As sources of both pride and contention across the globe and across human history, both land and heritage intertwine in our thoughts, our bodies, our conscious and subconscious ways of living and being in the world. How do inherited, lost or stolen homeland(s) and/or ancestral knowledge take up residence in the writer's imagination? This workshop will explore through writing prompts and freewrites, as well as close examinations of a variety of sample works, how the past and present intersect with place, body and memory.

Come in costume and enjoy spooky poetry mad libs, festive crafts, and more tricks and (poe)treats in the Children's Room

Ages 10 & under

In conjunction with her exhibit, American Stanzas 2006-2016, poet, photographer, and Cave Canem Fellow Rachel Eliza Griffiths hosts Mahogany Browne, Aracelis Girmay, Rickey Laurentiis, Nathan McClain, Angel Nafis, Morgan Parker, and Iain Haley Pollock reading their work and celebrating their shared histories.

Co-sponsored by Cave Canem.

Opening reception for American Stanzas: 2006-2016, an exhibit featuring selected photography and mixed media works by poet, photographer, and visual artist Rachel Eliza Griffiths. Co-sponsored by Cave Canem.

Exhibit on view through February 25, 2017

RELATED: American Stanzas: A Reading

A members-only “behind the scenes” look at items related to friendship and the holidays from the Poets House Library Special Collections and archives. Featuring holiday cards from poet Robert Frost, among others. Light refreshments will be served. Space is limited.

Space is limited, please RSVP to Gina Scalise gina@poetshouse.org.

Join us for a reading and discussion of devotional poetry gleaned across expanses of time and geography with Ravi Shankar, Drunken Boat’s founding editor. Clare Cavanagh reads new work and discusses the articulation of spirit in the Eastern European tradition and the role translation plays. Ellen Doré Watson reads and discusses her translations of the Brazilian poet Adélia Prado. Patty Crane discusses the mysticism at the edges of poet Tomas Tranströmer’s work.

Archana Venkatesan, Rafiq Kathwari, and Ravi Shankar engage in a discussion concerning the poetics of Bhakti, the Sanskrit word meaning “to participate in, to share in, and to have love and devotion for.” Together, they examine Indian art and spirituality, spanning the linguistic worlds of Tamil and Urdu literature, and how it manifests in their own work in translation. Join Poets House as we unpack the complex prosody, rich cultural history, and rhetorical nuance of Indian verse.

Poet Jericho Brown, author of The New Testament, examines male beauty, immanent violence, and the necessity of sin versus the desire for redemption in a world marked and tormented by racial tensions and religious traditions.

Click here to listen to the full audio of the program

Steve Zeitlin, founding director of the nonprofit cultural center City Lore, presents The Poetry of Everyday Life, stories from everyday citizens who transform the streets of New York City and its daily occurrences into poetry. In his talk, Zeitlin urges us to break down the barriers between our everyday selves and our creative selves, and choose the creative life.

“We’d fled the norm for women then, because to live it would have been a kind of death,” writes Hettie Jones in Love, H, a selection from the forty-year correspondence between poet Jones and sculptor Helene Dorn. Revealing the intimacy of lifelong friends, these letters explore the battlegrounds of women’s rights, tenants’ rights, marriage, motherhood, and a shared past that kept the two irrevocably connected in the Beat bohemia of the 1960s.