Young Poets

Sat, Jun 27, 2009

: Alicia Zuckerman interviews members of the Miami Poetry Collective. (L to R) Laura McDermott, Yaddyra Peralta, James May, Jessica Machado, Alicia Zuckerman / Nick Vagnoni

Host Alicia Zuckerman was intensely curious about how young poets graduating with Masters of Fine Arts degrees expect to make money. Since the average poetry journal pays just $20 for a poem, it’s not exactly a way to make a living. Sure, writing by candlelight because you can’t pay FPL has a certain romance to it, but what happens when you run out of matches? So how do poets expect to pay their bills?

: Nicole Bugeau looks over a copy of 3-Cent Journal, as other copies print in the background./ Nick Vagnoni

Alicia Zuckerman met with members of the Miami Poetry Collective, including poets Scott Cunningham and Yaddyra Peralta, to find out. Click on the player at the top of this post to hear the story.

Writer Yaddyra Peralta is inspired by the sights and sounds of her Little Havana neighborhood. Here, she stands in front of a mural on Calle Ocho./ Alicia Zuckerman

Here are some web-only outtakes of members of the Miami Poetry Collective reading during their 3-Cent Journal printing party. It’s their third collection; they hope to eventually reach a 50-Cent Journal. You can hear the sounds of the Journal printing in the background. (-T.S.)

“The Author Writes my Name” by Yaddyra Peralta

“A Joke About a Manatee” by Christopher Louvet

Excerpt from “Fardales Home” by David Gonzalez

Funding for this episode provided by a grant from The Florida Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.