Button Poetry is an organization committed to the promotion of spoken word poetry in all its forms through a variety of publication means. They seek diverse voices with unique stories to share. Founded in February of 2011, Button Poetry has been inspiring not only young people, but also young adults, to speak out about their stories of joy, pain, anger, sadness, and the countless other emotions of the human experience.

Their vision? "We seek to showcase the power and diversity of voices in our community. By encouraging and broadcasting the best and brightest performance poets of today, we hope to broaden poetry’s audience, to expand its reach and develop a greater level of cultural appreciation for the art form."

You can follow Button Poetry on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube, or you can follow this link to their website. By no means is Button Poetry solely an organization for English majors or writers or self-proclaimed masters of the English language. It is for people with passion. It is for people who care. It is for people who have experiences to share and memories to recall and messages to shout. Button Poetry is for anyone with a heartbeat, anyone who is human. Here are a few reasons why.

1. Button Poetry is woke about racism.

This video of Crystal Valentine's "And the News Reporter Says Jesus Is White" is a commentary on racism in America, juxtaposed with a comparison of the representation of Jesus in mainstream Christianity.

My favorite line: "“How can she say Jesus was a white man when he died the blackest way possible? With his hands up, with his mother watching.”

2. Button Poetry empathizes with victims/survivors of rape.

One of Button Poetry's "Best of 2016" poems, "Paper Dolls" by Sierra DeMulder is filled with emotion-packed lines that will resonate with anyone who has ever second guessed their safety or worth, particularly women.

My favorite line: "Nothing was stolen from you. Your body is not a 'hand-me-down, and there is nothing that sits inside you holding your worth."

3. Button Poetry gives a voice to the LGBTQ+ community.

Whether you saw the new, all-female Ghostbusters remake or not, Cassidy Foust's "Ghostbusters (is so gay...)" powerfully sheds light on the absence of positive and accurate lesbian representation in American film, fighting for her right to see people just like herself on the big screen.

My favorite line: “For once I want to walk into a theater and see my reflection, not a row of funhouse mirrors.”

4. Button Poetry embraces body positivity in all forms.

There is no room for "fat shaming" in the Button Poetry community. There is, however, a lot of room for a positive outlook on ALL bodies, whether they be fat, skinny, petite, or tall. Yesika Salgado speaks openly about her own struggle in how she views her body in this video which includes her poem "On The Bad Days" as she weaves poetic language with the imagery of dancing in a club.

My favorite line: "There isn't a day that I don't praise this body and how it forgives me, how it lets me live, how it lets me stay here, lets me be this unapologetic, be this fat girl glory."

5. Button Poetry reminds us that although we say we're not like the generations who came before us, history always repeats itself unless we do something about it.

Will Giles begins his poem by remarking on how Hollywood finds its success in turning what we fear as humans into a fairy tale, especially at times we should be paying more attention to the world around us, recalling Hiroshima and Godzilla and HIV/AIDS and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In "Zombies (Made in America), Will recites that the zombies of America are "any dehumanized people" that the United States has, in the past, tried to kill and bury. The zombies are the trampled people groups who are now fighting back, biting and scratching for their right to exist, and if we're not careful, they'll just get pushed right back into their graves by the same institutions that put them there in the first place.

My favorite line: "We are the walking dead you fear so much. We, who connected graves into an underground railroad. We, who still walk with a wounded knee. We are the great ghostwriters of America."

Follow Button Poetry on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube. Bookmark their home page. Promote the sharing of stories through poetic expression. Inspire those around you to tell people about their experiences. Subscribe to Button Poetry, sign up for their newsletter, and watch yourself receive powerful reminders that, at the end of the day, we're all human.