teacups and bookmarks

  You Better Be Lightning by Andrea Gibson Published 2021  I stumbled across Button Poetry after judging a high school speech tournament with my husband many years ago. A student performed the poetry of Ollie Schminkey, which ultimately led to us Googling lines of poetry, and discovering Button Poetry. This discovery resulted in too many hours spent watching YouTube videos of various poets, leading to my discovery of Andrea Gibson. I couldn’t tell which of their poems I saw first, but I can tell you it did not take long for me to become a fan. It was instantaneous. When Gibson announced the presale of You Better Be Lightning , in which purchasers would receive a signed copy, I immediately bought a copy. Imagine reading words that feel as though they were ripped straight from your soul. Thoughts and emotions you didn't even know you had lying dormant until Andrea Gibson came along, ripped them from the seams of your being, and put all of them into writing. That is You Bett...

  A Little Devil In Americ a by Hanif Abdurraqib  When I say I love Hanif's writing, what I mean is, I missed my turn to work and had to double back blocks later when I realized my mistake. Hanif's words illustrate his life experiences so well that I can envision these moments as though I am alongside him. I can hear all the songs he references in my ears and see television and movie scenes as though the reel is playing in my head behind my eyes. I am in the room as he and his friends play cards and accidentally knock over a television. I am watching him grow up. A Black Muslim man gowing up in Ohio. Somehow the story of Hanif's life in the Midwest seems like so much more. And maybe it is...because stories don't get written about the lives of boring people. Hanif has a way of making The ordinary seem extraordinary. The man is a literary and literal genius. At the end of 2021 he won the MacArthur Genius Grant. (https://www.macfound.org/programs/fellows/) As a fan of Hani...