Poets & Writers Theater
Every day we share a new clip of interest to creative writers—author readings, book trailers, publishing panels, craft talks, and more. So grab some popcorn, filter the theater tags by keyword or genre, and explore our sizable archive of literary videos.
-
“I live in a hotel / with no rooms, just a lobby and lifts / leading to experiences.” In this video, Jon Sands reads Brenda Shaughnessy’s poem “Karaoke Realness at the Love Hotel” for the Ours Poetica series, sponsored by Complexly and the Poetry Foundation.
Tags: Poetry | Jon Sands | Ours Poetica | Brenda Shaughnessy | Poetry Foundation | reading | 2022 -
In this 2009 reading filmed at the Dodge Poetry Festival, Jane Hirshfield reads her poem “For What Binds Us,” which is included in her latest collection, The Asking: New and Selected Poems, forthcoming in September from Knopf. A profile of Hirshfield by Danusha Laméris is featured in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Tags: Poetry | Jane Hirshfield | Dodge Poetry Festival | Poetry Everywhere | Poetry Foundation | reading | 2009 | The Asking | Knopf | September/October 2023 -
“The book itself is a meditation about growing up between an immigrant life and a queer life, between countries and between different kinds of kinship systems.” Gala Mukomolova discusses her debut collection, Without Protection (Coffee House Press, 2019), and reads her poem “X” in this installment of the Ours Poetica series, sponsored by Complexly and the Poetry Foundation.
Tags: Poetry | Gala Mukomolova | Without Protection | 2019 | Coffee House Press | Ours Poetica | Poetry Foundation -
“I spent most of my life trying to blend in. / Try to fade into the background. / Try not to be noticed.” Abby Orbeta reads their poem “Chameleon” (“Hunyango”), which has been translated into Filipino, for this Ours Poetica video, sponsored by Complexly and the Poetry Foundation.
Tags: Poetry | Translation | Abby Orbeta | reading | Filipino | Ours Poetica | Poetry Foundation | 2022 -
“I learned young to be the smallest bullseye.” Arhm Choi Wild, author of Cut to Bloom (Write Bloody Publishing, 2020), reads torrin a. greathouse’s poem “All I Ever Wanted to Be Was Nothing at All” in this Ours Poetica video, sponsored by Complexly and the Poetry Foundation.
Tags: Poetry | Arhm Choi Wild | torrin a. greathouse | Ours Poetica | 2022 | Poetry Foundation -
“Alzheimer’s patients sing every lyric to their favorite songs, / and this casual act becomes a dance with defiance.” In this video, Theresa Lola reads “Sing With Me and Do Not Die of Thirst” from her debut poetry collection, In Search of Equilibrium (Nine Arches Press, 2019), for Ours Poetica, a series produced by the Poetry Foundation in collaboration with Complexly.
Tags: Poetry | Theresa Lola | Ours Poetica | Poetry Foundation | reading | In Search of Equilibrium | Nine Arches Press | 2019 -
“Listen to me. I am telling you / a true thing. This is the only kingdom.” In this installment of Ours Poetica, a series produced by the Poetry Foundation in collaboration with Complexly, chef and author of Salt Fat Acid Heat: Mastering the Elements of Good Cooking Samin Nosrat reads Aracelis Girmay’s poem “Elegy.”
Tags: Poetry | Ours Poetica | Poetry Foundation | 2021 | Samin Nosrat | Salt Fat Acid Heat | Aracelis Girmay | Kingdom Animalia | BOA Editions | 2011 -
“I pick up the phone and send you some words / about my trans body,” reads J. Jennifer Espinoza from her poem “My Trans Body,” included in her collection Outside of the Body There Is Something Like Hope (Big Lucks, 2018), in this installment of Ours Poetica, a video series produced by the Poetry Foundation in collaboration with Complexly.
-
“I want to be / at least as alive as the vulgar. And if / some aficionado of my mess says ‘That’s not like Frank!,’ all to the good!” reads Jenny Xie from Frank O’Hara’s poem “My Heart” in this episode of Ours Poetica, a series produced by the Poetry Foundation in collaboration with Complexly.
Tags: Poetry | Jenny Xie | Frank O'Hara | My Heart | Ours Poetica | Poetry Foundation -
“One morning, I decide to spin backwards around the sun, says Earth. / One step behind / another behind another, I watch the chipper dance / of human beings in reverse.” In this Ours Poetica video, Mike Birbiglia reads the poem “Earth (in reverse)” by J. Hope Stein from their book, The New One: Painfully True Stories From a Reluctant Dad (Grand Central Publishing, 2020).
Tags: Poetry | Mike Birbiglia | J. Hope Stein | Ours Poetica | Poetry Foundation | The New One | Grand Central Publishing | 2020 -
“The next time you stop speaking, / ask yourself why you were born,” reads Naomi Shihab Nye from her poem “Separation Wall” in this episode of Ours Poetica, a series produced by the Poetry Foundation in collaboration with Complexly.
Tags: Poetry | Naomi Shihab Nye | Separation Wall | The Tiny Journalist | BOA Editions | 2019 | Ours Poetica | Poetry Foundation | 2020 -
“I will tell you all. I will conceal nothing.” In this installment of the Poetry Foundation’s Ours Poetica video series, Carl Phillips reads the poem “Effort at Speech Between Two People” by Muriel Rukeyser.
Tags: Poetry | Carl Phillips | Muriel Rukeyser | Ours Poetica | Poetry Foundation -
In this video from the Poetry Foundation’s Ours Poetica series, Megan Fernandes reads “The Edward Albee Barn” from her second poetry collection, Good Boys (Tin House Books, 2020). For more Fernandes, read her installment of Writers Recommend.
Tags: Poetry | Megan Fernandes | The Edward Albee Barn | Good Boys | Tin House Books | 2020 | Poetry Foundation | Ours Poetica -
“It was Dre who once said, / You lose something every day / Your mind on the way to the store / The floor on the way to your mind…” In this Ours Poetica video, Jacqueline Woodson reads “You Lose Something Every Day,” a poem from Willie Perdomo’s collection The Crazy Bunch (Penguin Books, 2019).
Tags: Poetry | Jacqueline Woodson | Willie Perdomo | The Crazy Bunch | Penguin Books | 2019 | Ours Poetica | Poetry Foundation -
“Once on the back porch my lab barked / and barked. / he was always spooked / by something, garter snake, black / snake, rabbit.” In this Ours Poetica video produced in collaboration with the Poetry Foundation, Phillip B. Williams reads an untitled poem by Kayleb Rae Candrilli from their debut book, What Runs Over (YesYes Books, 2017).
Tags: Poetry | Phillip B. Williams | Ours Poetica | Poetry Foundation | Kayleb Rae Candrilli | What Runs Over | YesYes Books | 2017 -
“I was so struck by ‘Snow Drops’—it became sort of my prayer toward healing.” Leila Chatti talks about her connection with Louise Glück’s Pulitzer Prize–winning collection, The Wild Iris, and reads the poem “Snow Drops” for the Poetry Foundation’s Ours Poetica video series.
Tags: Poetry | Leila Chatti | reading | Snow Drops | Louise Glück | Ours Poetica | Poetry Foundation -
Julian Randall reads “On the Night I Consider Coming Out to My Parents” from his debut poetry collection, Refuse (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2018), in this Ours Poetica video produced by the Poetry Foundation in collaboration with Complexly. Randall is featured in “My MFA Experience” in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Tags: Poetry | Julian Randall | Refuse | University of Pittsburgh Press | 2018 | reading | Ours Poetica | Poetry Foundation | September/October 2019 -
“Maybe every talk about poetry is a defense of poetry,” says Tony Hoagland in this 2011 Chicago Ideas Week talk at the Poetry Foundation on the mind of a poet and how poets explain the world. Hoagland, the author of eight books of poetry and a recipient of the Jackson Poetry Prize, died on October 23 at the age of sixty-four.
Tags: Poetry | Tony Hoagland | Poetry Foundation | craft talk -
“Poetry survives the errors of its beliefs.” In this video, Jon Baskin, editor of the Point, moderates a panel exploring the purpose of poetry with Don Share, Srikanth Reddy, Lamar Jorden, and Kush Thompson.
Tags: Poetry | panel | Point Magazine | Poetry Foundation | Jon Baskin | Don Share | Srikanth Reddy | Lamar Jorden | Kush Thompson -
“The sun descending in the west, / The evening star does shine; / The birds are silent in their nest, / And I must seek for mine.” This Gucci fashion show, in which models walked to a reading of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience by musician Florence Welch, was examined in a recent essay on poetry and fashion by Mia You for the Poetry Foundation’s Harriet blog.
Tags: Poetry | 2017 | William Blake | Gucci | Songs of Innocence and Experience | Mia You | Poetry Foundation