We help Minnesota writers and central Minnesota organizations foster the art of empathy through poetry and story.
Poetry Lovers
Sunday Morning Lyricality is our weekly online publication connecting you to Minnesota’s vibrant, diverse poetry community. Our splendid guest editors will introduce you to some of their favorite Minnesota writers.
Central MN Organizations
We work with partners to create kinder, more welcoming communities. Our quarterly newsletter, The Lyricality Way, will show you how central Minnesotans are connecting across diverse demographics to foster equity and inclusion.
Emerging Writers
LyricaliTea Circles provide a safe, welcoming place to express yourself. Experience meaningful connection to your own inner wisdom, to other beings, and to the human-made and natural spaces where you live.
Poetry Styles
Literary Poetry
Literary poems are constructed of carefully chosen words, crafted into lines designed to focus the human imagination and attention on exquisite, highly charged moments in time:
Biting my truant pen,
beating myself for spite,
‘
Fool,’ said my Muse to me,
‘look in thy heart, and write.‘
— Sir Phillip Sydney
Song Lyrics
The Nobel Laureate Committee awarded its literature prize to Minnesota’s own Bob Dylan in 2016. Lyricists use form, sound, rhythm, and rhyme–the same tools as poets. Great lyrics (like Dylan’s) incorporate other poetic devices, too, such as allusion, alliteration, and metaphor. When a song is successful, its melody works to reinforce and enhance its poetry. Songs help us express the meaning—the profound, ecstatic, absurd, silly, sad mystery–of being human. And that’s what poetry does.
Spoken Word
When it means so much
it’s impossible to say it,
when what’s wrong knocks you out,
when what’s good thrills you to truth,
then your whole livid body must rap
it. Or hip-hop it. Dance it to slay it.
Rock it. Repeat it. Rhythm-and-blues it.
Infatuate and inflate it as if your life
depends on connecting
your ski-slope, mogul-steep emotion
with a human who will hear
your personal-political play.
When it means so much it’s impossible
to describe it, then we must perform it.
Alt Lit
Poetry, too, has an Indie scene. These popular renegades are sometimes called Instagram Poets, but that’s just one of the platforms they use to publicize and publish their work. Alt-Lit poets include people blocked from academic literary life due to income, race, language, health/ability, cultural values, and taste preferences. They are bringing poetry to the people, creating even more alternatives in the already rich and lively world of contemporary poetry.
DONATE
Do you value Minnesota poets and writers? Your monthly or one-time contribution will help us work to connect local writers to local audiences. We are the only organization focusing a multi-media spotlight exclusively on Minnesota writers, and your support matters.
DONATE
Do you value Minnesota poets and lyricists? Your monthly or one-time contribution will help us work to connect local writers to local audiences. We are the only organization focusing a multi-media spotlight exclusively on Minnesota poets and songwriters, and your support matters.