This 1961 chapbook by Amiri Baraka (then LeRoi Jones) is available to read on the Poets House website! Plus related commentary, interviews, and videos.
A Message to Our Community
Poets House joins with all people of conscience to express outrage and pain as crisis grips our nation.
The murders of Rashard Brooks, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Ahmaud Arbery are among the tragic examples of systematic racism in our nation. Simultaneously, we acknowledge the dreadful threshold of 120,000 deaths from Covid-19 which, because of systemic inequity, inordinately impacts communities of color.
Over and over again racism expresses itself in lethal violence. Over and over again the survivors are told to wait for justice. Now is the time for all voices to be raised to demand our justice system be remade to be just.
What can poetry do in the face of these calamities—calamities not equally shared among us? Poets House acts on the belief that poetry bears witness, incites a language of mutuality and care, and by so doing insists on individual and collective action to bring about change. Poetry helps us find ways to stand in solidarity against brutality.
As the great Caribbean poet Édouard Glissant wrote, We cry our cry of poetry. Our boats are open and we sail them for everyone.
With love and solidarity,
Nicholas Potter, President
Linda Earle, Vice President
Lee Briccetti, Executive Director
The library is closed but we have many digital initiatives for our community.
Upcoming Events
Language Is a Temptation: Greg Masters reads July 12 from Bernadette Mayer’s Memory
Jul 12, 2020 | 3:00 pm - 3:05 pmPoet and musician Greg Masters reads July 12 from Bernadette Mayer’s Memory.
Language Is a Temptation: Rona Cran reads July 13 from Bernadette Mayer’s Memory
Jul 13, 2020 | 3:00 pm - 3:05 pmLanguage Is a Temptation: author, scholar and lecturer Rona Cran reads July 13 from Bernadette Mayer’s Memory.
Language Is a Temptation: Andrew Durbin reads July 14 from Bernadette Mayer’s Memory
Jul 14, 2020 | 3:00 pm - 3:05 pmPoet, novelist, and editor Andrew Durbin reads July 14 from Bernadette Mayer’s Memory.
From the Blog
“This Book is a True Story”—Now digitized: Riding the One-Eyed Ford by Diane Burns
The only poetry book published by Diane Burns during her lifetime is now available in digitized form after being long out of print. Plus related events!
Bob Holman on endangered languages, activism, nature poetry & more
In this recorded online program, poet and filmmaker Bob Holman shares a documentary short, reads poetry, and sings a little John Prine.
Now Digitized: Amiri Baraka’s First Poetry Collection—Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note . . . .
This 1961 chapbook by Amiri Baraka (then LeRoi Jones) is available to read on the Poets House website! Plus related commentary, interviews, and videos.
“This Book is a True Story”—Now digitized: Riding the One-Eyed Ford by Diane Burns
The only poetry book published by Diane Burns during her lifetime is now available in digitized form after being long out of print. Plus related events!
Bob Holman on endangered languages, activism, nature poetry & more
In this recorded online program, poet and filmmaker Bob Holman shares a documentary short, reads poetry, and sings a little John Prine.