Lambda Award-winning poet Rigoberto González considers five poems that explore the city. As the bittersweet symbol of order and chaos, progress and decay, community and overcrowding, the city is both beacon and demon—a landscape of possibility where dreams are born and where dreams transform or die. González examines a range of poetic representations of the city and civilization and how, over centuries, these urban spaces continue to mirror human joy and anxiety. These poems help us understand the powers of the city—the greatest archive of memory, history and story. Welcome by Poets House Executive Director Lee Briccetti, introduction by Poets House Program Director Paolo Javier
(Full audio, approx. 1 hr 20 mins)