Love Now Media is proud to announce the relaunch of the Poet’s Press, a journalism initiative that commissions and publishes poetry as media. The relaunch will take place on Thursday, June 25 at 6pm at the Love Lab, located at 932 Market Street. The event will introduce a new chapter for the project under the editorial leadership of acclaimed poets Ursula Rucker and Yolanda Wisher. Featured poets include Carlo Campbell, Nikki Powerhouse, Nina “Lyrispect” Ball, Lindo Yes, and Kai Davis.
The event will also pay tribute to Danny Simmons, founder of Def Poetry Jam, who spent the last decade with Philadelphia as his home, while leading Rush Arts and contributing to numerous initiatives in the local poetry, arts and culture community. Love Now Media will celebrate his lasting impact on the city’s literary and artistic landscape with a tribute to kick off the program.
Tickets for the event can be purchased via eventbrite.
About the Poet’s Press:
When Love Now Media launched its journalism work in 2021, our first news writer was not a traditionally trained journalist. He was poet and actor, Carlo Campbell.
Carlo published a poetry collection during the pandemic to earn income as theater work disappeared while things were closed. Love Now Media purchased copies of his book as holiday gifts, recognizing the brilliance of his storytelling. When started publishing news, Carlo became its first writer.
His voice demonstrated something important. Poets were not only capable of responding to the news. They often brought perspectives that traditional journalism didn’t allow space to explore.
That realization became even more apparent in 2022 following the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. During an editorial meeting, the Love Now Media team wrestled with a difficult question.
How do you hold space for hope without ignoring pain? Our challenge was to address the nuance of hard news without abandoning our love ethos.
We invited Carlo Campbell to write a love letter in response to the tragedy. His poem, your only fears: a love letter, was published alongside the news.
That single publication became the beginning of the Poet’s Press.
Over the next several years, poets pitched stories, worked through an editorial process, received payment as journalists, and were invited to perform their work at public events. Poetry became a way to interpret current events, respond to injustice, process grief, celebrate love, and deepen public understanding.
The Poet’s Press eventually became a featured section of Love Now Magazine, publishing work from some of Philadelphia’s most celebrated literary voices. When Love Now Media shifted our organizations work away from news and our print magazine, The Poet’s Press went silent.
Ursula Rucker demanded it return. As the last published poet in the Poet’s Press before it went silent, she expressed its power to shape new opportunities for contemporary poets. Yolanda Wisher shared an interest in building an infrastructure for poets to be featured, paid, and part of a storytelling ecosystem that went beyond performance.
Now, the Poet’s Press returns at a moment when its mission feels even more necessary. “We’re living in a time when people are consuming enormous amounts of AI generated propaganda, misinformation, hate speech, and manipulated media,” said Love Now Media Founder Jos Duncan-Asé. “The Poet’s Press is our response. We believe poetry is one of the most human forms of media we have.”
Following the relaunch event, the Poet’s Press will begin accepting submissions from Philadelphia poets while hosting writing workshops and public conversations.
Weekly publication of new work will begin in September 2026 across Love Now Media’s digital platforms, with additional distribution through video, podcast, and community conversations.
The Poet’s Press lives at the intersection of the arts, journalism, and social justice and represents Love Now Media’s belief that poetry belongs in the public square. It belongs beside journalism. It belongs inside conversations about democracy, justice, media literacy, and community healing.
The Poet’s Press initiative is supported by a grant from the People’s Media Fund and general operating support from Spring Point Partners. The event is sponsored by the Leeway Foundation. Learn more about their Art and Change grants at leeway.org.
Learn more at lovenowmedia.com
