We're back at it again. Welcome to another National Poetry Month, and another installment of Poetry & Playlists. We first tried pairing poems and music back in 2019, and now we're making it a thing.

Some folks are daunted by the prospect of reading poetry, but the truth of the matter is most of y'all listen to poems every day: in the form of lyrics set to music. Scalawag's keeping the trend going by showing you just how well impeccable Southern poetry and great tunes go together.

Every week throughout April, we'll be dropping a little playlist for your Friday afternoon slump, alongside new poems by three Southern poets you ought to be paying attention to right now. Buy their books, peep their interviews, listen to these Black and Latinx love songs—queer and otherwise—to the land, ourselves, and each other. 

So without further ado, pop in your ear buds and feign like you're working. Happy National Poetry Month!

Poetry & Playlists, Mix 01: The Intro

Scalawag kicks off National Poetry Month with the first installment of Poetry & Playlists, featuring new poems by ATL's Aurielle Marie, Texas-based necropoet mónica teresa ortiz, and Scalawag arts & soul editor Alysia Nicole Harris.

by Scalawag Editors

Poetry & Playlists, Mix 02: Rituals

This week's poems confront a generation's exhaustion with belief systems that don't know what to make of our bodies: Black bodies, Queer bodies, Stolen bodies, Hungry bodies. Poetry from Aldo Amparán, Ra Malika Imhotep, and W.J. Lofton.

by Alysia Nicole Harris

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