Poetry

The (Word) Smiths: The Best Places in Dallas to Find Slam Poetry

The (Word) Smiths: The Best Places in Dallas to Find Slam Poetry

Wild Detectives’ Brilliant New Marketing Campaign Encourages Readers to ‘Book’ a Destination

Wild Detectives’ Brilliant New Marketing Campaign Encourages Readers to ‘Book’ a Destination

Anarchists Are Gathering in Denton This Weekend to Debunk Stigmas

By Taylor Adams
Jul 24, 2019

Organizers of a Denton event hope to see anarchists flock to their city this weekend. Their goal isn't to protest, but to invite others to learn about their cause. “We want to bring the radical community in North Texas, and/or regionally, closer together. And (with) the local community, we want...
Dallas Artists and Organizers Host an Event Inspired by the Harlem Renaissance

By Tyler Hicks
Jun 21, 2019

It was a cultural explosion that still reverberates today. The 1920's Harlem Renaissance was a period of legendary creative output. A group of poets, writers, painters, sculptors, dancers and musicians that sprouted the likes of Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and W.E.B. Du Bois. According to Alain Locke, a writer,...
Poet Anne Waldman Talks Beat Writers and Leadbelly Encounters Ahead of Dallas Performance

By Eva Raggio
Apr 26, 2019

Poet Anne Waldman has been a thundering force in the world of American literature since first stepping onto the scene in the days of the Beat Generation. A prolific and experimental author, performer, editor, feminist and activist, Waldman published her latest book, Trickster Feminism, just last year. She is the...
In Its 12th Season, DaVerse Lounge Continues to Provide a Meaningful Outlet for Young Voices

By Karen Gavis
Nov 15, 2016

A purple hue hovered above a stage as hundreds of North Texas youth gathered to have their say. Some danced, some sang, some cried and some scrawled their names across a wall. Others recited original poems before a standing-room-only crowd at DaVerse Lounge. Spilling from a dance floor, a young...
Dallas Gets Its Own Dead Poet's Society

By Jennifer Smart
Sep 20, 2016

Contemporary poets will breathe life into the work of writers we may have forgotten at Deep Vellum Books this Sunday. Other People's Poetry (OPP) is a new reading series created by author and teacher Joe Milazzo, who is on a mission to bring poets who've fallen out of the oral...
Poet Lauren Belmore on Identifying as Non-Binary and Dallas' LGBQTA+ Artist Community

By Lauren Belmore
Jul 1, 2016

Lauren Belmore is a local poet and noise musician who identifies as non-binary. They studied playwriting at the University of North Texas and now live and work in Dallas. (They pronouns are used when referring to non binary-identifying persons.) Here, they write about coming out and the non-binary artist community...
U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera on Using Literature as a Tool for Peace

By Caroline Pritchard
May 12, 2016

U.S. Poet Laureate Felipe Herrera could be frustrated. As the first Latino appointed to America's highest honor in poetry, and a writer who often delves into his experiences as a Mexican-American, he could use the platform to express his disillusionment with the hostility being directed toward immigrants in the United...
Poets Amber Tamblyn and Derrick C. Brown Bring Dallas a Taste of Sexcellence

By Caroline Pritchard
Sep 16, 2015

If you’re on the highway Thursday afternoon and you notice a straight couple on a motorcycle, and the girl looks suspiciously like Tibby from Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, don’t strain your neck looking. Yes, that’s actress Amber Tamblyn. And no, that role is not the most interesting thing about...
The Light Power of Performance Poet Anne Waldman

By Caroline Pritchard
May 12, 2015

You may not have heard of Anne Waldman, though you've heard of her friends. She was the co-founder with Allen Ginsberg of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado; she was the director of NYC's St. Mark's Poetry Project for more than a decade;...
Let Anne Waldman Shake Up Some Paradigms with her Poetry Tonight

By Lauren Smart
May 8, 2015

The first, and far too obvious, question desperate to fall from my lips when Anne Waldman answers my phone call is, "What was it like to hang out with Allen Ginsberg?" It's the unfulfilled dream of this poetry student to sit in the room with a creative force like Ginsberg,...
Billy Collins and Aimee Mann Were an Intellectual Hipster Dream Saturday Night

By Monica Hinman
Apr 13, 2015

America's favorite poet Billy Collins and indie singer songwriter Aimee Mann shared the Winspear Opera stage Saturday night as part of the DMA's Arts and Letters Live. An enthusiastic audience cheered as these two artists performed their most beloved works filling the Winspear with music, poetry, laughter and tears. Touring...
Garrison Keillor Delivered a Magical, Vulgarity-Free Night of Storytelling at the Bass Hall

By Caroline Pritchard
Oct 31, 2014

I have a confession. I didn't grow up listening to the radio. I imagined I was like most young people in that way, but over the last couple of weeks, I've learned that's not the case. When I've mentioned plans to attend an evening with Garrison Keillor, the reaction has...
Five Events to Celebrate National Poetry Month in Dallas

By Lauren Smart
Apr 14, 2014

"April is the cruelest month," TS Eliot penned to open his poetic triumph, The Wasteland. Poets have written at length about this month filled with spring showers and a sense of renewal. Odgen Nash exhorted readers to marry an April girl; Robert Frost described the days of April as blue...
Poet Laureate Billy Collins Is Coming to Dallas. Here Are Five Reasons You Should Care.

By Lauren Smart
Nov 12, 2013

The Thursday night Friends of the Dallas Public Library event is sold out, but we've compiled a list of a few reasons you should care about his visit to Dallas.
A Noob's Guide to Experiencing Live Poetry and Spoken Word in Dallas

By Lee Escobedo
May 6, 2013

Sometimes things are only "underground" out of ignorance. The poetry scene in Dallas is an established one, home to both talent and venues, each with its own style. To develop this guide, I spoke with some of the city's most prolific and involved poets, to find which venues had the...
Sex Advice from Poets, and Other Things We Got at Southside's "Blue Monday" Event

By Matthew Lawson
Nov 6, 2012

The night was a warm glow. The mood was soft, the venue low-lit like a candle-filled bedroom. Local blues man Lucky Peterson provided the soundtrack on the piano; he played soft jazz with a creative infusion of something nearing the blues. Free chocolate-covered strawberries and wine heightened the intimate mood,...
How Dallas Painter Aralyn McGregor Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Art

By Brentney Hamilton
Jul 17, 2012

"It's okay, I don't get art either," Aralyn McGregor claims when asked about her line of work. After receiving her BFA in studio painting from UNT in 2009, McGregor worked for a while as a middle school and high school art teacher before "retir[ing] at the ripe old age of...
Youth Poetry, En Masse

By Jamie Laughlin
Jan 3, 2012

A special connection with a soccer ball. How it felt when he left you alone, in front of your locker, with only your Mead 5 Star to catch your tears. Justin Bieber's eyes. Nothing is off limits when it comes to youth poetry. Now in its 16th year, "Express Yourself"...
Drawing Inspiration from Newspapers, Poet Austin Kleon Creatively Recycles

By Elaine Liner
Jun 20, 2011

When he graduated from Miami University of Ohio, Austin Kleon, like many young writers, didn't know where to start his career. But instead of staring at a blank screen waiting for the Muse to deliver a Great American Novel, Kleon put his own pen and ink on other writers' words...