Incandescent

by Kai Coggin

Whether limning the course of a deep love, providing a safe space to children learning poetry for the first time, shouting the proud acknowledgment of the body, or examining the ruins of terror's aftermath, Kai Coggin proposes—no, urges—that we use that inherent fire within us, to grow not only our own lives, but to illumine and help the lives of others.

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Paperback

First published June 19, 2019

About the author

Kai Coggin (she/her) is the author of MINING FOR STARDUST (FlowerSong Press 2021), INCANDESCENT (Sibling Rivalry Press 2019), WINGSPAN (Golden Dragonfly Press 2016), and PERISCOPE HEART (Swimming with Elephants Publications 2014), as well as a spoken word album SILHOUETTE (2017). She is a queer woman of color who thinks Black Lives Matter, a teaching artist in poetry with the Arkansas Arts Council and Arkansas Learning Through the Arts, and the host of the longest running consecutive weekly open mic series in the country—Wednesday Night Poetry.

Recently awarded the 2021 Governor’s Arts Award and named “Best Poet in Arkansas” by the Arkansas Times, her fierce and powerful poetry has been nominated four times for The Pushcart Prize, as well as Bettering American Poetry 2015, and Best of the Net 2016, 2018, and 2021. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in POETRY, Cultural Weekly, SOLSTICE, Bellevue Literary Review, TAB, Entropy, SWWIM, Split This Rock, Sinister Wisdom, Lavender Review, Luna Luna, Blue Heron Review, Tupelo Press, West Trestle Review, and elsewhere. Coggin is Associate Editor at The Rise Up Review. She lives with her wife and their two adorable dogs in the valley of a small mountain in Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas.

Reviews

[Katherine Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are the poems my soul needed after our last election cycle and after our recent and reoccurring American tragedies. I get so tired of all the hate and vitriol. I need reminding that I am a light and a warrior and have power to bring good into this world no matter what others may bring into it. I really appreciated reading the beauty of Kai's personal life juxtaposed with the tragedies we experienced in the last half of this decade. It reminded me of how we stay grounded in what tears us to shreds. There is still light and love and blue and beauty here.

[Carol Rogero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kai's poems address universal themes but also current events and political issues in our country. They are powerful, urgent and burning bright calls for action. I know I'll return to them again and again.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very inspiring.

[Anna Leahy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kai Coggin writes gorgeous poems full of attention and heart.