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From South Arts and Hub City Press comes an anthology containing selections of poetry from nine Southern states chosen for the 2025 Southern Prize & State Fellowships in Literary Arts that celebrate innovation in poetry.
Better Futures, Better Songs offers a vivid portrait of a South in transition—an anthology where craft meets courage and every page invites discovery. With striking imagination and technical mastery, these poets push the boundaries of form, voice, and emotion—merging narrative with innovation to craft verse that is both deeply resonant and refreshingly unexpected.Their poems balance wit and poignancy, risk, and refinement—offering a vision of Southern poetry that is as diverse and dynamic as the region itself.
This anthology features work from Meg Day, Julie Hensley, Ashley M. Jones, Aurielle Marie, Karisma Price, C.T. Salazar, Shakeema Smalls, Jessica Q. Stark, and Marcus Wicker.
From visual poetics to narrative invention, this collection celebrates the emotional depth and stylistic brilliance of a region's most vital literary voices. Explore the future of Southern poetry—one unforgettable voice at a time.
REBECCA GAYLE HOWELL is a genre-rousing writer, translator, librettist, and editor. Her work has received critical acclaim from such outlets as The Los Angeles Times, Poetry London, Asymptote, Publisher’s Weekly, and The Kenyon Review, and she has been translated into Spanish and German. Howell’s Best Book of the Year honors include those from The Best Translated Book Awards, Foreword INDIES Awards, The Nautilus Awards, The Banipal Prize (U.K.), Poets & Writers, Ms. Magazine, The Millions, Library Journal, Bitter Southerner, and others. Among her other awards are the United States Artists Fellowship, the Carson McCullers Fellowship, the Kentucky Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship, the Pushcart Prize, and two winter fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. Howell makes her home between Central Kentucky and Northwest Arkansas.
Suzette "Susie" Surkamer began as the South Arts chief executive in 2012. Previously, she had been the Executive Director of the South Carolina Arts Commission until she retired in 2009. Her past service includes president of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA), treasurer of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, member of the Coca-Cola Scholarship National Selection Committee, member of the National Arts Education Partnership Steering Committee, member of the Winthrop University Board of Visitors, member of Clemson University's President's Advisory Committee, and on panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and other organizations. Winthrop University awarded her its Medal of Honor in the Arts (2006), and NASAA recognized her with the Gary Young Award (2008). Susie earned a MEd in dance education from George Washington University and a BA in dance from the University of Maryland.
REBECCA GAYLE HOWELL, Introduction
SUZETTE M. SURKAMER, Foreword
ASHLEY M. JONES | ALABAMA
JESSICA Q. STARK | FLORIDA
AURIELLE MARIE | GEORGIA
JULIE HENSLEY | KENTUCKY
KARISMA PRICE | LOUISIANA
C.T. SALAZAR | MISSISSIPPI
MEG DAY | NORTH CAROLINA
SHAKEEMA SMALLS | SOUTH CAROLINA
MARCUS WICKER | TENNESSEE
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