Button Poetry

Chace ‘Mic Write’ Morris 

“Every time I see my Grandmothers house - foreclosure sign on the front lawn like an American Flag impaling soil it does not own.”

Chace performing a feature at the Soap Boxing poetry slam in Saint Paul, MN.

“He has been called fag so much he dropped a beat behind it and made it his ring tone.”

Lauren Zuniga performing in Saint Paul - December feature at the Soap Boxing Poetry Slam.

Hieu Nguyen - “First”

“You are the reason I feel guilt every time I feel pride.”

This February, Hieu will be touring the Northeast with fellow Button Poets Dylan Garity and Neil Hilborn as The Good News Poetry Tour. Check out their last album at The Button Store!

Amie Durenberger - “Dakota”

“The first thing to go were my memories, starting to yellow, they tinted like soiled wallpaper, the truth just started to curl out and drip to the floor.”

Amie (a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota) performing for the University of Minnesota College slam team at CUPSI 2012 in hosted in Northridge, California. 

Lauren Zuniga  - “To the Oklahoma Lawmakers”

A truly landmark poem and poet; Lauren is one of the shining lights  among writers who are succeeding on the stage, page and internet.

Jamila Woods - “Pigeon Man”

Jamila Woods is a National Poetry Slam finalist with the Providence team, as well as a Louder Than A Bomb Champion. She performed this poem on NPS Finals stage in Boston in 2011, and it was unquestionably the most memorable and original piece of the show.

Michael Mlekoday - “Jesusland”

“We each got a story rattling in our mason jar bellies”

Starting this coming Saturday (the 28th) Button Poetry will be running a new weekly series entitled Saturdays Are Mlekodays in which National Poetry Slam Champion and Indiana University MFA Candidate Michael Mlekoday will be reviewing and analyzing spoken word poems, on the page. The first episode will examine a piece by the inimitable Rachel McKibbens, titled “The Giver”. We can’t wait for you to come back and check out Episode One of Saturdays Are Mlekodays. 

Josh Bennett -  “Tamaraʼs Opus”

If you’re curious as to how good Josh is at what he does, this video is on the White House youtube (THE WHITE HOUSE HAS A YOUTUBE!!1!). As in Josh performed this poem at the White House. Normally I would heap Josh and his poetry with praise (of which both are highly worthy), but instead of that I think you should all take a moment to go check out the whitehouse youtube, after you watch the poem.

Blair - “My Name is Karl”

  ” …finally I had to say to myself, 

    I think I’m done with invisible friends. “

Blair is an NPS Champion and a really nice guy. He featured at one of my early slams, which makes him a certain kind of magic in my mind (for you those of you that know). That aside he was a truly world class performer and absolutely committed to his performance. His life and work were a testament to the elegance, humor and gravity one man can bring to a stage.

Sam Cook - “Flatland”

“Each of us only gets so many chances to show another person that humanity is more than just the people behind you who will trample you when you fall.” 

A video of Sam Cook in the Poetry Observed video series,  produced in collaboration with Button Poetry.

Sam Cook is a National Poetry Slam Champion, Director of St. Paul Soap Boxing Slam, and coach of the Macalaster College Slam Team.