Watch the film here: https://www.wildsound.ca/videos/watch-a-small-act-of-courage

Recorded during a live performance in Brattleboro, VT, humorist, story-teller and now… musician? Dylan Brody brings a guitar and a looping box to his act risking poetry, confession and an actual song to his act!

Directed by Dylan Brody

http://dylanbrody.com/a-small-act-of-courage

https://instagram.com/dylanbrody

Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?

The horror of not having an identity exemplified by Frankensteins monster

2) What motivated you to write this poem?

The monster has very few words to say in the original story, I wanted to explore what he might say

3) How long have you been writing poetry?

30 years!

4) If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?

Edna St Vincent Millay…an amazing sonnet writer who heavily influenced my rhyme schemes. At the end, where Shakespeare would write efef gg….she will write efgefg.

5) What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?

I wanted to make it widely available to a bigger audience. She reads it just right!

6) Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?

I exclusively write sonnets. At first my goal was to write more than Shakespeare did (154) but now I have about 464! I really like the structure and the brevity it’s perfect for logical arguments too.

7) What is your passion in life?

To create art. I fiddle with acrylic paints and crochet but my strong passion is the sonnet

Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?

“Revenge Theology with Hands” is all about finding power when you are made to feel powerless by the world outside.

2) What motivated you to write this poem?

The 2024 US Elections. Plain and simple. The rage I felt and still feel watching just how much injustice is allowed to carry on unchecked by people who could stop it while all of us not in “power” just watch – I had nowhere to put that rage, except on the page. And if the Far Right “Christians” get to tell everyone how the afterlife is going to be? Well, I want a chance at the mic. I want to remind all of those people who seem to think they have the afterlife worked out for them that there’s more than one kind of afterlife to be had. THAT’s why I wrote this poem.

3) How long have you been writing poetry?

Since I was old enough to know that cat rhymed with hat and bat and sat and best of all…RAT.

4) If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?

James Baldwin is the dead person I’d have dinner with. Gloria Steinem is the living person I’d have dinner with.

5) What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?

I wanted to hear what this poem would sound like in a mouth not mine. I always read my own poems as I write them, over and over. I wanted to hear someone else say the words. It sets the poem out in the world – a living thing.

6) Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?

I’m writing a memoir right now about my life growing up with a very disturbed father, and being a first generation kid at a time when most people in the US didn’t understand where my parents came from. Though writing a memoir is hard, I keep going. Because to give up would be worse than dying. I also write short stories – which are a little bit on the speculative fiction side (which, given the nature of “reality” now, could pass for non-fiction. Dystopia never gets old, does it?)

7) What is your passion in life?

Making things, writing things, reading, social justice. To me all of those four things are connected, and are fueled by the creative impulse.

Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?
The theme of my poem is self-awareness and transformation.

2) What motivated you to write this poem?
My daily struggles in life are what motivated me to write this poem. I struggled with substance abuse at one point in my life to cope with the pain I was dealing with while in a toxic relationship. It seemed like no matter what, I could never escape the pain until I called out to the Higher Power and put the bad habits to rest.

3) How long have you been writing poetry?
I have been writing poetry since about 4th Grade. I almost feel like I was born to write.

4) If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?
If I could have dinner with one person, I would sit down with Thales of Miletus. He was the first known Greek philosopher, scientist, and mathematician.

5) What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?

I have chosen to have my poem performed by a professional actor so that I can have an audience. I have always wanted to help others going through similar situations. I want to be heard and be able to heal the world, even if just a little smudge. Having my poetry on a platform where others can find me is all I need.

6) Do you write other works? Scripts? Short Stories? Etc..
Yes, I do write other works. I am currently a student at Full Sail University, studying for my bachelor’s degree in creative writing & communications. I have worked on many short stories and a few scripts. My assignment for this month requires me to create a comic book and script to go along with it. I have also created short films and commercial videos while taking these classes. Music is something that I turn to for a hobby and to feel good. Ever since I was a little girl, I have always written songs that helped express my emotions.

7) What is your passion in life?
My passion in life is to write. I write and read every single day. I love writing and creating ideas so much that I can’t see myself doing anything else aside from writing and touching the lives of others.

Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?
The poem is a message for my nieces and all those who will be left behind after I’m gone.

2) What motivated you to write this poem?
After the death of my parents I struggled a lot with different questions, many conflicting feelings, including guilt for what I might have done wrong, regret for not having done more, the what ifs questions (what If I did this or that maybe they’d be alive). I think it’s common and natural feelings we have to go through in our losses. The poem is an intent to alleviate the pain , or to say the unsaid things if there will be no chance to say them. We never know how and when we die, we do not always get the chance to say goodbye, death rarely is like it’s depicted in the movies: with everyone gathered on our deathbed and everyone getting closure and moving on easily with their lives. I see this poem as an attempt to provide closure, or rather, to say goodbye to those I love, to those who’ll remain to deal with the aftermath of my death.

3) How long have you been writing poetry?
I started writing poetry recently, since August 2024. It was more than a year after my mom (and second parent) died, and the words just came pouring in.

4) If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?
My parents

5) What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?
I was curious on how my poem wil sound, what feelings it will wake up in me. Maybe it was also an attempt to leave something behind, a trace of my name, my work, of my pain and loss. I felt I needed the world to know.

6) Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?
I recently started writing non-fiction essays/stories, focused on the stories of my parents’ death. I am playing with the idea of writing fiction, but I’m not there yet.

7) What is your passion in life?
I love aerial gymnastics or dancing: the aerial hoop, silks, aerial straps, hammock and pole. I love creating beautiful choreographies which express the way I feel. Like poetry, I found dancing a powerful outlet for sharing my inner world, my feelings and thoughts.

Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?

The theme of this poem is showing a view of the political landscape.

2) What motivated you to write this poem?

I wanted to express my uncomfortable feelings about the recent election in America. The golden toilet has become a cliche but also an easily recognizable symbol.

3) If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?

I would want to see my old poetry teacher, Ed Dorn, again.

4) What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?

What an interesting concept, I thought!

5) Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?

I write poems and have written stories and book reviews.

6) What is your passion in life?

Right now, I take care of my mother who has dementia. I am fully dedicated to caring for her and enjoy this time with her.

http://www.lisakhan.com

Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?

Initially Mother Natures, I wrote it in 2021. Then I realized all true Mothers nurture – it’s what Mothers do.

2) What motivated you to write this poem?

I love nature & the warm it offers.

3) How long have you been writing poetry?

Since I was 12 years old.

4) If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?

David Bowie.

5) What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?

I wanted to hear how someone else interpreted its flow.

6) Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?

Not yet, I thought about it. I use to have my own column in a Newspaper. I have just 2 poetry/quote books at the moment published.

7) What is your passion in life?

Caring for others. I love humans & writing of course.