Poet and editor Saskia Hamilton looks at three post-war American poets, examining their formal innovation and selective use of the confessional, as well as their complex mutual friendships.

Poet Lee Ann Brown discusses the poetic movement that started at the experimental Black Mountain College in the 1950s and 1960s, including a focus on Charles Olson and Robert Duncan, as well as their collaborators.

Poet Martín Espada addresses the political poetic tradition of Puerto Rico, from Julia de Burgos to three major poets—Clemente Soto Vélez, Juan Antonio Corretjer and Francisco Matos Paoli—who were imprisoned for their “seditious” words and ideas.

Poet and novelist Carol Muske-Dukes offers insights on the Beat poets, with a discussion of the work of Diane di Prima, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder and Philip Whalen.

Scholar and poet Rosamond King shares her insights into the groundbreaking output of 20th-century Caribbean poets, including the works of Kamau Brathwaite and M. NourbeSe Philip.