“The central question of my work as an editor and poet remains: What does any of this hip-hop sh*t have to do with poetry? The answer is, quite simply, everything.” —Nate Marshall
The BreakBeat Poet Series is a collection of poetry anthologies committed to bringing “the aesthetic of hip-hop practice to the page,” striving to “center and showcase some of the most exciting voices in literature, art, and culture.” The series is curated by poets, educators, and festival favorites Nate Marshall and Kevin Coval and published by Haymarket Books, a radical, independent, nonprofit based in Chicago. This poetry month, we’re celebrating the BreakBeat poets from Gwendolyn Brooks to Krista Franklin.
Krista Franklin
We recommend reading Krista Franklin’s new book, Too Much Midnight, published by Haymarket Books earlier this month. Featuring 30 poems, 30 artworks, an author statement and an interview, Too Much Midnight, latest book in the Breakbeat Poets Series, explores “imaginative spaces for radical possibilities and visions of liberation.”
“My poetic voice was partially cultivated from listening to hip-hop MC’s, R & B, and rock songwriters. My love of music is its own art form and art practice.” —Krista Franklin
For more of Krista Franklin’s work we suggest “Manifesto, or Ars Poetica #2;``''The Ars Poetica and Origin Story of Krista Franklin;” and Franklin’s reading of her poem “Probe” from Too Much Midnight. You can also see Franklin’s beautiful artwork on her website.
Image credit: Krista Franklin | Reading is Fundamental (R.I.F.) | World Peace at Your Fingertips | Do Androids Dream of How People Are Sheep
The Breakbeat Poets
In 2016 Nate Marshall, Kevin Coval, and Quraysh Ali Lansana came to CHF to discuss their anthology The Breakbeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop. Their CHF conversation features performances, presentations, and a conversation about poetics, aesthetics, and politics spanning four decades. As editors Coval and Marshall, and Lansana curated a powerful demonstration of the traditional and wild-style poetics the BreakBeat poets employ to narrate hip-hop—the largest global youth culture in the history of the planet rock.
“Hip-hop music is an ecosystem. Hip-hop speaks to multiple artistic media and an entire shifting coda of language, dress, attitude, and political thought. Hip-hop music also falls at the intersection between musical form and political/poetic speech because much of the music is especially text heavy. Hip-hop is as much about what is being said as it is about how it sounds.” —Nate Marshall
For more, read Nate Marshall’s “Blueprint for BreakBeat Writing,” his poem “on caskets,” and watch the BreakBeat Poets at CHF!
José Olivarez
José Olivarez is a member of the Breakbeat Poets Advisory Board. His most recent book, Citizen Illegal is another example of the vivid and vibrant documentary style collections that make up the BreakBeat Poets Series. In spring 2019, Olivarez joined CHF and students at George Washington High School on the far south side for an afternoon of poetry performance and conversations about erasure, Chicano joy, and growing up first-generation Mexican American in Chicago.
"Poetry became the way that I could ask my own questions and find my own answers, so for me it's been life changing. It's helped me build the life that is truly mine and not other people's." —José Olivarez
For more of Olivarez’s work we recommend checking out his poem “wherever i'm at that land is Chicago” and Olivarez’s CHF program!
Gwendolyn Brooks
In celebration of Chicago's most famous poet, Gwendolyn Brooks, CHF partnered with the poets from The Golden Shovel Anthology (2017), a compendium of inspired poems to celebrate her centennial year. One of the editors of The Breakbeat Poets Quraysh Ali Lansana, a pupil and mentee of Ms. Brooks, is also a featured poet in the anthology. Along with Lansana, this CHF program features Peter Kahn, who launched the anthology, and poetry readings from Brenda Càrdenas, Reginald Gibbons, and Janice Harrington, speaking on Ms. Brooks' influence in their lives and work. This program also includes a reading of Ms. Brooks’ poem “Children of the Poor.”
“My Poem is life, and not finished. It shall never be finished. My Poem is life, and can grow.” —Gwendolyn Brooks
Read “The Children of the Poor” by Gwendolyn Brooks and watch the Gwendolyn Brooks Centennial CHF program below!
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