Author Archives: sussmanj

In class today, we were speaking about rap music. Here’s one of my favorite rap songs, with great lyrics, it’s called The People by Common. I hope you enjoy it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7B2VgRShew

A few weeks ago we talked about Terrance Hayes in class; I looked up some of his poems and I really enjoy his work. Here is a video of him reading from his work, its pretty long. Skip ahead to … Continue reading →

Here is an article by Ed Park that speculates why he believes minor poets end up producing major works. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/journal/article.html?id=240622 I think the answer to this is simple; obviously initially, every poet, unless somehow related or connected to a famous … Continue reading →

Here’s a poem I wrote about a space ship and aliens. It’s called spaceship. spaceship a metal spaceship flies and hovers over meteorites and through the sun the trip to the sun makes the ship hot hotter than it has … Continue reading →

With Thanksgiving still relevant, here is an article from the Huffington Post with their favorite poems about Thanksgiving, from the Poetry Foundation.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/23… I particularly enjoyed the poem “Thanksgiving Magic” by Rowena Bastin Bennett. Here’s an excerpt from the poem: … Continue reading →

Def Poetry is a TV series on HBO created by Russell Simmons hosted by Mos Def. Usually, famous spoken word poets and/or musicians come on the show. Here is a really good performance by Jill Scott on the show.

Here is an interesting interview from my poet Dean Young. He mentions that he tries to write every day, despite teaching creative writing at University of Texas at Austin. I found this surprisingly different than what Adrienne Su said when … Continue reading →

Here is an interview with my favorite poet, Dean Young. Young talks about the kinds of poetry he writes, as well as the way he goes about writing his poetry. http://earthgoat.blogspot.com/2005/04/dean-young-interview.html

A while ago, I was studying in the library and I wrote this poem about it. I hope you like it. Studying night session in the library artificial light burdens my eyes eyes that scroll across outdated text and get … Continue reading →

Just in time for Halloween, the Poetry Foundation has written an article on some of the spookiest poems out there, featuring works by Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe. You can read the article here.

Jonathan Walton is a graduate student at Colombia and a published poet. He came to my high school and performed for us, and was really incredible. Here’s one of his performances on YouTube. Jonathan Walton in performance

How does the form of a poem relate to it’s significance? The majority of published poetry does not delve too deeply into the visual appearance of the poem. Instead, the main focus usually is on rhythm, pace, rhymes, word choice, … Continue reading →

What makes poetry connect with a reader? A poet usually wants to make their work meaningful, but how do they go about doing so without intimidating their audience? Poet Martin Espada is quoted, in this article as saying, “It’s easy … Continue reading →

I mentioned in my last post that I believe poems should be pleasing to the reader. Then I came across Dean Young’s poem “Ode to Hangover”. The University of Texas website defines an ode as “A form of stately and … Continue reading →

While poems do usually serve as a medium of expression for the writer, successful poems should ultimately be pleasing the reader. Not necessarily pleasing in the way that’s immediately gratifying, instead making the reader feel something (other than disgust, unless … Continue reading →