Tagged Poetry
Celebrate National Poetry Month
It’s April, everyone, and you know what that means – it’s National Poetry Month ! Each year, the Academy of American Poets "highlights the extraordinary legacy and ongoing achievement of American poets" by…
Teen Central hosts the Philly Slam League for Poetry!
Through May, the Teen Center is partnering with the Philly Slam League to host its 8th season at Parkway Central Library . The program will draw hundreds of teens and their supporters from week to week to host a friendly and…
Discoveries from the Fleisher Collection: Mahler and Voices
Saturday, March 3, 2018, 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Gustav Mahler (1860–1911). Kindertotenlieder (1901–1904) Mahler . Des Knaben Wunderhorn , excerpts (1892–1899) It’s been said that Edwin Fleisher did not like…
The Free Library Announces Philadelphia's Next Poet Laureate
The Free Library's Center for Public Life is thrilled to announce the 2018–2019 Philadelphia Poet Laureate— Raquel Salas Rivera , a Puerto Rican poet and translator who writes in both English and Spanish. Raquel…
"Vines": A Poem About Libraries by Philadelphia Poet Laureate, Yolanda Wisher
In celebration of the reopenings of our four new 21st Century Libraries , Yolanda Wisher — Philadelphia’s 2016–2017 Poet Laureate —penned an original poem. She read this work in advance of the ribbon cutting at…
The 22nd Season of Our Monday Poets Reading Series Begins in October
The Monday Poets Reading Series at the Free Library started as a reading group of local poets 22 years ago, sponsored by the Literature Department, and it is now a hallmark program of the Free Library’s new Center for Public…
The Free Library Welcomes the Philadelphia Poet Laureate Program
We didn’t think we could love poetry any more than we already do here at the Free Library … but we were wrong. The City of Philadelphia Poet Laureate program —which has flourished in the five years since it was…
Are You the Poetry 'Type'?
What if an entire community wrote one line each on a vintage Underwood Typewriter to create a really, really, long poem? Would it bring world peace? Would love abound? Would we become a united nation? One can hope, right? On April…
There's Poetry Everywhere!
Imagine this: Your friends, and your associates, and the people around you, and the environment that you live in, and the speakers around you, and the communicators around you are the poetry makers. If your mother tells you stories, she…
It's World Poetry Day!
When UNESCO declared March 21 World Poetry Day in 1999, they had in mind building connections through our oral and written traditions and finding commonality among the feelings and questions that make us human. What better way, in this…
10 New Year's Resolutions the Free Library Can Help You Keep!
'Tis the season for goal-setting! You might be feeling merry and motivated right now, but as the year gallops along, don't let your resolve wane. Lean on the Free Library to keep your resolutions! Our mission, of course is to…
Poetry Room: Listening through Reading
"How to Triumph Like a Girl" , a poem by the dynamic Ada Limón , won’t get out of my head (and I don’t want it to). I read it the day after the election and it stuck fast. I sent it to a few friends, read it…
How Well Do You Know Native American Authors Sherman Alexie and Louise Erdrich?
It’s National Native American Heritage Month and the Free Library of Philadelphia is celebrating by reading books by authors who write about their Native heritage. We’re especially enjoying works by Sherman Alexie and Louise…
Poetry Room: Joy and Grief in Poems
I wrote an essay for an anthology by poets on poetry a couple of years ago about owning one’s subject matter, taking responsibility for the themes that continually crop up, and stewarding and loving them, no matter that they might…
Patti Smith - Anything Is Possible
Patti Smith —poet, punk, and provocateur all rolled into one scorching soul, will be appearing at the Free Library this evening for a waaaaaaaay sold out Author Event to discuss her new book M Train . The book is a bit of a…
The Search for Philadelphia's Next Poet Laureate Is On!
For this installment of the Poetry Room, we're going to shift to the local. Philadelphia is looking for its next Poet Laureate ! Supported via the Mayor's Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, the search is on now…
Poetry Room: Weirdness and Off-the-wall Poems and Poets
Welcome to Poetry Room blog post #2. Remember the whole “poetry is weird and difficult and often written with seemingly hidden clues designed to stymie the average reader” theme from our last post ? Let's talk more…
Three Book Award Winners for Children to Check Out
Three Award Winners to Check Out You might ask your dentist to recommend a good toothpaste, buy a sneaker endorsed by a professional basketball player or pick a veterinarian-approved pet food for your fuzzy best friend. Likewise, if you…
Poets and Poetry: A Monthly Blog Series
Poetry is weird. It's that dull thing about a lark or a road your high school teacher made you memorize. It's a bunch of words strung together in such a way to make you feel not-so-bright. It's what you feel a little bad…
Edgar Allan Poetry
Looking out the window across the city on a rainy and dreary day, my mind always turns to Poe. What better author to shine a creepy candlelight on at this time of year than Edgar Allan Poe ? The Master of Macabre, the Grand Guignol of…
You Can’t Kill a Poet
An evening of LGBTQ writers and poets sharing their work. If you are interested in reading at this event, contact Boston Gordon at bostn.gordon@gmail.com.
Poetry Reading: Raquel Salas Rivera
Raquel Salas Rivera es la poeta laureada de la ciudad de Filadelfia del 2018-19. Es la autora de Caneca de anhelos turbios (Editora Educación Emergente), tierra intermitente (Ediciones Alayubia) y lo terciario/the tertiary…
Philly Slam League
Join Teen Central as we host the 8th season of the Philly Slam League. The Philly Slam League (PSL) is a non-profit organization that hosts poetry teams from Philadelphia-area high schools in a five-month intellectual and artistic…
Philly Slam League
Join Teen Central as we host the 8th season of the Philly Slam League. The Philly Slam League (PSL) is a non-profit organization that hosts poetry teams from Philadelphia-area high schools in a five-month intellectual and artistic…
Kevin Powers | A Shout in the Ruins with Elise Juska | If We Had Known
Kevin Powers won the 2013 PEN/Hemingway Award and the Guardian First Book Award for The Yellow Birds , “the first great Iraq War novel” ( Rolling Stone ), a work drawn from his experiences as a U.S. Army machine-gunner…
A Voice for Peace, Concord and Harmony: XII International Poetry Festival in Philadelphia (Room 108)
A voice for peace, concord and harmony, the XII International Poetry Festival in Philadelphia will congregate poets from Latin America and USA in an evening of verse and music. Each poet will read one piece, and at the end of each…
Warrior Writers Poetry Reading
A reading featuring the work of W.D Ehrhart, Bill Wunder, & members of Warrior Writers in collaboration with Moonstone Arts Center. W. D. Ehrhart joined the US Marines in 1966 at the age of 17, serving three years including 13…
Philly Slam League
Join Teen Central as we host the 8th season of the Philly Slam League. The Philly Slam League (PSL) is a non-profit organization that hosts poetry teams from Philadelphia-area high schools in a five-month intellectual and artistic…
Jesmyn Ward | Sing, Unburied, Sing
In Conversation with Kalela Williams, Director of Neighborhood Enrichment Programming A “hypnotic” novelist whose ease with vernacular puts her “in fellowship with such forebears as Zora Neale Hurston and William…
A Reading by Finalists of the 30th Annual Lambda Literary Awards
Join finalists of the 30th Annual Lambda Literary Awards for readings of their nominated works. Now in its thirtieth year, the Lambda Literary Awards (the “Lammys”) celebrate achievement in LGBTQ writing for books published…
Mental Wellness Poetry Workshop and Performance by Philadelphia’s Youth Poet Laureate, Husnaa Hashim
Youth Spoken Word at Queen Memorial Library (a Hatching Innovation funded program) is excited to invite Philadelphia’s Youth Poet Laureate, Husnaa Hashim , to lead a guest poetry workshop and performance about poetry’s…
Philly Slam League
Join Teen Central as we host the 8th season of the Philly Slam League. The Philly Slam League (PSL) is a non-profit organization that hosts poetry teams from Philadelphia-area high schools in a five-month intellectual and artistic…
Philly Slam League
Join Teen Central as we host the 8th season of the Philly Slam League. The Philly Slam League (PSL) is a non-profit organization that hosts poetry teams from Philadelphia-area high schools in a five-month intellectual and artistic…
Jen Sincero | You Are a Badass at Making Money
Jen Sincero is the no. 1 New York Times bestselling author of You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life , a sass-filled self-help book for people who want better lives but don’t want to…
Gregory Pardlo | Air Traffic: A Memoir of Ambition and Manhood in America with Kevin Young | Brown: Poems
“Intensely personal … funny and poignant” ( New York Times) , Gregory Pardlo’s poetry collection Digest won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize. An out-of-nowhere coup for the relatively unknown Columbia University MFA…
Queer Poetry: A Panel Discussion
Is there a queer aesthetic? Is queer identity a liberation or a liability? Is gay passé? Does labelling a poem “queer” limit access for “mainstream” readers? The participating poets, Marion Bell, Kai…
Poetry - Poets on Film
Documentaries about poets and fictional films based on their lives or featuring their poetry.
Poetry in Translation
Take pleasure in reading poets from other languages and cultures.
Poetry - Novels in Verse
Poetry with special appeal for tweens and teens.
Poetry - Haiku
A poetry form which transcends its traditional roots.
Poetry - Great Contemporary Poetry
Selections from the Literature Department.
Poetry - Children's Poetry for Everyone
The young and the young at heart will relish children’s poetry for all ages.
Poetry - New Poetry for Children
Enjoy new poetry books for children
Representative Poetry Online
An incredible set of poetry indexes, including poets, alphabetically by last name or chronologically, poems, by title, first line or last line, a timeline, of poets, poems, and events, a calendar, the year's days, a keyword search of…
Poets.org
“Launched in 1996, Poets.org is the award-winning website of the Academy of American Poets. Visitors to Poets.org will find thousands of poems as well as hundreds of poet biographies, essays, interviews, and poetry recordings—with new…
Poetry Magazine
Read the latest issue, read and listen to articles and podcasts in the archive.
Poetry 180
From the Library of Congress, this project aims to post one poem for each day of a typical school year. From their site: “Poems can inspire and make us think about what it means to be a member of the human race. By just spending a few…
Favorite Poem
The website from former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky dedicated to celebrating, documenting and promoting poetry's role in Americans' lives. Contains many videos of people reading their favorite poems.
An Incomplete History of Slam: A Biography of an Evolving Poetry Movement
This website focuses on the development of slam poetry and slam poetry contests from the 1970s to now.
American Life in Poetry
Former Poet Laureate Ted Kooser posts a short poem each week. You can also browse the archive.
Poetry
Poetry in all its forms including classic selections from our Literature Department, Haikus, poetry for children, and poetry with special appeal for tweens and teens. Read poets from diverse cultures and in other languages, as well as…