Though it May Look Like Disaster: Poetic Forms to Save Your Life (Marianne Kunkel, Melissa Fite Johnson, Faisal Mohyuddin, Ashley M. Jones, Matthew E. Henry)

Do poetic forms have life-saving properties? Five poets will discuss how meter, rhyme, syllable count and other constraints have been sources of constancy and control during personal and political upheaval: layoffs, death, addiction, religious trauma, racism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They will examine the healing power of classic forms—sonnet, abecedarian and #ceasefire haiku—as well as remixed/invented forms, and share how forms can be a balm for a writer’s (or reader’s) heartbreak.

Location: Concourse Hall 151, Level One, Los Angeles Convention Center

Session Code: F227

3:20 PM - 4:35 PM PDT (6:20 - 7:35 EST)

Poetry as a Radical Act

I have the honor of reading with Joan Kwon Glass, Jennifer Martelli, Kevin McLellan, and Anna V. Q. Ross, with Danielle Jones as part of the Boston Book Festival.

Audre Lorde said, “Poetry is not a luxury.” To think, write, and be fully engaged with the world around us in ways that matter is nothing less than a radical act of survival.