Explore: Poetry

Tagged Poetry

Healing Verse Philly: a Project from the Poet Laureate

Through the challenges of 2020, one of the abiding sources of relief for many of us has been poetry. More people than ever are looking to the written word for strength, wisdom, and comfort. Even before the pandemic struck, Trapeta B.…

Join Our New YA and Adult Multicultural Book Club!

Are you interested in reading new authors? Are you looking for a safe place to discuss literature and culture? Then this book club is for you! The YA / Adult Multicultural Book Club has a focus on authors of color and expanding cultural…

Monday Poets Turns 25! View Ephemera from Over the Years

The Literature Department at Parkway Central Library is celebrating the 25th year of our flagship program, Monday Poets ! Over the years, the department has hosted poets from all over the country, and has always made it their mission to…

Cydney Brown Named the 2020-2021 Philadelphia Youth Poet Laureate

I still have my whole life ahead of me and I’m not giving up now. You can’t silence my voice. And when you come for one of us We rise up, you give us no choice. — from “Do you ever wonder?” by Cydney Brown,…

Philadelphia is Looking for Its Next Youth Poet Laureate

Are you a creative, engaged student who is passionate about writing, reading, performing, and experiencing poetry? Are you equally passionate about working with your peers and other students to do the same? If so, apply to become our…

Listen to Poetry

As we close out April and National Poetry Month, while many of us are in slow-down mode and many others of us are working extremely hard, let’s give ourselves a moment to pause and breathe and hear something good. You may…

Enjoy Poetry from Home with the Free Library!

Did you know that April is National Poetry Month ? With over 100 styles of poetry, it might feel overwhelming to actually write a poem! There are sonnets, haikus, limericks, acrostic, cinquians, couplets, and so much more!…

Celebrating National Poetry Month!

April is National Poetry Month , and every year I immediately think of my favorite poet, Langston Hughes. Many of his poems have been made into picture books with beautiful illustrations, but what about the man himself? Of course there…

Picture Book Highlights | Brown: A Deep and Varied Joy

Magnificence sometimes appears in the most commonplace observations. In the poetic celebration of self and nature, Magnificent Homespun Brown: A Celebration is a series of young brown girls admiring the many different browns…

Picture Book Highlights | 'Tis the Season... and the Times

Sometimes you come across a small book that holds much more than what you see between the cover. Migrations: Open Hearts, Open Borders is just such a wonder. This timely and heartening work, the fruition of an exhibit by…

A New Poet Laureate for Philadelphia...

The Free Library is excited to announce that Trapeta Mayson has been appointed the 2020-2021 Philadelphia Poet Laureate . A committee of poets, educators, and arts-organization professionals selected Trapeta from a wildly impressive…

The Remarkable Afterlife of Emily Dickinson

An early letter by Emily Dickinson. Two months ago, I spent an evening in a dimly lit room scrutinizing the handwriting of a long-dead person with a group of mostly strangers. Scraps of 150-year-old paper were passed around for us to…

#OneBookWednesday | Surfacing the Edge: Reading Contemporary Native Poets

Recently, my One Book, One Philadelphia coworker-in-crime wrote a blog post about poetry events happening at the Free Library this fall, including a public talk with U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo . I readied myself to meet Ms. Harjo…

Song-Poems Concert Series Returns to Literature Deparment This Fall

The 'Song-Poems' concert series , which debuted in the Spring of 2019, is finishing up this calendar year with three special events. The concert series invites Philadelphia-based musicians to come into the library and utilize…

Poetry Comes to the Free Library This Fall

One of my favorite poetry presses recently printed out bookmarks that said: "Who needs poetry?" This question was a little tongue in cheek, but I think, in earnest, a valid question. "Need" is a curious word. If we…

Fall 2019 Author Events: Cultural Connections

During this fall season of Free Library Author Events , we’re seeing a lot of cultural connections between our authors and speakers. Let’s talk about the events taking place two days in a row, both off-site at the same…

Meet the 2019-2020 Youth Poet Laureate!

I’ll let constellations form and fall off this tongue Mold planets out of clay with clay with these hands, Create a whole universe behind these eyes I’ll spread myself across the sky in thick, bright strokes, and leave a…

You Can’t Kill a Poet

You Can’t Kill a Poet is a Philadelphia-based reading series for LGBTQ readers which just celebrated its 5th anniversary! The series is held at different locations throughout the city, including Tattooed Mom , South…

The Poetry to the People Tour Is Coming to Philadelphia!

At the Free Library of Philadelphia, we know firsthand that access to books and other media can change lives. The Poetry to the People tour is dedicated to increasing such access—so we’re obviously thrilled to be one of the…

Raquel Salas Rivera Receives Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship

Here's some exciting news to close out National Poetry Month : Philadelphia Poet Laureate Raquel Salas Rivera has been selected by the Academy of American Poets as one of 13 recipients of a new fellowship award ! Rivera, who was…

VIRTUAL - Natalie Diaz | Postcolonial Love Poem with Denice Frohman

REGISTER HERE Natalie Diaz is the author of When My Brother Was an Aztec , an “ambitious . . . beautiful” ( New York Times ) American Book Award–winning poetry collection that ruminates on her sibling’s drug…

Making Her Mark Spotlight: Poetry and Movement Building | Digital Readings

Live readings of historical and contemporary poetry that center movement building. Movements to expand voting rights have always used spoken word and poetry as modes of expression and connection. Join staff from the Free Library's…

Philadelphia Press Spotlight: The Shoutflower

Join us and the Literature Department for our third annual Philadelphia Press Spotlight. We'll take an in-depth dive into the local journal The Shoutflower with its editors and contributors who will read selected works from…

Alice Dunbar-Nelson

Free Library resources in support of the Rosenbach's Digital Exhibition: "I Am an American!" The Authorship and Activism of Alice Dunbar-Nelson

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

LitFinder *

Discover literature content from more than 150,000 full-text poems, 840,000 poem citations and excerpts, 7,100 full-text short stories and novels, 3,800 full-text essays published in the 16th-20th centuries, 2,400 full-text speeches, and…

Gale Literary Sources (formerly Artemis)

Cross-search all of Gale’s literature databases from a single digital space to find biographies, primary sources, contextual reference, and criticism. Includes Dictionary of Literary Biography, Something About the Author, LitFinder,…

Nikki Giovanni | Make Me Rain

One of America’s most celebrated poets, the “outspoken, prolific, energetic” ( New York Times ) Nikki Giovanni is the author of numerous collections of poetry including Acolytes ; Black Feeling, Black Talk, Black Judgment ; and …

Saeed Jones | How We Fight for Our Lives with Clifford Thompson | What It Is: Race, Family, and One Thinking Black Man’s Blues

Saeed Jones is the author of the “hard and glaring and brilliant” ( NPR Book Review ) poetry collection Prelude to Bruise , winner of the 2015 Stonewall Book Award/Barbara Gittings Literature Award. He is also the co-host of BuzzFeed’s…

Richard Blanco | How to Love a Country: Poems

Richard Blanco made history four times at Barack Obama’s second presidential inauguration: He was the first immigrant, the first Latino, the youngest person, and the first openly gay person to be the U.S. inaugural poet. Exploring…

Carolyn Forché | What You Have Heard Is True: A Memoir of Witness and Resistance

In conversation with Beth Kephart, the award-winning author of twenty-four books, including Going Over , Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir , and Flow: The Life and Times of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River . “An unflinching…

Feminista Jones | Reclaiming Our Space: How Black Feminists Are Changing the World from the Tweets to the Streets with DaMaris B. Hill | A Bound Woman is a Dangerous Thing

Social worker, public speaker, community activist, and blogger Feminista Jones is the author of the novel Push the Button and the poetry collection The Secret of Sugar Water . She was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in…

Ha Jin | The Banished Immortal: A Life of Li Bai (Li Po)

In conversation with Carlin Romano , Critic-at-Large, The Chronicle of Higher Education , former literary critic The Philadelphia Inquirer and author of America the Philosophical . Celebrated internationally for a prolific, “achingly…

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 student and teacher, it was…

Leslie Jamison | The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath

In conversation with Marty Moss-Coane, host of Radio Times on WHYY Leslie Jamison is the author of the bestselling essay collection The Empathy Exams , a personal and probing look at pain and how we understand others’ suffering, praised…

Tracy K. Smith | Wade in the Water: Poems

The United States Poet Laureate, Tracy K. Smith is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Life on Mars , a “strange and beautiful” book of verse that “pulses with America’s adolescent crush on the impossible, on what waits beyond the…

One Book, One Philadelphia Finale with Jacqueline Woodson

The One Book Finale will feature an interview with Jacqueline Woodson and Tamala Edwards, 6ABC Action News Co-Anchor. The program will also feature a celebration of the poetry and music found in Another Brooklyn, with performances of…

Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele | When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir

Watch the video here . In conversation with Marc Lamont Hill , Steve Charles Chair in Media, Cities and Solutions at Temple University, and author of Nobody: Casualties of America's War on the Vulnerable, from Ferguson to Flint and…

One Book, One Philadelphia Kickoff Event | Featuring Jacqueline Woodson and a Performance by Yolanda Wisher and The Afroeaters

Watch the video here . Join featured author Jacqueline Woodson for an evening of conversation, reading, and performance. In conversation with WHYY's Katie Colaneri, Ms. Woodson will discuss identity, shifting cultural landscapes, and…

Loudon Wainwright III | Liner Notes: On Parents & Children, Exes and Excess, Death & Decay, & a Few of My Other Favorite Things with Eileen Myles | Afterglow (a dog memoir)

Watch the video here . With a career spanning four decades, 26 studio albums, and untold scores of concerts, Loudon Wainwright III is one of the world’s most loved singer-songwriters. A prolific actor in a variety of television and…