Button Poetry is a Minneapolis-based poetry company and independent publisher of performance poetry. They are known for their viral videos of slam poetry performances, including a performance of "OCD" by

Neil Hilborn Neil Hilborn (born August 8, 1990) is an American slam poet who writes and performs poetry. His poems often detail personal experiences and battles with mental illness. He is best known for his poem "OCD", which has received 75 million views onli ...

that the

Knight Foundation The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, also known as the Knight Foundation, is an American non-profit foundation that provides grants for journalism, communities, and the arts. The organization was founded as the Knight Memorial Education ...

called "the most-viewed slam performance in history."

History

Button Poetry was founded in 2011 by Sam Van Cook to promote performance poetry through video and social media. As of 2018 they had over 774,000 YouTube subscribers and over 1.2M Facebook followers. In 2013 they began publishing books. Button Poetry has recorded performances by Brittney Black Rose Kapri, Chrysanthemum Tran, Elliot Darrow, Crystal Valentine,

, Denice Frohman,

Rudy Francisco Rudy K. Francisco (born July 27, 1982) is an American spoken word poet and writer. He has won several poetry slams and written six books of poetry: ''Getting Stitches'', ''Scratch'', ''No Gravity'', ''No Gravity Part II'', ''Helium'', and ''I'll ...

Danez Smith Danez Smith is an African-American, poet, writer and performer from St. Paul, Minnesota. They are queer, non-binary and HIV-positive. They are the author of the poetry collections '' nsertBoy'' and ''Don't Call Us Dead: Poems'', both of which have ...

, Melissa Lozada-Oliva,

Emi Mahmoud Emtithal "Emi" Mahmoud ( ar, إمتثال "إيمي" محمود; born 1992 or 1993 in Darfur, Sudan) is a Sudanese-American poet and activist, who won the 2015 Individual World Poetry Slam championship. In 2018, she became UNHCR Goodwill Ambassa ...

Aja Monet Aja Monet (/ adʒa moʊˈneɪ/ Ah-Zjhah Mow-nay), (sometimes stylized in all lowercase), is an American contemporary poet, writer, lyricist and activist based in Los Angeles, California. Early life Monet began writing poetry at age 8, due to ...

, Imani Cezanne,

Janae Johnson Janae Johnson is a writer, cultural worker, and DJ from Sacramento, California. She is the co-founder of poetry venues, The House Slam in Boston, and The Root Slam in the Bay Area. Poetry career Johnson started her slam career at the Cantab, ...

Javon Johnson Javon Johnson is an American spoken word poet, writer, and professor. He is the director of African American and African Diaspora Studies in the Department of Interdisciplinary, Gender, and Ethnic Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, an ...

Desireé Dallagiacomo Desireé Dallagiacomo is an American spoken word poet and teaching artist. She is of European and Choctaw descent, and she is an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Her first book of poetry, SINK, was published by Button Poetry in ...

Yesika Salgado Yesika Salgado (born 1984) is an American poet. She is the author of poetry collections ''Corazón'', ''Tesoro'', and ''Hermosa''. She is also a co-founder of the poetry collective Chingona Fire. Early life Salgado's parents immigrated from El S ...

Andrea Gibson Andrea Gibson (born August 13, 1975) is an American poet and activist from Calais, Maine, who has lived in Boulder, Colorado since 1999. Gibson's poetry focuses on gender norms, politics, social reform, and LGBTQ topics. Personal life Gibson ...

Sabrina Benaim Sabrina Benaim (born November 30, 1987, in Toronto, Canada) is a writer, performance artist, and slam poet. Benaim was a winner of the 2014 Toronto Poetry Slam. She is best known for her poem "Explaining My Depression To My Mother." Personal life ...

Porsha Olayiwola Porsha Olayiwola is a Black American poet based in Boston, Massachusetts. Early life Of Nigerian descent (her father being a Yoruba man from Lagos), Olayiwola was born in Chicago. When Olayiwola was a child, her father was abruptly deported to N ...

Tonya Ingram Tonya Ingram (September 1, 1991 – December 30, 2022) was an American poet, author, speaker, disability activist, and mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, ...

, Muggs Fogarty, Siaara Freeman, and

Hanif Abdurraqib Hanif Abdurraqib (born August 25, 1983) is an American poet, essayist, and cultural critic. He is the author of 2016 poetry collection ''The Crown Ain't Worth Much'' (published as Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib), the 2017 essay collection ''They Can't ...

Criticism

Button Poetry has received backlash from critics who suggest that the works make "a mockery of the whole canon." Viral poets have been labeled "Instapoets" due to their specific style and creation for a more broad audience and their placement in visual/social media platforms. Poets and linguists have criticized the effects of viral poetry on poetry writing, noting potential homogenization of writing styles among newer poets.

CUPSI 2017

In 2017, a camera crew from Button Poetry attended College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational to document the festival, as they had done for many years. Alleged "founder of slam poetry", Marc Smith, who was a featured performer on final stage that year, upset much of the audience with his set, which led to protests and changes in the scheduled programming of events. For an hour and a half, a discussion from finalists and organizers occurred backstage as to how to proceed. When the finalists reconvened, they brought a list of demands on stage, one of which was, "none of the poems that touch this stage tonight will be recorded by Button Poetry. You will not capitalize off of us… we won’t have it, not tonight. We will not be demoralized, nor will our traumas be trivialized for revenue, especially not by an organization that cannot simply provide us with a safe space.” Finishing off the statement poet Justice Ameer stated, "when we say 'remember why you wrote it, it's not to help white people make money." On April 18, 2017, Button Poetry released the following statement, "We recognize our role in relation to the poetry community and have been listening to your concerns. We are working towards better transparency around curation of video and compensation of poets. First, we feel it is important to communicate that NO POEM goes up on Button social media without a signed release. Second, it is one of our core goals to compensate poets for their work; we do this in many fashions including paying features and top-placing poets at Button Poetry Live, paying royalties to authors, paying royalties on videos (after an earning threshold), primarily employing poets as videographers, video editors, social media managers, shipping staff, curators and so on. We are eager to improve and are working on documentation of our processes in an effort to be more transparent. We will be making those documents available in the coming weeks and months."

YCA Statement

In 2021, Button Poetry President & Founder Sam Van Cook released a statement sharing his concerns about Young Chicago Authors (YCA) and their involvement in enabling serial rapists and abusers. “I believe that

Kevin Coval Kevin Coval is an American poet. Coval is a Chicago-based writer who is known for exploring topics such as race, hip-hop culture, Chicago history, and Jewish-American identity in his work. He is also known for his appearances in four seasons of th ...

’s leadership at YCA is a clear and present danger to the thousands of young people served through YCA and ts slam poetry tournament Louder Than a Bomb (LTAB),” Van Cook wrote. In his statement, Van Cook also commented on

Roger Bonair-Agard Roger Bonair-Agard is a poet and performance artist. He has made numerous television and radio appearances, has led countless workshops and lectures, and has performed his poetry at many US universities as well as at international festivals in Ger ...

and stated, "I believe imto be a serial predator and rapist." The next day, the YCA board of directors put out a public statement declaring Coval's employment had been ended.{{Cite web , title=YCA Public Statements Archive , url=https://youngchicagoauthors.org/about/yca-public-statements-archive , access-date=2023-01-25 , website=Young Chicago Authors , language=en

References

Slam poetry Poetry publishers Small press publishing companies Video production companies Book publishing companies based in Minnesota