{"id":16299,"date":"2022-04-11T12:59:38","date_gmt":"2022-04-11T17:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/noteworthy\/?p=16299"},"modified":"2026-01-12T15:35:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T21:35:44","slug":"celebrating-diversity-for-poetry-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/noteworthy\/2022\/04\/11\/celebrating-diversity-for-poetry-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Diversity for Poetry Month"},"content":{"rendered":"

The month of April is Poetry Month, and the Loyola University Libraries traditionally highlight the diverse poetry collections we have available for students, faculty, and staff. The following selections were made by several of our library staff members. Also please visit our Poetry Month LibGuide here<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n

Esther Belin<\/b> is a Din\u00e9 (Navajo) poet, writer, and artist who grew up in Los Angeles after her parents left their homes in the southwest as part of a federal relocation policy. Her poetry and art often reflect on the pressure Native Americans feel to assimilate into mainstream American culture, in addition to larger themes of substance abuse, alienation, and racism. She sees her writing as growing from and making an offering to the collective humanity, bila\u2019ashdla\u2019ii.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an excerpt from her poem, \u201cGone\u201d \u2013 you can find the entire poem and more of Belin\u2019s works online or in print through our catalog here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There was never a sound beside the smoke but from it
\nA weeping being whispered into the ground
\nWhat was it? it whispered
\nI could tell you it was chants we use in ceremonies
\nI could tell you it was the truths my father cursed when he was drunk
\nI could tell you there is no translation
\nno words exist for that whisper.<\/i><\/p>\n

Victoria Chang<\/b> is an Asian-American poet who currently lives in California, where she teaches at Antioch University. Much of her poetry examines gender, family, and history to interrogate the fundamentally slippery nature of identity and the self.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an excerpt from a poem in her collection, Circles: \u201cYang Gui Fei,\u201d told from the perspective of the eponymous concubine of Emperor Li Long-Ji, who was forced to commit suicide. You can find the entire poem, the collection, and more of Belin\u2019s works online or in print through our catalog here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Once I was more than a woman, more than a gold hairpin,
\nmore than three thousand bathing concubines.
\nOnce the soldiers followed the scents of my long braiding curls,
\ncording around my neck.
\nThey followed a peeling leader who trailed me the way
\na buzzard steals breath from the dying.<\/i><\/p>\n

Krista Franklin<\/b> is a visual artist, performer and poet working in Chicago. Her work is often associated with Afrofuturism and Afrosurrealism, and her visual art, much of it in collage format, has been exhibited internationally. Her books include Under the Knife (2018) and Study of Love & Black Body (2012).<\/p>\n

From \u201cOut of the Woods\u201d:<\/p>\n

I learned baby wolves get high
\nfrom the scent of hearts bursting<\/i><\/p>\n

on their Instagram feeds. Serotonin
\nis a helluva drug. In the clearing, I strain<\/i><\/p>\n

to hear the echoes of men whose bodies
\ndrag the forest floor. Unfortunately, all<\/i><\/p>\n


\n<\/i><\/i><\/i>the witnesses withered seventy winters ago.
\nBlood is a potent fertilizer.<\/i><\/p>\n

Find more of her work in our catalog here<\/a>.
\nSee also (poet\u2019s website): http:\/\/www.kristafranklin.com\/<\/p>\n

Franny Choi<\/b> is a queer Korean-American poet who currently teaches at Williams College. Many of her poems consider identity, gender, and queerness against the backdrop of racism and patriarchy in contemporary society.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s an excerpt from her poem, \u201cAlternate World in Which Koreans Can Pickle Anything\u201d \u2013 you can find the entire poem and more of Choi\u2019s works online or in print through our catalog here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pickle the name your mother gave you.
\nPickle late nights watching Music Bank on Jihae\u2019s couch.
\nPickle the floral print rice cookers guarding the sidelines
\nof the church basement. Pickle the prayer & the shapes
\nit makes of your mouth. & pickle the ballad, too,<\/p>\n

Joshua Jennifer Espinoza<\/b> is an American poet from Riverside, California. Her writing deals with topics that include mental illness and coming out as a transgender woman. Here is an excerpt from her poem, \u201cTime-Lapse Video of Trans Woman Collapsing Inward Like a Dying Star\u201d:<\/p>\n

Once, I believed god
\nwas a blanket of energy
\nstretched out around
\nour most vulnerable
\nplaces,
\nwhen really,
\nshe\u2019s the sound
\nof a promise
\nbreaking<\/i><\/p>\n

Find more of her poetry here<\/a>.
\nSee also (poet\u2019s website): https:\/\/joshuajenniferespinoza.com\/<\/p>\n

Khaled Mattawa<\/b> is an Arab-American writer, translator, and poet who was born in Benghazi, Libya before immigrating to the United States as a teenager. In addition to translating Arabic-language poetry into English, he writes poetry that focuses on the intersection of culture, politics, and memory. Mattawa currently teaches at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.<\/p>\n

Here is an excerpt from his poem, \u201cMalouk\u2019s Qassida\u201d \u2013 you can find the entire poem and more of Mattawa\u2019s works online or in print through our catalog here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Are we prepared for the storm\u2019s paradise?
\nThe starlings recite the zodiacs on their wings;
\nthe marabouts must in kindness abide.<\/i><\/p>\n


\n<\/i>On the wireless the noises of rescue\u2014
\nthe double dealing of virtue and abuse\u2014
\ninto a theater of salvation we ride.<\/i><\/p>\n

Jessica Greenbaum\u2019s<\/b> writing is deeply rooted in her Jewish faith and culture. Blending the sacred and the mundane, her poems illuminate everyday experience with sudden flashes of revelation.<\/p>\n

From \u201cA Poem for S.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026 in one treasured story, a
\nJewish ancestor, horseback in the woods at Yom
\nKippur, and stranded without a prayer book,
\nLooked into the darkness and realized he had
\nMerely to name the alphabet to ask forgiveness\u2014
\nNo congregation of figures needed, he could speak
\nOne letter at a time because all of creation
\nProceeded from those.<\/i><\/p>\n

Read more of her work here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

M\u00f3nica de la Torre<\/b> was born and raised in Mexico City and relocated to New York in 1993 to attend Columbia University. In addition to compiling several collections of her own work, she has translated the work of many Spanish language poets. She also co-edited the bilingual anthology, Reversible Monuments: Contemporary Mexican Poetry (2002).<\/p>\n

From \u201cPoem in Spanish\u201d:<\/p>\n

Why don\u2019t I respond when I\u2019m being offended?
\nBecause my religion doesn\u2019t allow me to.
\nExterior maps: geography. Interior maps: psychography.
\nAnd in your hard cathedral I kneel.<\/i><\/p>\n

Find more of her work in our catalog here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Philip Metres<\/b> is an Arab-American poet of Lebanese descent who grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. He currently teaches English and directs the Peace, Justice, and Human Rights program at John Carroll University. His scholarly work and poems reflect on the power of nonviolence resistance, peacebuilding, and poetry in the midst of war.<\/p>\n

Here is an excerpt from his poem, \u201cwhy are there starts? my daughter asked\u201d \u2013 you can find the entire poem and more of Metres\u2019s works online or in print through our catalog here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

because we need to know even the dark dome
\nhovering above us its infinite black
\nlike our skull seen from the inside like a bowl
\nof onyx filled with cracks flickers of future<\/i><\/p>\n

Naomi Shihab Nye<\/b> is an Arab-American poet of Palestinian descent \u2013 and is this month\u2019s editor of poets.org \u2019s own poem-of-the-day event for National Poetry Month! In addition to writing poetry for adult readers, she has also published several books of poetry and fiction for children, many of which are included in the Curriculum Collection at Lewis Library (Water Tower Campus). Her work often focuses on heritage, childhood, travel, peace, and humanitarian cooperation.<\/p>\n

Here is an excerpt from her poem, \u201cBlue Bucket” \u2013 you can find the entire poem and more of her works online or in print through our catalog here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What if, instead of war,
\nwe shared our buckets
\nof wind and worry?
\nTell me the story
\nyou carry there,
\nsteeping in old pain
\nand future hope,
\nrich with fragrant
\nsavory spices,
\nginger, turmeric,
\ntarragon, find me
\na spoon in one
\nof your pockets,
\neven if we don\u2019t
\nspeak the same language\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

Rio Cortez<\/b> is the author of the author of Golden Ax (2022) and The ABCs of Black History (Workman, 2020). Originally from Salt Lake City, she now lives in Harlem. In addition to her writing, Cortez also works in the sales and marketing division of a major publishing company, where she works to \u201camplify the voices and opportunities for BIPOC writers.\u201d In the poem \u201cBlack Lead in a Nancy Meyers Film\u201d, she places herself, as a Black woman, in an imagined production by filmmaker Nancy Meyers.<\/p>\n

From \u201cBlack Lead in a Nancy Meyers Film\u201d:<\/p>\n

\u2026the stage play I\u2019m writing myself into.
\nAging Black woman in neutral summer
\nturtleneck. Known. And jogging. Lonesome
\nenough. Eating homemade lavender
\nice cream, the moon blooming
\nthrough the kitchen window.<\/i><\/p>\n

Find her work in our catalog here<\/a>.
\nSee also (poet\u2019s website): https:\/\/www.riocortez.com<\/p>\n

Morgan Parker<\/b> is an African-American poet who currently lives in Los Angeles, where she co-curates the Poets With Attitude reading series and co-runs The Other Black Gril Collective, an internationally touring black, feminist poetry duo. Often experimenting with form, her work reflects on race, gender, identity, and relationships.<\/p>\n

Here is an excerpt from her poem, \u201cMy Sister Says White Supremacy Is Turning Her Crazy” \u2013 you can find the entire poem and more of her works (like her collection Magical Negro) online or in print through our catalog here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

it makes you bad, bad
\nis your name
\nis the desert
\nis movement \t\t \t long kiss
\nheavy gut \t slow
\nslow hands \t in your seed<\/i><\/p>\n

Metta S\u00e1ma<\/b> is an African-American poet, artist, and arts administrator. She is the founder of Artists Against Police Brutality\/Cultures of Violence as well as an Emeritus Fellow of the Black Earth Institute. Her poems address a wide range of themes, including gender, race, community, religion, ecological justice, and police violence.<\/p>\n

Here is an excerpt from her poem, \u201cIt was the year we turned to dragons” \u2013 you can find the entire poem and more of her works online or in print through our catalog here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

we wanted to feast on each other first wanted to put our
\nown limbs in our bodies bite into our elbows and knees crack
\nevery joint between our teeth we were hinged things teetering
\nbetween upright and indirect flight one of us<\/i><\/p>\n

Vijay Seshadri<\/b> is an India-born American poet, essayist, and critic who currently teaches at Sarah Lawrence College. He and his family immigrated to Columbus, Ohio from Bangalore, India when he was five, and some of his work addresses his subsequent feelings of alienation and recognition of cultural differences. Other themes Seshadri\u2019s work examines include loss, grief, and consciousness.<\/p>\n

Here is an excerpt from his poem, \u201cBirding” \u2013 you can find the entire poem and more of his works online or in print through our catalog here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The sun itself a larger bird,
\nits wings manufacturing
\nthe solar wind<\/i><\/p>\n

that devours, that is what can devour a person\u2014
\nfloating in the vacuum
\nof perpetual space,
\nwhich is what there is and also is<\/i><\/p>\n


\n<\/i><\/i>itself a bird,<\/i><\/p>\n

Richard Siken<\/b> is an American poet, painter, and filmmaker who not only writes but also works full-time as a social worker in Tucson, Arizona. His psychologically driven work reflects on a wide variety of themes, such as first loves, broken hearts, sexuality, grief, and death.<\/p>\n

Here is an excerpt from his poem, \u201cYou Are Jeff” \u2013 you can find the entire poem and more of his works online or in print through our catalog here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are two twins on motorbikes but one is farther up the road,
\nbeyond the hairpin turn, or just before it, depending on which Jeff
\nyou are. It could have been so beautiful\u2014You scout out the road
\nahead and I will watch your back, how it was and how it will be,
\nMemory and Fantasy\u2014but each Jeff wants to be the other one.
\nMy name is Jeff and I’m tired of looking at the back of your head.<\/i><\/p>\n

Kaveh Akbar (\u06a9\u0627\u0648\u0647 \u0627\u06a9\u0628\u0631)<\/b> is an Iranian American poet, born in Tehran, Iran. Moving to the U.S. when he was two years old, Akbar learned English in addition to Farsi, as well as Arabic, which his family used for religious purposes, but which Akbar did not understand. This movement between languages and cultures, understanding and not understanding, informs much of Akbar\u2019s writing.<\/p>\n

From \u201cReading Farrokhzad in a Pandemic\u201d:<\/p>\n

The title is a lie;
\nI can\u2019t read Farsi.<\/i><\/p>\n

\u0645\u0627 \u0647\u0631 \u0686\u0647 \u0631\u0627 \u06a9\u0647 \u0628\u0627\u06cc\u062f \u0627\u0632 \u062f\u0633\u062a \u062f\u0627\u062f\u0647 \u0628\u0627\u0634\u06cc\u0645 \u0627\u0632 \u062f\u0633\u062a \u062f\u0627\u062f\u0647 \u0627\u06cc\u0645<\/i><\/p>\n

I can make out:<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cwe lose,
\nwe lose.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n


\n<\/i><\/i><\/i><\/i>I type it into a translation app:
\n\u201cwe have lost everything we need to lose.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

Find more of Akbar\u2019s work in our catalog here<\/a>.
\nSee also (poet\u2019s website): https:\/\/kavehakbar.com<\/p>\n

Atsuro Riley<\/b> is a Japanese American poet, raised in the low country of South Carolina and currently residing in San Francisco. Riley\u2019s work references the violent racism of the communities where he grew up.<\/p>\n

From \u201cDiorama\u201d<\/p>\n

This other wing (the one I’m back-sneaking, side-slipping, turnstiling into) dips and slopes down to low-lying marsh-mire: whiffs of pluff-mud stink and live gnat-pack poison, carnie-cots and -trailers camped on ooze. They’ve got (rickety) rides, and tent-shows with stains, and rackety bare-bulbed stalls of Hoop-La Game (RING-A-COKE!) and Rebel Yell and Shoot the Gook
\nDown. Stand here, on this smutch-spot: don’t these mirrors show you strange?<\/i><\/p>\n

Find more of their work in our catalog here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The month of April is Poetry Month, and the Loyola University Libraries traditionally highlight the diverse poetry collections we have available for students, faculty, and staff. The following selections were made by several of our library staff members. Also please visit our Poetry Month LibGuide here. Esther Belin is a Din\u00e9 (Navajo) poet, writer, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":16301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[1,95,5016],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/noteworthy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16299"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/noteworthy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/noteworthy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/noteworthy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/noteworthy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16299"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/noteworthy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16305,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/noteworthy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16299\/revisions\/16305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/noteworthy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/noteworthy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/noteworthy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libblogs.luc.edu\/noteworthy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}