BY: DUSTIN BATTY Eating disorders are such a taboo topic that people who struggle with them are usually hesitant to confide in even close friends or family. Kara-lee MacDonald, a young woman from northern British Columbia, combats this stigma with…
Artists are exploring humans’ potential roles in the future’s automated economy
BY: ELIJAH BASSETT As the replacement of manufacturing and other jobs by machines threatens to change the labour market beyond recognition, anxieties about the future of the economy in an age of automation are only growing. But some artists are trying…
If your life feels stale, these 7 powerful poems will ignite a fire in your soul
BY: SAMANTHA TAPP National Poetry Day came and went in October, but as the days get shorter and colder, we could all use some extra inspiration. Whether your holiday shopping is getting you down as you watch your bank account…
Watch this poet deliver a powerful commentary about life in the heartless corporate cage
BY: JESSICA BEUKER “You were wearing pants with lint stuck to both knees, like little children you are afraid to have one day. It was professional enough. You borrowed your sister’s shirt, because the iron burned a tortilla-shaped hole in…
The anonymous Twitter account that helped this poet celebrate her anxiety
BY: Adrian Smith When poet Melissa Broder noticed her anxiety was also coupled with depression she decided to create something to help her feel comfortable with these mental health issues. Broder began using @SoSadToday, anonymously at first, to speak…
This is the letter that introduced Walt Whitman as one of the most influential poets in literary history
BY: Adrian Smith I got myself an assortment of books as a graduation present. Among the pile was Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, long considered one of the greatest pieces of American literature. However, I noticed on the back cover…
This slam poet delivers a powerful message to rape survivors
BY: JESSICA BEUKER In 1998, Bitch Media published an article titled, “The Collapsible Woman: Cultural Response to Rape and Sexual Abuse.” The article detailed the ways in which the media is quick to label survivors as being debilitatingly sensitive and…
Frank O’Hara’s poetry shows us good writing comes from observant living
BY: ADRIAN SMITH My friend showed me a video of Frank O’Hara answering a phone call in the middle of writing new poetry at his desk. He uses parts of his conversation in the writing, even the small, seemingly unimportant…
New “short story machines” help you pass time in a creative way while waiting for the bus
BY: JESSICA BEUKER Waiting—for the bus, for the subway, in a line-up—often feels irritatingly long. Most people whip out their smart phones or tablets to pass the time, aimlessly scrolling through Facebook and double-clicking every picture on their Instagram feed,…
Watch James Franco read the Ginsberg poem that captured the spirit of a generation
BY: CONNOR BRIAN The first time I read Howl my chest exploded, the words were a ticking time bomb that sent shockwaves down my spine, it cracked open my skull and out poured out my imagination like a bag of…
This man was homeless for 35 years until a Facebook page turned him into a published poet
BY: MELISSA GONZALEZ “Dammed is the man who abandons himself.” – Raimundo Arruda Sobrinho After 35 years of being homeless, life for the 77-year-old Raimundo Sobrinho began again. He sat at the same street corner in São Paulo for years,…
If your life feels grey, this Bukowski poem read by Tom Waits will breathe life back into you
BY: THE PLAID ZEBRA In 1999, Ron Rosenbaum observed that no books were more frequently shoplifted from Barnes & Noble stores than Charles Bukowski’s. His writing was a ballad to the underdog, a light at the other end of the…
This poet went from the most bullied kid in school to opening for the Dalai Lama
BY: TYLER FYFE In recent years, spoken word poetry is becoming an increasingly relevant form of expression exposing us to new voices outside the peripherals of a sluggish and unsteady publishing industry. Shane Koyczan is one of those voices that…