Poetry & Appetite, Poems for Human Rights Day, and more

December 7, 2021

Poems for Human Rights Day

December 10 marks Human Rights Day, a global observation of the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Reflect on this year’s theme, “reducing inequalities, advancing human rights,” with these poems from Poets.org:

“Interrogation of an Alternate Timeline” by Hazem Fahmy
“My People” by Langston Hughes
“Calling Dreams” by Georgia Douglas Johnson
from “Disorient: Children of the Revolution” by Suji Kwock Kim
“My Heart like a Nation” by Philip Metres
“a brief meditation on breath” by Yesenia Montilla
“I Can’t Breathe” by Pamela Sneed

This Week: Poetry & Appetite

Join Academy Chancellors Ellen Bass, Marilyn Chin, Forrest Gander, Terrance Hayes, and David St. John for a virtual conversation on poetry and appetite, and on poems that speak to the desires and needs of the body and of communities. This event is free to attend with registration. Thursday, December 9, at 7 p.m. EST. Closed captioning will be provided.

“A poem is an ecosystem where life happens. There’s ruthlessness, but also so much grace and so much possibility. Poetry situates us where our story connects with other stories, where we navigate bodies and language and distance and place with agency and urgency.”

Read this interview with 2021 Poet Laureate Fellow, Aileen Cassinetto, on her work in San Mateo County, California.

Apply for the 2022 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowships

The Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowships are $50,000 awards given to honor poets of literary merit appointed to serve in civic positions and to enable them to undertake meaningful, impactful, and innovative projects that engage their fellow residents, including youth, with poetry, helping to address issues important to their communities, as well as create new work. We are accepting applications for the 2022 fellowships from December 6, 2021 until February 18, 2022, at 11:59 p .m. EST. Find out more here.

#PoetryNearYou Pick of the Week: Open Mouth Literary Center Reading

Check out our #PoetryNearYou Pick of the Week: a virtual reading with poets Gabrielle Calvocoressi and 2020 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award winner Rajiv Mohabir hosted by Open Mouth Literary Center. December 12 at 8 p.m. EST. ASL interpretation will be provided. Register here.

Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, New York, is seeking a full-time Events and Marketing Manager to coordinate operations related to in-store, virtual, and offsite events programming and marketing. To apply, send a resume to jobs@greenlightbookstore.com.

Butler University in Indianapolis is seeking a full-time, tenure track Assistant Professor of Creative Writing to begin teaching Fall 2022.

Astra Magazine in New York City is seeking a full-time Online Editor to help launch its online platforms in early 2022. To apply, send a letter of interest, CV, and salary requirements to contact@astra-mag.com with the subject line “Online Editor,” by January 4.

Ilya Kaminsky on Poetry

“Look at a living poet and see: the momentary glimpses of the dead, they are alive again, endearing or obnoxious, humble or grieving, tender or stunned, in this space of a word.”

Read this interview with Ilya Kaminsky, author of Deaf Republic (Graywolf Press, 2019), and Poem-a-Day guest editor for December.

Revisit last week’s Poem-a-Day selections with us on Poets.org:

November 28: “A Desert Memory” by Bertrand N.O. Walker
November 29: “no more grandma poems” by Yolanda Wisher
November 30: “When your son abandons the lawnmower for the second time in as many days” by Peter Grandbois
December 1: “In the Event Of” by Shane McCrae
December 2: “Fog” by Ruth Madievsky
December 3: from “The Book of Absence” by Alireza Roshan, translated by
December 4: “Winter with the Gulf Stream” by Gerard Manley Hopkins

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Poetry & Appetite, Poems for Human Rights Day, and more

Poems for Human Rights Day

Older messages

from "The Trees Witness Everything" by Victoria Chang

"Dancing, before you were born" by J. Hope Stein

"Appalling Heart" by Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

"Winter with the Gulf Stream" by Gerard Manley Hopkins

from "The Book of Absence" by Alireza Roshan, translated by Erfan Mojib and Gary Gach

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