Carole Boston Weatherford 4/7/23 Carole Boston Weatherford 4/7/23

Love Letters to Poetry | “Who Needs Poetry?”

Carole Boston Weatherford shares her poem “Who Needs Poetry?”

Anindita Basu Sempere 4/6/23 Anindita Basu Sempere 4/6/23

Love Letters to Poetry | Personal Anthologies

In poetry school, one of my professors asked us to make personal poetry anthologies. He carried his with him when he traveled. That way, he said, he always had something good to read.

Hanh Bui 4/5/23 Hanh Bui 4/5/23

Love Letters to Poetry | “Where Am I From?”

My title comes from growing up being asked “Where are you from?” If I answered Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Most people would continue with, “Where are you really from?”

That question made me think about where I’m from. It is a question immigrants are often asked over and over again. Even those who are born here.

Suma Subramaniam 4/4/23 Suma Subramaniam 4/4/23

Love Letters to Poetry | Couplets from The Tirukkural

Hello everyone! Happy National Poetry Month! Today, I'm sharing with you a few lines from the Tirukkural, also known as Kural. It is an ancient Tamil language poetic text that is more than 2000 years old. The Kural was composed by Tiruvalluvar. It's consists of 1330 short couplets which are called Kurals.

Lisa Stringfellow 4/3/23 Lisa Stringfellow 4/3/23

Love Letters to Poetry | “The Little Mermaid”

In May 2023, Disney will release the live-action version of its 1989 animated movie, The Little Mermaid. When the decision was announced four years ago that Black actress and singer Halle Bailey would play the iconic role of Ariel, many on social media erupted in celebration but others spewed racist comments and claimed “mermaids can’t be Black.”

Valerie Bolling 4/2/23 Valerie Bolling 4/2/23

Love Letters to Poetry | Tameka Fryer Brown on Poetry and Picture Books

We celebrate National Poetry Month with Tameka Fryer Brown who shares her thoughts on poetry and picture books with DiverseVerse member, Valerie Bolling.

Aida Salazar 4/1/23 Aida Salazar 4/1/23

Love Letters to Poetry | Poetry of the Senses: From LAND OF THE CRANES

The poem I selected from my verse novel, Land of the Cranes, is a poem that takes place in the moment when the main character, Betita, and her pregnant mother enter a family immigration detention prison also called "la hielera" or "the ice box".