Monday, June 28–Saturday, July 31
The 18th Annual Poets House Showcase
Members Preview: Monday, June 28, 5:00-6:00pm
Opening Reception: Monday, June 28, 6:00-8:00pm
On view: through July 31 during regular library hours

Experience the breadth and diversity of contemporary poetry today with this exciting display of all the poetry books published in the United States during the last year. From micro-press chapbooks to CDs to volumes from major commercial publishers, over 2,000 poetry titles are gathered together at Poets House. In conjunction, Showcase Readings feature poets reading from newly published books on July 13, July 15, July 20, July 22, and July 27.

Admission Free

All Souls: Poems from the Dakotas
by Kathleen Norris
with drawings by Ed Colker
New York: Haybarn Press, 1993. Edition of 100.

Gathering: An Exhibition of Poems & Prints by Ed Colker
Opening Reception: Thursday, July 8, 6:00-8:00pm
On view Monday, June 28 through Saturday, September 18 during regular library hours

Creating art in response to poetry since the 1960s, Ed Colker has "produced pure expressions, stirring symbols of inner truths or imaginings that can sometimes be inspired by or incite poetry" (New York Times). This show consists of mercurial abstract visuals painted in response to the work of a diverse group of fifteen poets, ranging from Rosmarie Waldrop to Kathleen Norris to Pablo Neruda; the poems are printed in letter-press form alongside the color vignettes. The exhibition marks 50 years of "prints for poetry" by Ed Colker and his presses, Editions du Grenier and Haybarn Press.

Admission Free

King of the River (to Stanley Kunitz), 2010
oil on birch panel, 48 x 48 inches

Radiance: An Exhibition of Paintings by James Walton Fox
Opening Reception: Thursday, July 8, 6:00-8:00pm
On view Monday, June 28 through Saturday, September 18 during regular library hours

The paintings of James Walton Fox find inspiration in the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, Rumi, A.R. Ammons and others, combining lines of poetry with the gesture of handwriting, saturated colors and dynamic compositions. His work "treats the concrete reality of language as place," as Fox says, and "create[s] a dimension where the radiance of life is not separate from forms; text is not separate from space, but actually generates space; and the Poetry—the very music of creation—is made visible, physical, and local."

Admission Free

Wednesday, July 7, 7:00pm
Poetic City: A Celebration of the Poetry and Music of Haiti

Join us for music by L'Orchestre Septentrional, Haiti's oldest big band orchestra, and dynamic readings by Haitian poets Jacqueline Beauge-Rosier, Anthony Phelps, Josaphat-Robert Large and Janine Tavernier in Rockefeller Park, the "front lawn" of Poets House.

DIRECTIONS: 1/2/3/A/C subway lines to Chamber St. Walk all the way west on Chambers St to River Terrace. Turn left and walk one block south to Warren St; the event takes place in the pavilion on the right, at the edge of Nelson A. Rockefeller Park.

Cosponsored by the Battery Park City Authority as part of the River to River Festival.

Admission free

From top: Jacqueline Beauge-Rosier, Anthony Phelps, Josaphat-Robert Large & Janine Tavernier

Poets House Showcase Readings are held in conjunction with the 18th Annual Poets House Showcase, a display of all the poetry books published in the last year. The Showcase is on view Monday, June 28–Saturday, July 31 during regular library hours. For details, click here.

Tuesday, July 13, 7:00pm
Poets House Showcase Reading
with Julie Sheehan (W.W. Norton), Leslie Chang (Fordham University Press), Terese Svoboda (University of Arkansas Press) & Mark Bibbins (Copper Canyon Press)

Admission free

Thursday, July 15, 7:00pm
Poets House Showcase Reading
with Ryan Murphy (Krupskaya), Estha Weiner (Tiger Bark Press), Maureen McLane (FSG) & Evelyn Reilly (Roof Books)

Admission free

Tuesday, July 20, 7:00pm
Poets House Showcase Reading
with Matvei Yankelevich (Octopus Books), Indigo Moor (Northwestern University Press), Monica Youn (Four Way Books) & Nathalie Handal (University of Pittsburgh Press)

Admission free

Thursday, July 22, 7:00pm
Poets House Showcase Reading
with Tan Lin (Wesleyan University Press), Rachel Levitsky (Ugly Duckling Presse), Joanna Fuhrman (Alice James Books) & Ken Chen (Yale University Press)

Admission free

Tuesday, July 27, 7:00pm
Poets House Showcase Reading
featuring Persistent Voices: An Anthology of Poets Lost to AIDS (Alyson Books) with Star Black, Cyrus Cassells, Douglas Crase, Mina Pam Dick, Patricia Spears Jones, Timothy Liu, Dante Michaux and others to TBA

Admission free