered, you have to be able to wonder. You absolutely have to be permeable to wonder.”
Kaveh Akbar
(b. January 15, 1989)

. . . . .
photo by Hieu Minh Nguyen
quote

Line Readings

If you’re interested in the intersection of poetry and comics, you may want to have a look at the Line Readings column by Ivan Brunetti in The Paris Review. The column “begins with a close read of a single comics unit — a panel, a page, or a spread — and expands outward to encompass the history of comics, and the world as a whole.”

While you’re browsing at The Paris Review, be sure to visit the Poetry Rx archives to see the perfect poems to heal readers’ emotional challenges as prescribed by resident poets Sarah Kay, Kaveh Akbar, and Claire Schwartz.

for what ails you

If the aches and pains, existential or otherwise, of living in the real world are catching up with you, Poetry Rx probably has a prescription that will relieve your distress, or at least distract you for a few minutes. Readers write in to describe their ailments and resident poets Kaveh Akbar, Sarah Kay, and Claire Schwartz offer their best remedies. Find Poetry Rx at the Paris Review.

because it’s good for you…

We’ve mentioned the Emergency Poet a number of times, so it’s delightful to report that Deborah Alma continues to provide poetic first aid to the world-weary and heart-worn in communities all around England.

What’s more, Deborah and her collaborator, James Sheard, are now planning to open The World’s First Poetry Pharmacy. They’ve selected “a closed-down, dusty Edwardian ironmonger’s shop” in Shropshire, in the West Midlands, and plan to build a traditional (poetry-) dispensing pharmacy with space for workshops, performances, cafe, shop, and, of course, a consulting room in which the pharmacist and patient can discuss conditions and treatments.

Learn more about the Poetry Pharmacy and, if you’re so inclined pitch in your support, on The World’s First Poetry Pharmacy Kickstarter page.

And lest you should be unable to visit in person, we would remind you that Sarah Kay, Kaveh Akbar, and Claire Schwartz are dispensing weekly prescriptions at The Paris Review: Poetry Rx.

soon in Seattle

Gramma is an independent poetry press based in Seattle. Among its other activities, Gramma produces the Reading Series, a quarterly arts and literary event featuring local and national writers, performers, and artists of all disciplines.

On Saturday, October 6, 2018, The Gramma Reading Series #2 will feature poets Tyehimba Jess, Kaveh Akbar, and Anastacia Renée, along with Moonshine: A Cabaret performed by Au Collective and directed by Imana Gunawan. The Stranger’s Kim Selling will host. The event will be held at Seattle Central College’s Erickson Little Theatre off Broadway. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased online through Brown Paper Tickets.

Love…tonight!

Tonight, Friday, June 8, 2018, at 7:00pm at The Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, Paige Lewis & Kaveh Akbar celebrate their June 9th wedding with this celebratory, pre-nuptial group reading by an amazing array of poets come to witness and celebrate the occasion. Paige Lewis has a first chapbook, Reasons to Wake You (Tupelo), coming this year. Kaveh Akbar’s Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Alice James Books) was one of the poetic books of 2017, never mind it also being a debut. Paige Lewis and Kaveh Akbar live in Tallahassee and make the excellent online poetry journal, Divedapper, happen. Thanks to them, they are also making this night happen.

Among those expected to read tonight: Hanif Abdurraqib, Kaveh Akbar, Eloisa Amezcua, Fatimah Asghar, Kelly Butler, Robert Olen Butler, Richard Cardillo, Sumita Chakraborty, Jos Charles, Cortney Lamar Charleston, Safia Elhillo, Kat Finch, Steve Henn, Zaya Henn, Sara Eliza Johnson, Paige Lewis, Zach Linge, Carly Joy Miller, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Jacquelyn Pope, Jayme Ringleb, Don Share, Danez Smith, Melissa Studdard, John Taylor, David J. Thompson, Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, R.A. Villaneuva, and Jane Wong. Wow.

Admission is free but there is a suggested $5 donation, all proceeds going to Solid Ground Seattle.

new at the Paris Review

Whatever your beliefs regarding the healing powers of poetry (and we’ve posted on the subject previously), it’s heartening to see that The Paris Review is prescribing poetry in its new column, Poetry Rx. Readers write in to describe their ailments and resident poets Kaveh Akbar, Sarah Kay, and Claire Schwartz offer their best remedies.

poetry on film

In our ongoing pursuit of poetry on film, we should mention the new independent film, The Kindergarten Teacher. Directed by Sara Colangelo, the film stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and includes the work of a number of poets, including Ocean Vuong and Kaveh Akbar. To learn more about how the poetry found its way into the film, view the Sundance Film Festival video on the Los Angeles Times website.

(According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film rights have just been acquired by Netflix, which will release the movie later this year.)