september 24: roundup (quotes, recs, tweets, etc.)

Alrighty, folks. This is a long one, so—if you want to read it all—you’re going to have to click the link to this post.

Here’s what I’ve got for you today:

• Two quotations on poetry (and more, from previous posts)

• Reading recommendations

• Check-in

• Tweets

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On poetry:

It’s hard to come to terms with my writing when the world’s on fire and here I am, obsessing over a handful of paper.

- Ocean Vuong

If I couldn’t have written, I wouldn’t have survived… my metaphors are my wounds.

-Nelly Sachs

In case you like these and want more, I’ve shared others in past posts, too!

on good poems

wisdom from maxine kumin

thinking about poetry // & what to read this june

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Reading recommendations

Twenty poems to read because why not:

• Orchard Burning by July Westhale

• After I Become Well by Zephyr Lisowski

• [If only we could only talk with our hands—just] by Monica Berlin

• Trojan by Jericho Brown

• Kalaloch by Carolyn Forche

• This, A Gospel by Devin Kelly

• You've Heard This Before by Kayleb Rae Candrilli

• Dear Field by Aidan Forster

• Song of the Bayou City by Chelsea B. DesAutels

• Batter My Heart, Transgender'd God by Meg Day

• Horizon by Jayy Dodd

• A Poem for Pulse by Jameson Fitzpatrick

• ​Code Switch by Aris Kian

• I Feel Most Colored When I Am Thrown Against A Sharp White Background: An Elegy  by Morgan Parker

• In the Dark by April Michelle Bratten

• Epithalamium by Phillip B. Williams

• Moonflowers by James Davis May

• As She Appears by Shelley Wong

• The Orchard Thieves by Jai Bashir

• American Cavewall Sonnet by C.T. Salazar

And, because it’s always pride month in my heart, here are some great LGBTQ+ books I love / want to read immediately—all written by queer Black authors!

CANONICAL TEXTS:

• Passing by Nella Larsen

• Movement in Black by Pat Parker

• The Days of Good Looks by Cheryl Clarke

• Our Dead Behind Us by Audre Lorde

• Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

• Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin

• Zami by Audre Lorde

• The Color Purple by Alice Walker

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

• Selected Poems by Langston Hughes

• Ceremonies by Essex Hemphill

• Violets and Other Tales by Alice Dunbar Nelson

• Collected Poems by June Jordan

NEWER TEXTS:

• Thief in the Interior by Phillip B. Williams

• Dispatch by Cameron Awkward-Rich

• Please by Jericho Brown

• Prelude to Bruise by Saeed Jones

• Boy with Thorn by Rickey Laurentiis

• The Sobbing School by Joshua Bennett

• Telepathologies by Cortney Lamar Charleston

• Into Each Room We Enter Without Knowing by Charif Shanahan

• Indecency by Justin Phillip Reed

• Don't Call Us Dead by Danez Smith

• Trouble the Water by Derrick Austin

• Sacrilegion by L. Lamar Wilson

• Pale Colors in a Tall Field by Carl Phillips

• Fata Morgana by Reginald Shepherd

• Primer by Aaron Smith

• Nepantla: An Anthology Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color

• Build Yourself a Boat by Camonghne Felix

• Real Life by Brandon Taylor

• Black Like Us: A Century of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual African American Fiction

• The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez

• The Other Side of Paradise by Staceyann Chin

• The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson

• Hunger by Roxane Gay

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Check-in

Okay, real talk. How are you all taking care of yourselves amid this terrifying time? Friendly reminder that self-care is more than recommended—it’s vital. Make those boundaries, spend time alone, call your loved ones, make that dentist appointment, etc. etc.

I, yes, finally made a dentist appointment, plus I’m finally getting my laptop fixed, plus I finally upped my medication so I won’t want to d-word quite so often. He he.

What else?

• I’ve been organizing and selling my books to fundraise for writers.

• I’ve been sending mail to the people I love.

• I’ve searched for (and found!) the world’s best bra and chapstick.

• I’ve been making cute zines.

• A lot.

• No, really.

Make sure you’re spending time caring for yourself and your inner child, doing the things you love—the things that relax you and ground you and bring you joy.

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Tweets of the week

Melissa Febos @melissafebos

From a letter by Edna St. Vincent Millay while she was a student at Vassar: "I had not realized, until I came here, how greatly one girl’s beauty & presence can disturb another’s peace of mind...There are Anactoria’s here for any Sappho.”

literary agent needing jerk @rajandelman

"Call Me Maybe" is 10 years old. The popularity of the song has officially outlasted the concept of calling someone on the phone, and hopefulness

groupon lobotomy @colleen_daves

Upon learning that Elvira has a wife I'm no longer depressed today

MONTERO 🦋 @LilNasX

audio more clear here:

youtu.beLil Nas X - Jolene (Dolly Parton Cover) in the Live LoungeLil Nas X performs a cover of Jolene by Dolly Parton in the BBC Radio 1 Live Loungehttp://vevo.ly/9gVBiM

And I have a poem out in Crazyhorse! Read it in full here:

Despy Boutris @itsdbouts

poem out in crazyhorse today ❤️

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Hope you have a great weekend.

-DB
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