Douglas Kearney at 61 W. Superior TONIGHT September 23, 2011: The Harriet Reading Series features readings and presentations by “Craft Work” and “Open Door” writers from this very blog. “Craft Work” regularly features poets, editors, and translators writing in detail about their work, while “Open Door” reports on events and community organizations around the world. Poet, performer, [...] by Harriet Staff

And now, I’m pleased to not introduce…. April 18, 2011: Jeffrey, that was a wonderful intro for D.A. I wish I could have been there. And I'm going to try to tell you the short but riveting tale of someone who I was assigned to introduce but didn't, for a reason that had nothing at all to do with my reluctance and unwillingness to introduce her, but should have. Perhaps this is a tale of language [...] by Patricia Smith

Sound. Silly. Brain. Touch. Taste. Rain. April 15, 2011: My entry into poetry month, here at the half-way mark, was to perform for my 5-year old boy's class on Poem In Your Pocket Day. The poetry teacher did a fabulous job, creating a word-environment around the school. Poetry everywhere, words on paper, taped-up in corners, hallways, doors—to walk in one's alphabet, to actually listen to the words [...] by Edwin Torres

Ye Gods—The Oral Tradition Troubadours cum Slam Junkies! April 6, 2011: There is little worse than presenting your fledgling speech on attaining racial freedom and social justice in competition to an audience of White male adults in their secret-ceremony lodge hall when you are a space-age pudgy Black teenaged girl. No. There is nothing worse than presenting your hard-written original oratory to an audience of Negro [...] by Wanda Coleman

Mary Karr lunches with Studs Terkel March 29, 2011: Mary Karr reads on Tuesday, April 5 at the Art Institute of Chicago's Rubloff Auditorium. She took a few minutes to talk about what she's reading, what she's read, and who she'd quote: What line or poem do you find yourself sharing again and again? Too many to count. My message to young writers always comes from Beckett: "Fail [...] by Poetry Foundation

Suheir Hammad’s anti-war poems at TED Women March 18, 2011: Poet Suheir Hammad who "blends the stories and sounds of her Palestinian-American heritage with the vibrant language of Brooklyn" performed at TEDWomen in Washington DC in December. Hammad addressed the crowd of "confused, aspiring pacifists" and spoke of how poetry prepares you to confront "man's creative violence" in her poems "What I Will" [...] by Poetry News

Thoughts On Yes And No February 15, 2011: On Thursday, February 24, at 6pm, Poetry magazine, the Poetry Foundation, the Columbia College Poetry Program, and the Center for Book and Paper Arts present: Performance Poetry in the Age of Language + Reception, featuring Edwin Torres. After the reading, the Center for Book and Paper Arts will host a reception for guests, where a selection [...] by Poetry Foundation

Walking the political line in poetry and art at MoMA February 2, 2011: In conjunction with the exhibition On Line: Drawing through the 21st Century, MoMA will present a poetry reading tomorrow on the theme of one of the show's key threads: the line of politics. Artists throughout the last century have pushed line across the plane and into real space, thus questioning the relation between the art object and the [...] by Poetry News

Poetry and spoken word at The White House, minus Green Eggs and Ham January 12, 2011: When The White House invited James Earl Jones to perform poetry for An Evening of Poetry, Music, and Spoken Word earlier this year, his first instinct was to go for either Dr. Seuss or Shakespeare. Knowing that he could never top Jesse Jackson's rendition of Green Eggs and Ham, he settled for Othello. Other clips from the same evening are [...] by Poetry News

Disliking it, 1967 edition November 8, 2010: At the start of the 2010 International Poetry Festival, the Guardian looks back to the mood for poetry in 1967: The International Festival of Poetry on London's South Bank brings to mind the fierce condemnation of the first festival from an unexpected source What could be less controversial than a distinguished gathering of poets reading on [...] by Poetry News