This week on Under the Radar:
We’re marking this National Poetry Month by taking a look at our next generation of local poets. Who are the young writers and lyrical wordsmiths shaping the newest wave of poetry? And what about Massachusetts’ poetry scene, which is rapidly expanding across the state?
GUESTS:
Anjalequa Leynneyah Verona Birkett, Boston’s 2022 Youth Poet Laureate.
Adael Francisco-Mejia, Worcester’s 2022 Youth Poet Laureate.
Danielle Jones, poet, educator, and Mass Poetry’s program director.
WEB EXTRA: We sent out a call to the community to send in their poems. Take a listen to local youth poet Alma Barak reading her poem "To Smell."
To Smell / By Alma Barak
Cake batter chapstick uncapped
Cupcake smell blossoms through my nose
for a second
until it snuffs out
Only a memory of a fragrance
How long until I stop remembering?
How long until even the memory smells stop?
I don’t have corona anymore
but the effects have not left me.
I relish when
the smoked herring I eat
gifts its fishy smell
upon my waiting palms.
Smell
beautiful smell
surrounds me
encompasses me
embraces me
I fall into its arms
I forgot what it feels like
to smell
everywhere
It always leaves
soapy foam steals away the fishiness
I scrub
Knowing there will be nothing left
Knowing
there are
Very
few things
I can smell like herring.
Others say
That smells so good
It smelt like something was burning
Smell the flowers!
Smell
is not appreciated
until it is lost
I appreciate it.
I know
what it feels like
to suck in cold air through your nose
searching
searching
for a sniff
of a fragrance somewhere
but not finding anything
I know
what it feels like
to press your nose so deep into a dish
and have your nose fail you
I know.
