In two weeks we kick off the 10th annual Sealey Challenge!
A joyous ritual of reading a poetry book every day of August—and named for the mastermind behind the challenge, Nicole Sealey—The Sealey Challenge invites the global community to simply read more poetry. The challenge is flexible too—if you'd rather read 31 poems in 31 days, read for 31 minutes each day, or listen to poetry audiobooks, podcasts, or recordings, there's no wrong way to participate in the Sealey Challenge.
In honor of the 10th Sealey summer, we've curated some favorite Voca readings spanning the 1960's to the 2020's. Please enjoy these 10 readings to celebrate the 10th annual Sealey Challenge.
Gary Snyder - December 9, 1964
Gary Snyder reads poems that would go on to be collected in The Back Country (1968) and talks about his experiences in Japan. He also reads one section of his long work Mountains and Rivers Without End (1996).
Denise Levertov - October 9, 1973
Denise Levertov briefly reads from Relearning the Alphabet (1970) and Footprints (1972) before turning to poems that would be collected in The Freeing of the Dust (1975). Many of the pieces reflect Levertov's antiwar commitments, and three of the more recent poems were written in response to Levertov's visit to Hanoi, Vietnam, in 1972.
Lucille Clifton - October 12, 1983
Lucille Clifton reads poems on many subjects, including family and illness, as well as a series of Rastafarian-inspired poems about the life of the Biblical figure Mary. In addition to poems, Clifton reads excerpts from Generations: A Memoir and her children's book Sonora Beautiful.
Juan Felipe Herrera - September 15, 1993
Juan Felipe Herrera warmly engages the audience with work that would be collected in books such as Mayan Drifter: Chicano Poet in the Lowlands of America (1997), Notebooks of a Chile Verde Smuggler (2002), and Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems (2008), as well as uncollected pieces. Standout performances include "Notes on Other Chicana and Chicano Inventions" and "Suicide in Hollywood / Lupe Velez (Circ. 1923) Serigrafía de una actriz Mexicana," read in Spanish and English. Opening his reading with an invocation to sky, earth, wind, and fire, Herrera encourages audience laughter and participation throughout the evening.
Ofelia Zepeda - January 26, 2011
Ofelia Zepeda reads primarily from her collections Ocean Power (1995) and Where Clouds are Formed (2008). She also reads from an unpublished essay and from her chapbook Jewed 'I-Hoi/Earth Movements (1997).
Alberto Ríos - November 1, 2013
Arizona's inaugural Poet Laureate Alberto Ríos reads public and personal poems from his collected and uncollected works; he also speaks about goals for his laureateship.
Aimee Nezhukumatathil - September 28, 2017
Aimee Nezhukumatathil reads poems from At the Drive-In Volcano (2007), Lucky Fish (2011), and her forthcoming collection Oceanic (2018).
CAConrad - September 19, 2024
CAConrad reads from Listen to the Golden Boomerang Return (2024), an ecopoetic work considering animal and human realities in the Anthropocene. To open, CAConrad briefly discusses and reads from Amanda Paradise: Resurrect Extinct Vibration (2021); to close, they read one poem from the chapbook First Light (2024). This reading was presented in connection with CAConrad's exhibit 500 Places at Once on display at MOCA Tucson.
Ada Limón - December 4, 2024
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón reads poems that center on the natural world, resilience, women's strength, and the interconnection of all living things. She reads from her books Lucky Wreck (2006), Sharks in the Rivers (2010), Bright Dead Things (2015), The Carrying (2018), and The Hurting Kind (2022). Limón closes with two poems written during her laureateship, commissioned by the National Climate Assessment and NASA.