ignore that “meaning making” urge. Don’t try to tie it all together right now. Let the poem flow through you. In the light of everything else poetry can and should embody, we forget that poems are rea...

Your poem isn’t wrong. Also, your poem isn’t perfect. Good news: you’re not here to ‘fix’ what’s ‘wrong’ with it, and you’re not here to make it ‘perfect.’ You’re not even here to make your poem ‘bett...

Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis curates poems that illuminate characteristics of refugee poetics. He introduces Mai Der Vang on the displacement of the self (“Dear Exile”), Monica Sok on the contradictions in...

PROJECT OVERVIEW The Tucson Poet Laureate serves as the City’s official ambassador to the literary arts, advancing public appreciation of poetry while reflecting the unique spirit and identity of Tucs...

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Dawn Lundy Martin selects poems of urgency, tension, and devotion. She shares Daniel Borzutzky responding to massacres with a poem that must be written (“Written after a Massacre in the Year 2018”), f...

BEYOND THE OBVIOUS: How does poetry create conditions for radical belonging? Written for the Institute for Inquiry and Poetics, University of Arizona Poetry Center Learn more here. What if we listened...

We could not be more excited to announce our Fall 2025 Reading & Lecture Series, featuring an amazing slate of writers! We're grateful for support from the College of Humanities, the W.A. Franke Honor...

Mackenzie Polonyi selects poems that engender bell hooks’ idea of love as a verb—a mycorrhizal, persistent, and complicated act linking us to past and present, near and far. She discusses Lucille Clif...

Spring 2025 brings a fantastic array of classes and workshops—from writing-intensive generative poetry studios, to lively workshops, and rigorous writing seminars.

“The metal womb knows nothing of submarines, but that is how she thinks of herself: a submarine…” I was sitting at Gate D1 of the Harry Reid International Airport feeling completely drained when I cra...

Diego Báez introduces us to three Gabriels connected by themes of reclamation and new beginnings. He shares Gabriel Dozal approaching the US-Mexico border with humor (“You Look at Crossers, You Look J...

This piece was authored before Giovanni's passing. We share it now to honor her extraordinary life and legacy. I would have never come across this poem if it weren't for Voca. Nikki Giovanni, world-re...

We could not be more excited to announce our Spring 2025 Reading & Lecture Series, featuring an amazing slate of writers! We're grateful for support from the College of Humanities, the W.A. Franke Hon...