Because a young girl told me I couldn’t be one–because boys were doctors and girls were nurses. Because students will still call me “Mrs.” Because I still call myself “teacher.” Because I write poems–books of them!–but I am afraid to introduce myself, a poet. Because I am still expecting to be told I am not…
Popping Bubbles
Audio. 4 poems by Emily Bobo, set to music composed by Don Freund, performed by Indiana University’s contemporary vocal collective NOTUS, recorded on Weaving Eternity: Music of Wild Imagination, released in September, 2025. Tracks 5-8. Poems included in full text here:
Poetry Practice
I tell people that “poetry saved my life.” And it is true. I grew up female and artistically inclined in a small, conservative town just off I-35, halfway between Wichita and Kansas City. We had more churches, guns, and cows than schools, and I found escape in poetry and piano. When I started public school…
Bobo Books Project: Turning poems into sandwiches
Interview. “Bobo Books: A Salute to the Sustaining Power of Poetry.” Article. “The power of poetry will soon be able to feed local children in need of a little help” (Associated Press).
Strings Attached
Music composed by Dr. Traci Mendel for piano, soprano, and cello. Words by Emily Bobo. Premiered at Troy University, Troy, Alabama, Fall 2024. Audio. (turn volume up high) Text. (four poems)
(extra)ordinary
Notes from a State of the City (2019) poetry reading: We live in extraordinary times. But what can we do? We are just ordinary people. It can be overwhelming. It can be easy to slip into fear and despair. But my students remind me to hope, too. Students like Danny, a laid-off auto-worker, undergoing chemo,…
ArtBeat! Episode 60: Un/Comfortable Poetry
Professor Emily Bobo talks with Dr. Filiz Cicek about writing poetry as a way of understanding life and creating meaning, and the discomfort that arises from it at times, and its function, for her and the readers. Audio.
Corner of Disappearing Names
Audio. Corner of Disappearing Names Music by Kevin Bobo. Text by Emily Bobo. Performed and recorded by Troy University Collegiate Singers (2014). At the corner of Headstone Street, And Disappearing Lane, Heat rattles the leaves of the Redwood tree And burns the evergreens ever-brown. A young girl’s tears once kissed these stones, …
Review of Tattle Tales
“Each one of these tales packs a gut punch as it shows us that contemporary America is as scary as any ancient, witch-filled forest. Loved the appropriately-Grimm illustrations as well” (clb).
Review of Instrumental
“Instrumental is sometimes tough — there is anger and sadness and hurt —but it’s so authentically told that the collection is remarkably beautiful,” (Christine Brandel). For the full review at clbwrites.com, click here.
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