My Visit to Poets House
Poets House is a fitting place for poets and poetry lovers to read, converse, share ideas, and just get lost in words.
Poet Colleen Michaels and I visited the new location, now in a newly renovated space near in Battery Park, near the World Trade Center.
The rooms are drenched with light, even on the cloudiest day (and the rain was torrential during our visit). Inside, it is crisp and white and serene. When you first walk into the main library area, there is poetry exhibit space, a collection of recently published journals, and a collection of books published in 2009.
Plenty of workspace and comfy chairs to settle in and thumb through a random poetry selection. (From the 2009 publications, I picked up books by Rick Barot, Alicia Ostriker, and G.E. Patterson. Colleen is reading Kim Addonizio.).
This is the reading room, filled with portraits of poets.
There’s also a hefty chapbook collection ...
... and a multimedia area.
Poets House has meeting spaces for classes and events, as well as a children’s poetry play area.
I’m sorry we couldn’t spend more time here. It really is a respite for weary poets searching for the right words.
Poets, contact Poets House to make sure they have a copy of your book or chapbook: info@poetshouse.org.
Comments
I like the idea of being included in such a vast collection.