Since the Industrial Revolution, the alleys, sewers, and towers of the city have provided a labyrinthine landscape that mirrors the poetic explorations of its inhabitants. Whitman’s “I contain multitudes” boldly points out each city dweller’s multiple ways of being in the world. This course explores the effects of the city’s ever-changing spaces and systems within our own writing. Readings by César Vallejo, Kenneth Koch, and Elaine Equi will be discussed.

Juliana Spahr speaks about the life and work of the influential Caribbean poet and NYU professor Kamau Brathwaite, author of numerous books of poetry and prose, including The Arrivants, a chronicle of the triangular slave trade, and Ancestors, a revised edition of his earlier collections, Mother Poem, Sun Poem, and X/Self.

A prim and proper representative of the avant-garde. A private, single woman who lived with her mother, counted many (misbehaving) great writers as her friends, and famously influenced the course of American letters. A modest person who saluted boldness. A city-dweller who was a close observer of animals. An artist who embraced science. A punctilious failure at punctuation. A writer of prose that sounded like poetry and of poetry that sounded like prose. A woman writer revered by male writers in her lifetime, when women were often dismissed (at least until they were properly dead).

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.

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.

Renowned poet and essayist Robin Blaser articulates the philosophy of his poetics by considering the work of Giorgio Agamben, Jean-Luc Nancy, and John Berger in relation to writing, politics, and transcendence.

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.

A celebration of the influential poetry of the troubadours, whose work flourished in southern France during the height of the Middle Ages. W. D. Snodgrass and Robert Kehew present verse translations of poems by Bertran de Ventadorn, the Monk of Montaudo, Bertran de Born, Marcabru, and others, and discuss their history, relevance to 20th-century poetics, and the challenges of translating their work.

All together now! Liz and Hal lead a workshop showing us how to write in haiku and other poetic forms. They’ll also read their favorite children’s poem from over the years.