Brooklyn-based poet Tommy Pico, originally from the Viejas Indian reservation of the Kumeyaay nation, walks you through the High Line gardens in this interactive soundscape. A part of Culture Shock, the High Line season kick-off, this Whiting Award winner's audio tour shares stories, memories, and secrets of what the gardens’ microclimates evoke for him.

The only event of its kind, the Showcase is a free exhibit featuring over 3,000 books of poetry published by over 700 presses over the previous 18 months. Discover a panoramic view of nationwide poetry activity. The exhibition will be accompanied by readings throughout the summer.

RECEPTION: 6:00 – 7:00PM
READING: 7:00 – 8:00PM

Glimpse the freshest crop of new poetry. After browsing the exhibition, listen to poets read from books included in the Showcase.

Journey with us across the Brooklyn Bridge, from Manhattan to Brooklyn, to celebrate Poets House and the poetry of New York City with readings by poets Sophie Cabot Black, Tina Chang, Willie Perdomo, and Patricia Smith, along with special guest Bill Murray. Afterward, we’ll continue with more readings, accompanied by wine, dinner and dessert, inside a beautiful, historic foundry in DUMBO. All proceeds benefit Poets House’s library, public programs, and class trips for children and teens.

Travel to the future of poetry: 2018 Emerging Poets Fellows read new work crafted during mentorship by their workshop leader, poet Aracelis Girmay. The Emerging Poets Fellowship, now in its seventh year, assists poets by providing writing instruction, mentorship, funding, and access to Poets House’s world-class poetry resources.

Presented with support from the Jerome Foundation

Friends and fellow poets gather to honor National Book Award-nominee Naomi Replansky, who has been praised by Philip Levine as a “warrior for social justice” and B.H. Fairchild as “the master of a Blakean music radically unfashionable in its devotion to songlike meters and the reality and politics of working-class experience.”

Exhibition Opening: 6PM
Talk with exhibition curator Sophie Seita: 7PM

MacArthur Award-winning poet and critic Edward Hirsch considers how five 19th- and 20-century poets treat luminous moments and visionary experiences. It is “Within a Moment: a Pulsation of the Artery,” William Blake writes, “when the Poets Work is Done.” Such unexpected breakthroughs—sudden and revelatory—arise out of commonplace experiences. How do different poets dramatize epiphanies that rupture time? And how do they integrate them into consciousness?

Lullabies and Laments is an experiment in translation, informed by Indic reading, interpretive and performative practices. Moving between Tamil and English, this performance with Grammy Award-nominee Sikkil C. Gurucharan and scholar and translator Archana Venkatesan explores laments and lullabies and the role of gender in expressing love, longing, desire and devotion.

Sonnets have been written in English for about 500 years, and though their popularity has risen and fallen during that time, almost from the beginning poets have utilized sonnets for everything from grand statements to private messages. Shane McCrae explores the history of the sonnet and considers its use by today’s poets.

Presented as part of the Emerging Poets Fellowship public lecture series, with support from the Jerome Foundation.