Poet Brandon Amico on capitalism­, time and why you should ignore everything your high school teacher taught you about poetry

“I think there’s a sense from those newer to the form that poetry is something to be ‘solved’— that there’s a hidden meaning to a poem that requires the reader to find a clue or key and it unlocks,” says local poet Brandon Amico. “It’s hard to say where that sense comes from, but almost every young person seems to be taught that.

Asheville Archives: Billy Borne’s 1924 cartoons

Topics featured in Billy Borne’s 1924 collection include concerns about tourism, that year’s presidential campaign and election (which involved the emergence of Robert M. La Follette as a third-party candidate), lack of funding for local education and police, anxieties over real estate and the pressures on everyday citizens due to the high cost of living.