Nov 20 In poet John Keats' letters, a man full of life just before he died By Alison Thoet Romantic poet John Keats is best known for his odes, epics and sonnets. But in his short lifetime he also wrote dozens of letters to siblings and friends, which are now surfacing together online for the first time, 200 years… Continue reading
Nov 10 This South African poet is helping a Maryland church protect a historic black cemetery By Andrew Bossone Members of the Macedonia Baptist Church in Bethesda, Maryland, believe the remains of some of the first freed African Americans are buried under ground nearby. Continue reading
Nov 06 Bukowski's poems were mangled by editors after his death. Now you can read his originals By Elizabeth Flock A new book faithfully reproduces Bukowski's poems as he actually wrote them, before they were revised with a heavy hand. Continue reading
Oct 30 This poet wants us to unlearn the words, 'Sorry to be a woman' By Elizabeth Flock Watch women read these powerful lines of poetry from McKayla Robbin's collection "we carry the sky."… Continue reading
Oct 23 Watch 5:11 Why this poet couldn't avoid writing about the opioid crisis By PBS News Hour The opioid crisis has plagued poet William Brewer’s hometown in West Virginia. His vivid poems tell the story of the opioid epidemic from different voices and depict the sense of bewilderment people find themselves in as addiction creeps into their… Continue watching
Oct 23 'Oh, they're on the pills. We don't really see them anymore.' By Mary Jo Brooks Author William Brewer didn’t want to write a book about the drug crisis decimating his state, but it was a topic he couldn’t avoid. Watching the people around him succumb to addiction, he set out to capture the crisis in… Continue reading
Oct 16 This poem shows what sexual abuse looks like By Elizabeth Flock “From One / who says, ‘Don’t cry. You’ll like it after a while,’” she writes. “And Two who tells you thank you / after the fact and can’t look at your face.”… Continue reading
Sep 29 Watch 7:09 Navigating Seattle's ever-evolving streets through poetry By PBS News Hour How do you capture Seattle’s complications, quirks and ever-changing population? A new digital project is mapping out the evolving city by collecting poems that tell unique stories, from growing up in an affluent neighborhood to memories of homelessness and cold… Continue watching
Sep 29 Mapping Seattle, poem by poem By Lorna Baldwin Seattle's "Poetic Grid" captures the rapidly changing city by asking people to write about locations that have meaning to them. Continue reading
Sep 25 How the irreverent poetry of the '60s helped spawn punk music By Elizabeth Flock A new book traces how innovators of punk music interacted with New York School poets such as Ted Berrigan and Anne Waldman. Continue reading