
In honor of World Poetry Day, you might pull out your favorite book of poems, Shakespeare sonnet, Robert Frost narrative or even Shel Silverstein rhyme. But what about the writers of today — have you discovered any new work lately? Well you’re in luck, because we’re sharing a new batch of both established and emerging modern poets from around the world who continue to prove that poetry is far from a lost art.
1. Cate Marvin: If dark humor is your cup of tea, then Cate is your girl. She’s often compared to Sylvia Plath, something she considers a compliment because “she was one funny mother******.” Check out her work for themes of adolescence, womanhood and bad romance. (Photo by Rex Lott/Poetry Foundation)
Read This:“Oracle”
2. Julia Alvarez: You already may be familiar with this author’s novels, such as In the Time of the Butterflies and How the García Girls Lost Their Accents. But what you might not know is that she’s also an acclaimed poet, frequently writing about childhood, identity and her experience as a Dominican American. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Read This:“Hairbands”
3. Terrance Hayes: In 2014, after being nominated for and winning several poetry prizes, Terrance was named a MacArthur Foundation fellow, which is one of the most prestigious grants in the creative arts. His poetry explores themes of music, race and pop culture. (Photo by Becky Thurner Braddock/Terrance Hayes)
Read This:“The Blue Seuss”
4. Mary Karr: Seeing as she’s also a successful memoirist, it makes sense that Mary’s poetry is often autobiographical, including stories of drug use, marriage and divorce and alcoholism. She was even in a very tumultuous relationship with David Foster Wallace at one point, whom she wrote about in the poem below. (Photo via Mary Karr)
Read This:“Suicide’s Note: An Annual”
5. Mahogany L. Browne: Mahogany is all over New York’s poetry scene, from hosting and curating the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, to co-founding an Off-Broadway poetry production, to producing NYC’s first performance poetry festival. (Photo by Arnold Adler/Poets House)
Read/Watch This: “Black Girl Magic”
6. Brenda Shaughnessy: In her latest collection, Our Andromeda, Brenda uses vivid imagery and wordplay to escape to a parallel universe to explore the common themes of love, loss and time. (Photo via Poetry Foundation)
Read This:“Liquid Flesh”
7. Kevin Young: From Harvard to Stanford to Brown, this prolific poet is now entrusted with curating the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library at Emory University, home to over 75,000 volumes. As for his own collections, Kevin’s themes span everything from family drama to slavery and history. (Photo via Kevin Young)
Read This:“Charity”
8. Natasha Trethewey: There’s been no shortage of accolades for this poet. She won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for her book, Native Guard, became the United States Poet Laureate in 2012 and is now the current Poet Laureate for her home state of Mississippi. (Photo by Jeff Etheridge/Poetry Foundation)
Read This:“Elegy”
9. Melissa Broder: Do you follow @SoSadToday on Twitter? Then you’re already familiar with some of Melissa’s work. She uses the 140-character limit of Twitter as an art form, both in her sadness account and her actual account, and is now publishing those works in actual collections. (Photo via Emily Books)
Read This:“Waterfall” and others
10. Mark Bibbins: In addition to being poetry editor for The Awl, Mark’s own biting, sardonic poetry covers everything from politics to sexuality. (Photo via BOMB Magazine)
Read This:“Worst Things First”
11. Claudia Rankine: Claudia is known for being experimental with genres, switching between prose, poetry and imagery. A great example of this is Citizen: An American Lyric, which is a long-form poem about race in America. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images for NAACP Image Awards)
12. Musa Okwonga: Praise for Musa is as diverse as his many talents (poet, current affairs writer, sports writer, musician and more). His first book of poetry features cover quotes from the likes of Ed Sheeran and Kate Tempest, while his opinion pieces are lauded by J.K. Rowling. Check his poem about Internet trolls to see why everyone is talking about him. (Photo by Naomi Woddis/Musa Okwonga)
Read/Watch This:“Invisible Men”
13. Kay Ryan: Kay has had an exceptional career as a poet, having received both the Pulitzer and the MacArthur Genius Grant, and serving two consecutive terms as US Poet Laureate. She’s even credited with coining the term “recombinant rhyme,” meaning a rhyme that takes place in the middle of words, rather than the ends. (Photo via John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation)
Read This:“A Cat/A Future” and others
14. Deborah Landau: Deborah is known for her direct writing style and sharp wit, landing her latest collection, The Uses of the Body, on top lists from sources as varied as The New York Times and O, the Oprah Magazine. (Photo by Sarah Shatz/Poetry Foundation)
Read This:Excerpt from The Uses of the Body
15. Kei Miller: Although Kei eventually moved to the U.K. to study English literature, he was born and raised in Jamaica. He talks about this dual identity in his poetry, writing about both belonging and alienation, as well as Caribbean issues. (Photo by Marion James/Under the Saltire Flag)
Read This:“Speaking in Tongues”
16. Don Paterson: This Scottish poet first pursued music before turning his gift for lyricism into a career in written word. In addition to poetry, he is also trying to revive the aphorism (Think back to English class: It’s a short, pithy statement of general truth). For example: “The aphorism is a brief waste of time. The poem is a complete waste of time. The novel is a monumental waste of time.” ;) (Photo by Murdo Macleod/Poetry Foundation)
Read This:“The White Lie”
17. Kima Jones: Whether she’s writing in stanzas or paragraphs, Kima’s writing is always poetic. As a queer black woman, her work often covers topics of sexuality and the black body. Look out for her first collection, The Anatomy of Forgiveness, which is underway. (Photo via Kima Jones)
Read This:“Fresh”
18. Louise Glück: If you’re already a fan of poetry, then you already know Louise. She’s been on the scene for a long time now, having served as US Poet Laureate in the mid-‘90s and receiving such prizes as the Pulitzer and National Book Award for Poetry. The Wild Iris is her best-known collection. (Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images)
Read Listen to This:“The Wild Iris”
Which of these poems resonated with you? Share your personal favorite with us @BritandCo.
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures