Contemporary poets talk about how they handle violence in their work and why.

Beginning in February 2005 , Staten Island teens and adults will be doing what Poetry in The Branches was designed for: bumping into poetry and discovering its delights. The pilot year of this program will see Staten Island branches of The New York Public Library hosting six poetry-writing workshops for teens, and, for adults, a series of readings by stellar poets of their own and their favorite poets’ work. On a Spring afternoon or evening, when a trip on the ferry adds an extra note of pleasure to your day, come hear these readings.

Geoffrey Young, publisher of The Figures, explores the collaborative process of book publishing and interweaves discussion of the publishing process with anecdotes of his experiences. A conversation with other small press publishers, including Jill Schoolman of Archipelago Books, Robert Hershon of Hanging Loose Press, James Sherry of Roof Books, and Anna Moschovakis and Matvei Yankelvich of Ugly Duckling Presse, will follow.

Poet and artist Annie Wright leads a morning of watercolor painting, reading her favorite poems about water and color to inspire us.

In this talk, Vijay Seshadri will examine the origins and the scope of Bishop's visionary ambitions, her complicated, paradoxical relationship to the religious traditions that shaped her thought, and, finally, her ability to expose, in small poems and large, the fundamental questions underlying our experience.

A joint initiative with the Poetry Society of America, Branching Out: Poetry for the 21st Century is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

A reading of our favorite poems from the new books on display in the Children’s Poetry Book Show.

On View April 2 - 30
Since 1990, the annual Poets House Showcase has collected, displayed and promoted virtually every book of poetry published in the United States. This year’s harvest promises to be the most bountiful yet,with well over 2,000 new titles from commercial, university and independent presses. From authoritative anthologies to handmade chapbooks, Poets House is the only place where they are all gathered under one roof. Celebrate National Poetry Month by getting an eye-full of the national poetry scene.

The best book party of the year! Raise a glass to the poetic voices of America. Since 1990, the annual Poets House Showcase has collected, displayed and promoted virtually every book of poetry published in the United States. This year’s harvest promises to be the most bountiful yet,with well over 2,000 new titles from commercial, university and independent presses. From authoritative anthologies to handmade chapbooks, Poets House is the only place where they are all gathered under one roof.

The best book party of the year! Raise a glass to the poetic voices of America. Since 1990, the annual Poets House Showcase has collected, displayed and promoted virtually every book of poetry published in the United States. This year’s harvest promises to be the most bountiful yet,with well over 2,000 new titles from commercial, university and independent presses. From authoritative anthologies to handmade chapbooks, Poets House is the only place where they are all gathered under one roof.

Cid Corman (1924-2004) was a poet, translator, and editor of the magazine origin, founded in 1951, which published many of the major American poets of the last 50 years, including Creeley,Niedecker, and Roethke. Author of 70 volumes of poetry, he lived in Kyoto, Japan from 1958 to his death last year.