We’ve got some free goodies to give away too! Hope to see you there!
REGISTER to attend.
🙂
Dianne
Tag: poem
Poems Come in Many Forms. Let’s Look at Odes
There are many types of formal poetry and for anyone who likes to write poetry, it’s worth your time getting to know these forms and trying a few as well. This teaches us all about meter and rhyme, how a poem should look on the page, and trying some of these is just plain fun. Here is a short run down of twenty different types of poetry. See how you do with some of these! You might surprise yourself, find a from you really like, and write a collection of them.
Acrostic: first letter of each line spells something
Ballad: narrative like a folk story
Blank Verse: Unrhymed but has iambic pentameter
Cinquain: five-line poem with 2-4-6-8-2 syllables per line
Concrete: has a shape on the page like a tree
Elegy: a mourning to someone gone
Epic: long, narrative work like Hiawatha
Found: taking and reframing words from other sources like newspapers
Ghazal: couplets that share rhyme and refrain
Haiku: Japanese form of 5-7-5 syllable pattern
Limerick: a humorous poem of 5 lines
Lyric: short poems of emotion
Narrative: a form of story telling
Ode: message to a subject, event or object
Pastural: Idealized environment, often rural life
Sestina: complex 39-line poem
Slam: Oral, competitive poetry
Sonnet: 14-line poem with specific rhyme scheme about love think Shakespeare
Villanelle: 19-line. 5 tercets followed by a quatrain with 2 repeating rhymes and 2 refrains
The Ode is a great form to try. Odes were developed in Ancient Greece. An ode then was a song or chant performed to celebrate athletic victories. Odes are praise using rich and clever description. Here’s a famous example of an ode poem.
Ode to the Hotel Near the Children’s Hospital
BY KEVIN YOUNG
Praise the restless beds
Praise the beds that do not adjust
that won’t lift the head to feed
or lower for shots
or blood
or raise to watch the tinny TV
Praise the hotel TV that won’t quit
its murmur & holler
Praise the room service
that doesn’t exist
just the slow delivery to the front desk
of cooling pizzas
& brown bags leaky
greasy & clear
Praise the vending machines
Praise the change
Praise the hot water
& the heat
or the loud cool
that helps the helpless sleep.
Praise the front desk
who knows to wake
Rm 120 when the hospital rings
Praise the silent phone
Praise the dark drawn
by thick daytime curtains
after long nights of waiting,
awake.
Praise the waiting & then praise the nothing
that’s better than bad news
Praise the wakeup call
at 6 am
Praise the sleeping in
Praise the card hung on the door
like a whisper
lips pressed silent
Praise the stranger’s hands
that change the sweat of sheets
Praise the checking out
Praise the going home
to beds unmade
for days
Beds that won’t resurrect
or rise
that lie there like a child should
sleeping, tubeless
Praise this mess
that can be left
Virginia Watts is the author of poetry and stories found in The MacGuffin, Epiphany, CRAFT, The Florida Review, Reed Magazine, Pithead Chapel, Eclectica Magazine among others. She has been nominated four times for a Pushcart Prize. Her debut short story collection Echoes from the Hocker House was short listed for 2024 Eric Hoffer Grand Prize, selected as one of the Best Indie Books of 2023 by Kirkus Book Reviews, and won third place in the 2024 Feathered Quill Book Awards. Please visit her.
Virginia’s new book is now available from Old Scratch Press:
Her prior poetry chapbooks Shot Full of Holes and The Werewolves of Elk Creek
are available from Moonstone Press. And her debut short story collection Echoes from the Hocker House is not to be missed!
The Zine Scene
If you haven’t delved into the Zine scene lately, you may be missing out! A zine, pronounced “zeen,” short for “fanzine” or “magazine” is a personal hand-crafted publication that can contain anything the creator’s imagination can supply and often devoted to unconventional subject matter!
Zines are made to share, trade, explore, discover and celebrate all modes of self-expression that can be printed: writing, art, photography. All you need to create a basic one is pen and paper. (A photocopier helps if you want to produce more quantity!)
My latest close encounter with zines happened when a professor at the university where I work asked to display her students’ zines in the library where others could read them or even take one with them if they wanted. She was teaching a class called Zine Writing and her students produced a variety of zines on fascinating topics ranging from their personal struggles with cultural assimilation to social justice issues affecting them and their families. I was really captivated by their insightful observations and the accompanying artwork, which included collages, flags, maps, masks, pictures of food, drawings and even a playlist!
These zines were tiny pamphlets cleverly folded from a single 8.5 X 11 piece of paper, but zines come in all shapes and sizes.
How-to Zine
A quick YouTube search will yield many zine-making tutorials:
This guide shows how to make a zine from a single piece of paper such as the students did—no staples required!
Find a Zine Event Near You!
If you want to fire up your imagination, you can view original zines or learn how to craft one at a Zine fair or Zine fest! Zine events take place worldwide; you can easily search for your city or region and zine fair/ zine fest / zine event and the current year to find a zine-making workshop at your local library or a zine festival that includes many publishers:
Printed Matter lists both national and international zine events organized by state or country.
Book and zine fairs – Printed Matter
Nicezines also lists worldwide zine events and other zine resources such as how to make them, price them and share them:
Zine events in 2026 – Nicezines
I found out the Miami Zine Fair is coming up in April:
“Founded in 2015 by EXILE Projects as part of O, Miami Poetry Month, the Fair is a free, public celebration of self-publishing and independent print culture. Each year, it brings together over 150 artists, writers, illustrators, activists, and poets from Miami and beyond.
Visitors can explore hundreds of zines—handmade and expertly crafted—alongside workshops, performances, and multimedia projects.
Open to all ages and backgrounds, the Miami Zine Fair invites the public to browse, touch, and engage with the vibrant world of independent publishing.”
Zine New Wave
Some see the Zine resurgence as a response to an increasingly digital world:
The New Wave of Zine Culture: Why Print Isn’t Dead in 2025 – Mole Empire
One reason writers and poets are attracted to the zine medium:
”Zines offer an intimate platform for sharing personal stories, poetry, and experimental writing that might not fit into traditional publishing models.”
The above article offers advice on how to delve deeper into the zine culture:
“Zine Fairs and Festivals: Keep an eye out for local and online zine fairs. These events are fantastic opportunities to discover new zines, meet creators, and connect with the community.
Independent Bookstores and Art Spaces: Many independent bookstores and art galleries are now stocking zines, recognizing their cultural significance.
Online Communities: Platforms like Instagram and Tumblr host thriving zine communities. Search hashtags like #zine, #zinester, #diyzine, and #[yourcountry]zines to discover creators and connect with others.
Directly from Creators: Many zine makers sell their work directly through their own websites or social media. Support independent artists by buying directly!”
From LitMag News:
Inside Zine Festivals (and Why Zines Matter)
Ironically, as zines are ephemeral print matter by nature, libraries have been digitizing them for preservation purposes.
Zine Collections in Libraries, Books on Zines
Many libraries have Zine collections (aka Zine libraries)
Barnard College’s site lists Zine libraries by region
Zine Libraries | Barnard Zine Library
And guides to zine history, books on zines, zine collections:
What is a Zine? – Zines – LibGuides at University of Texas at Austin
Search Worldcat.org for books on zines held in worldwide libraries:
Zine Culture
Even the Smithsonian has gotten involved as zines have grown in importance to our cultural development:
How Zines Brought Power to Those on the Margins of Culture
Specific subcultures have used zines to promote their ideas:
“The movement quickly spread well beyond its musical roots to influence the vibrant zine- and Internet-based nature of fourth-wave feminism’
Zine Classes
Apart from the DIY classes offered by your local library or zine fair, school systems have zine programs added to their curriculums:
Zines for Progress | The Wolfsonian | Florida International University | FIU
“Zines for Progress (Z4P) is a Miami-Dade County public high school outreach program centered on addressing topical issues through zine-making.”
At my university I found yet another class focused on Feminist Zine Writing.
Zine Writing Virtual Gallery – FIU Digital Writing Studio
“Social critiques, personal diary rants and impassioned protests are just some of the topics commonly discussed within feminist zines. Zines are able to bypass traditional gate-keeping mechanisms that silence non-dominant voices and perspectives. As a result, zines offer a platform upon which feminists of all genders are using words, images and other non-violent discursive practices to advocate for equity, mobilize activist efforts and build and sustain community.”
You can see how zines have become a much-valued venue for self-expression!
Dip a toe in the zine pool and you might wake up a tsunami of creativity!
Thank you for reading and please follow us here and on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/OLDSCRATCHPRESS/
Beatriz F. Fernandez is a Miami area poet and University Reference librarian. She is the author of three poetry chapbooks, the most recent of which is Simultaneous States (2025) by Bainbridge Island Press. In 2025, she became a member of the Old Scratch Press writing collective.
(Pictures are of FIU students’ handcrafted zines and used with permission of the professor.)
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/7eRgLvBPSkuyhpUtgLlkdw#/registration
Thank God I’ll Never Be Famous Enough for a Biography.
This week in the New York Times there is an article about Mark Oppenheimer writing Judy Blume’s biography. When he began the project, so he says, she liked him and gave him access to her life and her circle, etc. When he sent her the draft, she no longer liked him or the book he was writing about her. Apparently she sent him quite a big pile of notes, and contact ceased soon after that. He published the book anyway. He, and book’s narrator, Molly Ringwald, feel like Judy has to put up with his book, and that Mark did a fine job. According to the NYT article, Molly said, “There might be moments that Judy doesn’t like or agree with, but overall I think it’s a respectful treatment of her and her literary significance.” And, “If Mark didn’t show Judy’s flaws or humanity, it would be hard to feel invested.”
At what point does your life stop being your own? I might argue it’s when you become a parent. But, eventually they grow up, and you get to pivot back to yourself somewhat. Mark could have written the book with, or without, Judy’s help, and that’s the danger of being that level of author, but the fact that she gave him permission at first, and then was unhappy with what he made of her life, gives me pause. How much do we own our own life story?
The NYT made the main photo of the piece one of Mark sitting in a bunk bed. I don’t like this. He’s not at the age, or in life circumstances where he would actually be the person who sleeps in that bed. To me it is a ploy to make him look more innocent. I don’t think he is. I’m disappointed in Molly. For full disclosure, I read a bit of Judy Blume as a kid, from Margaret to some of the adult books, most of them for the sexy bits, honestly. Hey, I was in middle school. But, with apologies to Judy, I have seldom thought of her since. I tried reading Margaret to my daughter when she was in middle school, and we both found it didn’t age well. Plus, my daughter was not raised with the same religiosity I was. So there’s that for the longevity of the book in my life. And anybody can write a biography of anybody. The trick, like it is with our own books, is to get people to read it.
Still, do Mark, Molly, and his publishing company have the right to own Judy’s story, to make the truth of Judy’s life Mark’s version of the truth?
I say no. I say this is another woman losing agency over her own body, life, and body of work, to a man and a corporation. And it seems her only recourse might be for Judy to write her autobiography, to set the record straight. I cannot imagine anything as boring as writing out my own life story. And believe you me, I’ve had a fascinating life. Ha! Whether I have or I haven’t, I’m not ready to relive it all like I’ve had a near death experience. No, no no.
So, whose life is it anyway?
I would love to hear your thoughts.
Dianne Pearce is the chief editor and bottle washer at Current Words Publishing, and the half-cocked imaginer behind Old Scratch Press and Instant Noodles. Pearce loves helping writers realize the dream of having their work published. I mean she is really crazy about doing that for some reason. To that end, to join in the fray, to look at the thing from the other side, to stand in another’s shoes, and all of those things, she is fully expecting and promising to publish her first collection of poetry, In the Cancer Cafeteria, spring of 2026. Please don’t hold your breath. For very long. Happy 2026!
Congrats to Gabby and Morgan!
Gabby and Morgan are part of the featured selections from the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses for Women’s History Month!
Check it out here:
And pick up a copy of these great books!
NO OCEAN SPIT ME OUT is a captivating debut collection of poetry by Gabby Gilliam that delves deep into the intricate tapestry of family dynamics and personal evolution. Within its 30 poems, the collection embarks on a profound journey through the stages of coming of age, navigating the complexities of familial bonds, grappling with organized religion, and ultimately, embracing the essence of self-acceptance.
Each poem in NO OCEAN SPIT ME OUT serves as a poignant reflection of the human experience, capturing moments of vulnerability, resilience, and growth with eloquence. Through lyrical prose and emotive imagery, Gilliam paints a vivid portrait of the joys and struggles inherent in the process of self-discovery.
Whether you’re seeking solace in the shared experiences of family relationships or searching for introspective insights into the nuances of identity and faith, Gilliam’s collection offers a profound and thought-provoking exploration of the human condition.
From the mighty pen of artist and author Morgan Golladay comes The Song of North Mountain, a transformative collection of poetry and art celebrating the famous and mystical North Mountain of Appalachia.
North Mountain, a wildland in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests of western Virginia, has been recognized by the Wilderness Society as a special place worthy of protection from logging and road construction. The Wilderness Society has designated the area as a “Mountain Treasure.”
Morgan Golladay brings her readers to dwell in the reverence of this wonderful wilderness.
Golladay is an award-winning author who was raised on North Mountain and lives in coastal Delaware as part of a thriving artist and author community. All words and art in this book are by Golladay.
The Song of North Mountain is National Book Award nominee!
Exploring E.E. Cummings: Poems That Can Dance
by Nadja Maril,a founding member of Old Scratch Press Collective
Many decades ago, I choreographed a dance to accompany a poem. I selected a poem by E.E. Cummings, “In Just—” Which in my mind I titled, “In Just Spring.”
I picked that particular poem for its exuberance. I could imagine myself interpreting the verse with movements that were both fast and slow, languorous and springy. The challenge was to select movements that I could execute while reciting the words.
[in Just-]
By E. E. Cummings (1894-1962)
in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman
whistles far and wee
and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring
when the world is puddle-wonderful
the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing
from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
it's
spring
and
the
goat-footed
balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee
This poem was written in 1923, over one hundred years ago.
Cummings was an experimenter who developed his own personal style. Although classically trained, with multiple degrees from Harvard University, he used punctuation as it suited him. Spaces on the page were seen as opportunities to spread out the pacing or to combine several words into one breath. Conjunctions were sometimes nouns and selected words might take on additional assigned meanings.
Hailed as one of the most influential and important poets of the 20th century, Cummings embraced the concept of Visual Poetry. Words were placed on the page to create shapes and images that serve to reinforce the mood of the verse.
You can read more about E.E. Cummings in this article published on the Poetry Foundation website. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/e-e-cummings
It was easy for me to dance the role of the goat-footed balloon man, after seeing the words establishing his presence “skip” across the page.
The line “whistles far and wee” is spread out, which enabled me to say the individual words with enough time to run from one side of the stage to the other side.
In writing poetry, thought is often devoted to line breaks and capitalization. Traditional or avant garde, the last word in a line typically takes on greater importance. By choosing not to capitalize the first word of a line, emphasis is softened.
Try changing the line breaks on a poem you are working on. How do your changes impact the poem? Try adding extra spaces between words or merging them together. Once again, how do these changes reshape a poem’s texture and meaning?
In contrast, when you write a prose poem using sentences, it is the order and sound of the words that must create the poetry. No one approach is better than another. It all depends on what you are trying to achieve.
In a few more weeks it will officially be Spring, here in the Northeast USA where I live. I look for birds returning from the winter vacation in the south and I hear “in-Just” recited inside my head. Crocuses begin pushing up through the muddy soil. Bicycles are pulled out of storage and pastel chalk pictures are drawn on the sidewalk. No balloon man, but it is the start of outdoor birthday parties.
The idea of adding movement to your recitation of a poem, may inspire you to choose different words when writing verse.
WRITING PROMPT: Try writing a poem about a season, place, or time. Maybe your piece is about a mood such as anger or maybe it is about a feeling such as being satiated. Often a poem focuses on the visual, but instead think about movement. Use active verbs. In Cummings short poem the wind and the balloon man whistle. The children run and dance.
What did you create? Maybe you’re on to something you like. Keep playing with the concepts and see where they lead you. Part of the enjoyment of writing, is discovering what works and what doesn’t work.
Read the work of other poets, and as March is Women’s History month, I am going to suggest three women poets:
Rae Armantrou ( B. 1947).
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/rae-armantrout
Mina Loy (1882-1966)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/148476/love-songs-5bec636568b82
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/gertrude-stein
Writers and Readers, don’t forget to forget to follow us on Facebook to get the latest news and learn about submission opportunities.
Nadja Maril is an award winning writer and poet who has been published in dozens of online and print literary journals and anthologies including: Lunch Ticket, Spry Literary Journal, Invisible City Literary Review, Instant Noodles and The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts. She is the author of Recipes From My Garden, published by Old Scratch Press (September 2024), a Midwest Review California Book Watch Reviewer’s Choice. An Anne Arundel County Arts Council Literary Arts Award winner, her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and The Best of the Net. She has an MFA in creative writing from Stonecoast at USM.
Check out Nadja’s chapbook below and here.
What Do You Think of That “Poet Voice?” You Know the One.
If you’ve ever been to a poetry reading, you’ve probably heard it. The slow cadence. The dramatic pauses. The slightly mystical tone. The voice that signals: I am now doing Poetry.
In fact, when I think about that sentence read in “poetry voice” it would be read like this:
The voice
that signals
I am now
doing
poetry
And each line would end with an up tone, as if the performer was asking a question.
The recent New York Times article digs into this phenomenon, often called the “poet voice,” and asks why many poets fall into the same stylized way of reading their work aloud.
For some listeners, the article says, that way of reading feels comforting and familiar. For others, awkward, distancing, or makes the poem feel like a performance ritual rather than a piece of language meant to connect.
The article points out something important: this isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s about how poetry exists in two worlds at once. On the page, poetry is quiet, private, intimate. Out loud, it becomes physical, embodied, communal. Voice, breath, pacing, silence, and tone all reshape meaning. The same poem can feel completely different depending on how it’s read.
And yet, many readings sound strangely similar.
Why?
There’s also a bigger tension here. Poetry has deep roots in oral tradition. Long before books, poetry lived in voices, memory, and storytelling. But modern literary culture often treats performance and “serious writing” as separate worlds. Spoken word, slam, and performance poetry are seen as different categories entirely, even though they’re doing what poetry has always done: using voice to create meaning. They also might sound different, as performance, when compared to how people read on the performance evenings in your MFA program.
I remember, from the first time I saw poets read aloud, at a bar in Philadelphia in the 1990s, thinking that it was weird that many of them read their work in the same way, and wondering why they did. When I was in my MFA program, and we would read our work at student readings, us poets, fellow students, often read that way. I remember it as mainly the other white women, and that the students and teachers/established visiting poets, could be people who did it. Not that all of them did it, you understand, but that it happened at times among student readers, teacher readers, and visiting poet readers, and it was, in the main, done by my fellow white women. I don’t remember the guys reading that way. I also remember that the teachers (minus a few) and the students in the poetry track were incredibly serious about the writing and performing of poetry. I don’t know that I ever got quite that serious, which is probably a character flaw. You know I’ve got me some of those.
On Threads people are losing their minds about the article (slow news day?) so, let’s talk about it:
• When you hear poetry read aloud, does it deepen your connection to the work or pull you out of it?
• Do you think “poet voice” is a real thing, or just a stereotype we’ve internalized?
• When you hear poetry read aloud, does it deepen your connection to the work or pull you out of it?
• Have you heard “poet voice?”
• How do you read your own work aloud? Casually, dramatically, flat, musical, conversational?
• Should poetry readings sound like performance, conversation, or something else entirely?
• Is hearing the poet’s voice an added layer of meaning, or an intrusion on the reader’s imagination?
Could you….
drop your thoughts….
in the comments?
Collaboration with Who?
by ROBERT FLEMING, Founding member of OLD SCRATCH PRESS – a poetry/short-form collective | estd. 2023
In January, 2024 I wrote a blog on Hybrid Poetry which is an integration of two or more art forms, where one form is text.
If you create a hybrid work, who should you collaborate with? If you choose another person you will have to coordinate with them and all their peculiarities. Such a Drag! Why not collaborate with yourself? Only have to deal with when you are in a good or bad mood.
My hybrid blog showed my first visual poem, at age 11, I integrated poetry and visual drawing with crayons.
Figure 1.
Do you have two or more skills that can be integrated? Pick them from this list.
- writing poetry
- writing prose
- creating visual art
- music: playing an instrument
- singing
When you join two skills, it might have been given a name:
- prose poetry = writing prose and writing poetry
- visual poetry = writing poetry and creating visual art
- performance poetry = (playing an instrument or singing) and writing poetry
If you have integrated two skills before:
- How did it go?
- Would you do it again?
- Consider not just the quality of your work but did you enjoy it?
In deciding whether to collaborate with yourself:
- Comparatively at what skill level (beginner, intermediate, advanced) are your two skills? Are they at the same skill level or different? My two skills of writing poetry and creating visual art are at the same level.
- If your skills levels are not at the same level (e.g. intermediate in writing poetry, beginner in playing an instrument), can you accept that your work produced is likely to be at the lower skill level?
- What will you do with your work: celebrate it and share it with others, share it with yourself, or trash it?
- Cycling between genres: At the current time, what is your inspiration for creating different types of work? I cycle through different time periods where I am motivated to spend a different percent of time on each genre (25% poetry, 50% visual art, 25% visual poetry). In 2022, when I was producing my visual poetry book, White Noir, 75% of my time was in visual poetry.
What’s it going to be?
Collaborate with yourself?
- No: stick to one genre
- Yes: try it as an experiment
Collaborate with others? Read Robert’s upcoming blog.
Robert Fleming, a contributing editor of Old Scratch Press
OLD SCRATCH PRESS – a poetry/short-form collective | estd. 2023
who published an Amazon best seller visual poetry book: White Noir
an editor of the digital magazine Instant Noodles
Recent Robert Fleming publications and art
Follow Robert on Facebook
Thank you for reading. Please sign up to follow us on Facebook and to follow us here on WordPress to expand your knowledge about poetry and short form writing as well as to receive the latest news about publication opportunities.
Pop Star Poets
Bob Dylan famously called himself a poet first, then a musician. It’s often been said that every poem is a song. Many famous musicians also published poetry including Patti Smith, John Lennon, Joni Mitchell, Lou Reed. More recent examples are Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Drake, Halsey, Tupac Shakur, Kelsea Ballerini, Alicia Keys.
Jewel published her first book of poems in 1998 A Night without Armor. She sold over 2 million copies, and her book remains one of American’s best-selling poetry collections of all time. The poems were inspired by the journals Jewel kept throughout her life. She has talked about writing poems since childhood, that it’s not music she needs, but “poetry.” That poetry reflects who she really is and unlike pop music, it allows people to get her. There are poems in the collection about human life, family, her Alaskan childhood, heartbreak, healing, divorce. It’s one of those collections that feels brave as an open heart. Here is Jewel talking about her poetry and her process with Charlie Rose.
I focus on Jewel here because when I first heard her music, I immediately thought of it more as words on a page. The words led for me, and the tune came after. The images were so clear and inspiring. Poets should listen to music, because music can teach us about cadence and rhythm. Music helps with pacing. Sound is important in poems. Music also has structures that help with poetic structures such as refrain and verse. Also, listening to songs can be inspire us. Music evokes emotion. Boosts mood and creativity. Music takes our minds from where we are into another space and that often leads to words on a page. Here is a song by Jewel that demonstrates why songs are poems and poems are songs and why poets need music. We wouldn’t be at our best without it. We were meant for each other.
Virginia Watts is the author of poetry and stories found in The MacGuffin, Epiphany, CRAFT, The Florida Review, Reed Magazine, Pithead Chapel, Eclectica Magazine among others. She has been nominated four times for a Pushcart Prize. Her debut short story collection Echoes from the Hocker House was short listed for 2024 Eric Hoffer Grand Prize, selected as one of the Best Indie Books of 2023 by Kirkus Book Reviews, and won third place in the 2024 Feathered Quill Book Awards. Please visit her.
Virginia’s new book is now available from Old Scratch Press:
Her prior poetry chapbooks Shot Full of Holes and The Werewolves of Elk Creek
are available from Moonstone Press. And her debut short story collection Echoes from the Hocker House is not to be missed!
Hurray for Dr. King~
Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, Joy Harjo, Claudia Rankine, Ocean Vuong, Elizabeth Acevedo, Terrance Hayes, Frank O’Hara, Audre Lorde, Allen Ginsburg, all poets who have enhanced the canon of American writing with their writing and their diversity. Have you read any of them? Which ones have you tried? Which diverse poet is your favorite? What poem do you like that you can share with us?
Did you know that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. believed deeply in the power of voices, especially voices that had been ignored, dismissed, or pushed aside? That belief matters just as much in literature as it does anywhere else.
The literary canon is not a fixed monument. It is a living body of work that grows stronger, more truthful, and more beautiful when it includes diverse authors and perspectives. American literature is incomplete without the poets and writers who reflect the full range of American experience. Reading these voices does not diminish the canon. It expands it, strengthens it, and makes it more honest.
It may seem as if diverse authors exist on the margins of literature, but they don’t. They are central to it. They shape language, challenge assumptions, and help us see both history and the present more clearly. I have enjoyed so many authors who are so different from me, especially when we count the wealth of male writers we read in school. They are all wonderful writers, and I am also glad school now includes more writers who look like me, as well as writers who look like my daughter and my friends.
So today, as we celebrate Dr. King, let’s also celebrate the voices that widen our understanding of who we are. Pick up a book. Read a poem. Listen closely to someone, anyone, different from you, or simply listen to someone in need. How can you share your light?
On a slightly off-topic note, I was visiting my sister this weekend, and we each chose a stand up special to watch that is a pretty new special. I chose Mohaned Elshieky’s special No Need to Address Me, and my sister chose Marcello Hernandez’s special American Boy. Both were incredibly funny. Comedy benefits from diversity too.
I am happy for this day. Hurray for Dr. King and his marvelous legacy. Hurray for all poets. And hurray for a literary world that makes room for all of us.
~Dianne
Dianne Pearce is the chief editor and bottle washer at Current Words Publishing, and the half-cocked imaginer behind Old Scratch Press and Instant Noodles. Pearce loves helping writers realize the dream of having their work published. I mean she is really crazy about doing that for some reason. To that end, to join in the fray, to look at the thing from the other side, to stand in another’s shoes, and all of those things, she is fully expecting and promising to publish her first collection of poetry, In the Cancer Cafeteria, spring of 2026. Please don’t hold your breath. For very long. Happy 2026!
