Prose and Interviews Featured Online
The New York Times Magazine
"American Poets on the Hip-Hop Songs That Most Inspire Them"
by Adam Bradley (March 2021)
"To complement T’s recent feature on how the barrier between rap and poetry is becoming increasingly porous thanks to a new generation of practitioners in both art forms, we asked a number of poets mentioned in the piece about the hip-hop songs they return to again and again."
Read more at: The New York Times Style Magazine
"American Poets on the Hip-Hop Songs That Most Inspire Them"
by Adam Bradley (March 2021)
"To complement T’s recent feature on how the barrier between rap and poetry is becoming increasingly porous thanks to a new generation of practitioners in both art forms, we asked a number of poets mentioned in the piece about the hip-hop songs they return to again and again."
Read more at: The New York Times Style Magazine
On the Seawall
"On Nabila Lovelace's SONS OF ACHILLES" by Kyle Dargan
"Any work of art that aspires to meaningfully render the subjects of social violence and aggression must wrestle with their omnidirectional nature [...]. This battle royale aspect — ducking a punch from one direction only to immediately throw one in another — of life on our blocks and in our homes is what Nabila Lovelace attempts to communicate in her debut collection Sons of Achilles."
Read more at: On the Seawall
"On Nabila Lovelace's SONS OF ACHILLES" by Kyle Dargan
"Any work of art that aspires to meaningfully render the subjects of social violence and aggression must wrestle with their omnidirectional nature [...]. This battle royale aspect — ducking a punch from one direction only to immediately throw one in another — of life on our blocks and in our homes is what Nabila Lovelace attempts to communicate in her debut collection Sons of Achilles."
Read more at: On the Seawall
The Adroit Journal
"Conversations with Contributors" by Dolapo Demuren
"I am trying to be less and less in love with the sound of my own voice, which means the viability of the poems have to be found in something else. I ask myself this before and during my drafting process these days: Why would someone who is not me really want to read these poems? The craft and the concept have to make that argument, at which point the voice mostly becomes, yes, a vehicle or a transmitter for ideas and language and music. And the transmitter, of course, shapes those elements—distortions, amplifications and all. So what I think you are keying in on at the end of your question is that there is a very active speaker in Anagnorisis in terms of what the voice is willing to engage and from what perspective. I want the reader moving from poem to poem thinking not about the voice but how the prior poem as an event happened to them."
Read more at: theadroitjournal.org/2019/01/24/conversations-with-contributors-kyle-dargan/
"Conversations with Contributors" by Dolapo Demuren
"I am trying to be less and less in love with the sound of my own voice, which means the viability of the poems have to be found in something else. I ask myself this before and during my drafting process these days: Why would someone who is not me really want to read these poems? The craft and the concept have to make that argument, at which point the voice mostly becomes, yes, a vehicle or a transmitter for ideas and language and music. And the transmitter, of course, shapes those elements—distortions, amplifications and all. So what I think you are keying in on at the end of your question is that there is a very active speaker in Anagnorisis in terms of what the voice is willing to engage and from what perspective. I want the reader moving from poem to poem thinking not about the voice but how the prior poem as an event happened to them."
Read more at: theadroitjournal.org/2019/01/24/conversations-with-contributors-kyle-dargan/
UVA Today
"Alumnus Makes Poetry Eye-Opening and Urgent" by Anne Bromley
"I don’t really know about my future as a writer. Writing books – or I should say, publishing books – is not something I do for my health. At this point, it is mostly for my audience. They get the most out of it. The thing about publishing books of poems is that the “rewards” margins are very narrow. Very few are best-sellers (in a purely capitalist sense) and there are only but so many worthwhile yearly accolades to go around. Add to that the fact that the process itself is extremely lonely, and you can realize how psychically fraught a venture it is. So I may abandon poetry soon – not writing individual poems, but putting my mind and body through the process of publishing books. I might shift to essay collections instead. I have ideas for film scripts and comics or graphic series."
Read more at: https://news.virginia.edu/content/alumnus-makes-poetry-eye-opening-and-urgent
"Alumnus Makes Poetry Eye-Opening and Urgent" by Anne Bromley
"I don’t really know about my future as a writer. Writing books – or I should say, publishing books – is not something I do for my health. At this point, it is mostly for my audience. They get the most out of it. The thing about publishing books of poems is that the “rewards” margins are very narrow. Very few are best-sellers (in a purely capitalist sense) and there are only but so many worthwhile yearly accolades to go around. Add to that the fact that the process itself is extremely lonely, and you can realize how psychically fraught a venture it is. So I may abandon poetry soon – not writing individual poems, but putting my mind and body through the process of publishing books. I might shift to essay collections instead. I have ideas for film scripts and comics or graphic series."
Read more at: https://news.virginia.edu/content/alumnus-makes-poetry-eye-opening-and-urgent
The BlackPrint AU
'You Can’t See What I Can See':
Some Thoughts on Campuses and Willful Blindness
by Kyle Dargan (September, 2017)
"I saw so many young faces in the angry mob that flamed its way through the U.Va. campus that Friday night. I know many of them are the same age as the students I teach here. And whatever our university administrations, colleagues or classmates do not understand about that ominous and urgent reality, we have to—for our own sanity and safety—continue to make them see."
Read more at: The BlackPrint
'You Can’t See What I Can See':
Some Thoughts on Campuses and Willful Blindness
by Kyle Dargan (September, 2017)
"I saw so many young faces in the angry mob that flamed its way through the U.Va. campus that Friday night. I know many of them are the same age as the students I teach here. And whatever our university administrations, colleagues or classmates do not understand about that ominous and urgent reality, we have to—for our own sanity and safety—continue to make them see."
Read more at: The BlackPrint
BillMoyers.com
"The Limits Imposed on Reform: Reginald Dwayne Betts"
by Kyle Dargan (August, 2017)
"This is not a sidelong appeal to the Connecticut Bar Examining Committee — the onus is on that body to realize its dilemma of principle and not on others to plead on behalf of Mr. Betts’ worthiness to practice law. It is an appeal to you, though — as readers and thinkers and neighbors — to find Dwayne Betts’ writing and share it with those you think may find in it validation and strength." Read more at: Billmoyers.com
"The Limits Imposed on Reform: Reginald Dwayne Betts"
by Kyle Dargan (August, 2017)
"This is not a sidelong appeal to the Connecticut Bar Examining Committee — the onus is on that body to realize its dilemma of principle and not on others to plead on behalf of Mr. Betts’ worthiness to practice law. It is an appeal to you, though — as readers and thinkers and neighbors — to find Dwayne Betts’ writing and share it with those you think may find in it validation and strength." Read more at: Billmoyers.com
BillMoyers.com
"Kyle Dargan on Civic Poetry Month"
by Kyle Dargan (April, 2017)
"[P]oetry devoid of humanity — its peopleness — is the nutritional equivalent of the “empty calorie;” a bit of metabolic kindling, but not much more."
Read more at: Billmoyers.com
"Kyle Dargan on Civic Poetry Month"
by Kyle Dargan (April, 2017)
"[P]oetry devoid of humanity — its peopleness — is the nutritional equivalent of the “empty calorie;” a bit of metabolic kindling, but not much more."
Read more at: Billmoyers.com
The Paris Review
"The Poetry of Pop"
by Adam Bradley (March, 2017)
"Anyone who has taken a workshop with me has heard my idea about writing poetry being like building the lightest possible plane that will fly. Sometimes, that is. There is a place for excess, for everything in poetic intent, but, staying with this idea of efficiency and vicious concision, Marvin Gaye and James Nyx’s 'Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler)' has impressed me for a long time by capturing so much depth and nuance with so little."
Read more at the Paris Review.
"The Poetry of Pop"
by Adam Bradley (March, 2017)
"Anyone who has taken a workshop with me has heard my idea about writing poetry being like building the lightest possible plane that will fly. Sometimes, that is. There is a place for excess, for everything in poetic intent, but, staying with this idea of efficiency and vicious concision, Marvin Gaye and James Nyx’s 'Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler)' has impressed me for a long time by capturing so much depth and nuance with so little."
Read more at the Paris Review.
BillMoyers.com
"Books for the Trump Years"
by Michael Winship (December, 2016)
"Though the ideological impasse we find ourselves in leaves me skeptical that those who would benefit most from reading these books would actually open them or open themselves to them, I would recommend George Schuyler’s Black No More and Solmaz Sharif’s Look."
Read more at BillMoyers.com.
"Books for the Trump Years"
by Michael Winship (December, 2016)
"Though the ideological impasse we find ourselves in leaves me skeptical that those who would benefit most from reading these books would actually open them or open themselves to them, I would recommend George Schuyler’s Black No More and Solmaz Sharif’s Look."
Read more at BillMoyers.com.
The Cave Canem Foundation
"DOGBYTES Interview: Kyle Dargan"
by Kyla Marshell (November, 2016)
"When it comes to social justice, I am more interested in hacking than social media. To me, social media amplifies and, on occasion, clarifies narratives, but hacking actually grants access to change the narrative."
Read more at DOGBYTES Blog.
"DOGBYTES Interview: Kyle Dargan"
by Kyla Marshell (November, 2016)
"When it comes to social justice, I am more interested in hacking than social media. To me, social media amplifies and, on occasion, clarifies narratives, but hacking actually grants access to change the narrative."
Read more at DOGBYTES Blog.
The AWP Writer's Notebook:
"The Other Side of the Game: Reconciling My Reading and My Rearing in the Literary World"
by Kyle Dargan (August, 2016)
"[T]hough Dove bled across any compartmentalization because of her stature, I had begun to subconsciously separate my influences (the men) from my teachers (the women) and allot reverence accordingly."
Read more at The Writer's Notebook.
"The Other Side of the Game: Reconciling My Reading and My Rearing in the Literary World"
by Kyle Dargan (August, 2016)
"[T]hough Dove bled across any compartmentalization because of her stature, I had begun to subconsciously separate my influences (the men) from my teachers (the women) and allot reverence accordingly."
Read more at The Writer's Notebook.
The Asian-American Literary Review
"African-American Writers on China: A Dialogue"
by Lily Wong w/ A. Bilal, K. Dargan, A. Weaver, Y. Glover (April, 2016)
"After my initial travels throughout eastern China in 2010, the writer and curator Fred Joiner made me aware of Hoke Glover’s (Bro. Yao’s) plans to travel there as well. We even began to bat around the idea of doing some kind of public event to share our ideas and writing on travelling to China [...]."
Read the full forum at: http://aalr.binghamton.edu/african-american-writers-on-china/
"African-American Writers on China: A Dialogue"
by Lily Wong w/ A. Bilal, K. Dargan, A. Weaver, Y. Glover (April, 2016)
"After my initial travels throughout eastern China in 2010, the writer and curator Fred Joiner made me aware of Hoke Glover’s (Bro. Yao’s) plans to travel there as well. We even began to bat around the idea of doing some kind of public event to share our ideas and writing on travelling to China [...]."
Read the full forum at: http://aalr.binghamton.edu/african-american-writers-on-china/
Washington Times / American CurrentSee:
"Another Golden Age for African-American Poetry"
by Kyle Dargan (January 31, 2016)
"In two months, America will be celebrating National Poetry Month for the 20th time. Whereas the African-American literary presence within the larger national literary scene is concerned, much has changed since 1996."
Read more at the Washington Times: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jan/31/kyle-dargan-another-golden-age-african-american-po/?page=all#pagebreak
"Another Golden Age for African-American Poetry"
by Kyle Dargan (January 31, 2016)
"In two months, America will be celebrating National Poetry Month for the 20th time. Whereas the African-American literary presence within the larger national literary scene is concerned, much has changed since 1996."
Read more at the Washington Times: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jan/31/kyle-dargan-another-golden-age-african-american-po/?page=all#pagebreak
Ebony.com: "Saul Williams Takes on the US (a.)"
by Kyle G. Dargan (September 14, 2015)
"In 2009, Saul Williams 'voted for ‘change’ and skipped town,' opting to observe his country’s next hopeful, uncertain chapter from the outside. 'America had so much to do with perception,' says the poet/MC/rocker-actor of his four years spent in Paris, France. While abroad traveling with his daughter (as his own mother had done with a younger Williams), he once again encountered the global perception of blackness, of Americanness, of 'us'."
Read more at EBONY: http://www.ebony.com/entertainment-culture/saul-williams-takes-on-the-usa-interview-333#ixzz3luzD4Fh7
by Kyle G. Dargan (September 14, 2015)
"In 2009, Saul Williams 'voted for ‘change’ and skipped town,' opting to observe his country’s next hopeful, uncertain chapter from the outside. 'America had so much to do with perception,' says the poet/MC/rocker-actor of his four years spent in Paris, France. While abroad traveling with his daughter (as his own mother had done with a younger Williams), he once again encountered the global perception of blackness, of Americanness, of 'us'."
Read more at EBONY: http://www.ebony.com/entertainment-culture/saul-williams-takes-on-the-usa-interview-333#ixzz3luzD4Fh7
TheRumpus.net: "Informing Form"
by Kyle G. Dargan (September 5th, 2015)
"Thinking about the public response to the recent New York Times article about female tennis players and body image, when I look at Serena Williams, I simply see a female athlete—there is nothing to negotiate regarding some femininity/strength equilibrium."
Read more at The Rumpus: http://therumpus.net/2015/09/the-saturday-rumpus-essay-informing-form/
by Kyle G. Dargan (September 5th, 2015)
"Thinking about the public response to the recent New York Times article about female tennis players and body image, when I look at Serena Williams, I simply see a female athlete—there is nothing to negotiate regarding some femininity/strength equilibrium."
Read more at The Rumpus: http://therumpus.net/2015/09/the-saturday-rumpus-essay-informing-form/
CNN.com: "Does Poetry Still Matter?"
by Brandon Griggs (June 25, 2015)
"At first glance, [Juan Filipe] Herrera would seem to have his work cut out for him. Cultural critics, citing dwindling sales and visibility, have been bemoaning the Death of Poetry for decades now. But is poetry really on life support as a cultural force in America? Or are people just consuming it in surprising new ways?"
Read more at CNN http://cnn.it/1IfwduG
by Brandon Griggs (June 25, 2015)
"At first glance, [Juan Filipe] Herrera would seem to have his work cut out for him. Cultural critics, citing dwindling sales and visibility, have been bemoaning the Death of Poetry for decades now. But is poetry really on life support as a cultural force in America? Or are people just consuming it in surprising new ways?"
Read more at CNN http://cnn.it/1IfwduG
Ebony.com: "Why the Celebrity Silence on Ferguson?"
by Kyle G. Dargan (August 20, 2014)
"Historically, Black pop culture has served as megaphone for the social and civic concerns of the African-American community. Since the turn of the 21st century though, the Black community has lost a number public cultural figures who typified the artist-activist aesthetic—Ossie Davis, James Brown, Abbey Lincoln, Amiri Baraka, Maya Angelou, Ruby Dee. Who is filling the void they’ve left behind?"
Read more at EBONY http://www.ebony.com/news-views/why-the-celebrity-silence-on-ferguson-333#ixzz3MZdScCWW
by Kyle G. Dargan (August 20, 2014)
"Historically, Black pop culture has served as megaphone for the social and civic concerns of the African-American community. Since the turn of the 21st century though, the Black community has lost a number public cultural figures who typified the artist-activist aesthetic—Ossie Davis, James Brown, Abbey Lincoln, Amiri Baraka, Maya Angelou, Ruby Dee. Who is filling the void they’ve left behind?"
Read more at EBONY http://www.ebony.com/news-views/why-the-celebrity-silence-on-ferguson-333#ixzz3MZdScCWW
Ebony.com: "Deep Cotton Drop 'Fixtape' for Urban Music Scene"
by Kyle G. Dargan (November 6, 2013)
"You may know them from their brief cameos at the opening of Janelle Monáe’s “Many Moons” and “Tightrope” videos, but now the creative minds that guided and produced Monáe’s ArchAndriod and The Electric Lady are coming out from behind the scenes. Nate “Rocket” Wonder and Chuck Lightning—the funk-rock duo Deep Cotton—recently released their first “fixtape,” Runaway Radio, yet another project from the Atlanta-based Wondaland Arts Society."
Read more at EBONY http://www.ebony.com/entertainment-culture/black-alt-deep-cotton-drop-fixtape-444#ixzz3Mb00keAd
by Kyle G. Dargan (November 6, 2013)
"You may know them from their brief cameos at the opening of Janelle Monáe’s “Many Moons” and “Tightrope” videos, but now the creative minds that guided and produced Monáe’s ArchAndriod and The Electric Lady are coming out from behind the scenes. Nate “Rocket” Wonder and Chuck Lightning—the funk-rock duo Deep Cotton—recently released their first “fixtape,” Runaway Radio, yet another project from the Atlanta-based Wondaland Arts Society."
Read more at EBONY http://www.ebony.com/entertainment-culture/black-alt-deep-cotton-drop-fixtape-444#ixzz3Mb00keAd
TheRoot.com: "Obama's Special Guests"
by Kyle G. Dargan (January 22, 2009)
"At 6:00 a.m., blinking automatic doors flooded the lobby of the old Officer’s Club at Bolling Air Force Base with a crisp wind and sense of history. Later that morning, a group of Tuskegee airmen did something once unimaginable, by witnessing the presidential inauguration as special guests of Barack Obama."
Read more at The Root http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2009/01/obamas_special_guests.html
by Kyle G. Dargan (January 22, 2009)
"At 6:00 a.m., blinking automatic doors flooded the lobby of the old Officer’s Club at Bolling Air Force Base with a crisp wind and sense of history. Later that morning, a group of Tuskegee airmen did something once unimaginable, by witnessing the presidential inauguration as special guests of Barack Obama."
Read more at The Root http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2009/01/obamas_special_guests.html
TheRoot.com: "A Brick City Record"
by Kyle G. Dargan (April 4, 2008)
"My grandmother, Ruth Dargan, is 87 years old and has broken a series of barriers in her lifetime. She was part of the cast of the 1943 Broadway musical Carmen Jones, the first black saleswoman at a department store in Newark, and the first black police detective on the Newark police force. Some time after King's assassination, she was on Coretta Scott King's security detail on a visit to Newark."
Read more at The Root http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2008/04/a_brick_city_record.html
by Kyle G. Dargan (April 4, 2008)
"My grandmother, Ruth Dargan, is 87 years old and has broken a series of barriers in her lifetime. She was part of the cast of the 1943 Broadway musical Carmen Jones, the first black saleswoman at a department store in Newark, and the first black police detective on the Newark police force. Some time after King's assassination, she was on Coretta Scott King's security detail on a visit to Newark."
Read more at The Root http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2008/04/a_brick_city_record.html
Callaloo: "Excursions: A Conversation with Yusef Komunyakaa"
by Kyle G. Dargan (Summer, 2006)
In a special interview for the landmark Callaloo hip-hop issue (29.3), Kyle Dargan discusses hip-hop's place in the continuum of African-American creative production with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa.
Read more at Project Muse (JHUP)
https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&&url=/journals/callaloo/v029/29.3dargan.html
by Kyle G. Dargan (Summer, 2006)
In a special interview for the landmark Callaloo hip-hop issue (29.3), Kyle Dargan discusses hip-hop's place in the continuum of African-American creative production with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa.
Read more at Project Muse (JHUP)
https://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&&url=/journals/callaloo/v029/29.3dargan.html