Poets House, on the bank of the Hudson River in Lower Manhattan, is the kind of place that makes me jealous of cities-that-aren't-Vancouver. It features a 50,000 book poetry-only library, a number of special collections (the stacks in the second picture below, for instance, are just for chapbooks!), a special exhibition room, and a series of open and well-lit reading and writing spaces. In addition to all that, it hosts over 200 events and programs a year, though Marta and I weren't able to take anything in while we were in New York.
Founded by Stanley Kunitz and Elizabeth Kray in 1985, Poetry House moved into its current digs in 2009 after winning a lottery, open only to community non-profits, for free rent in the building (hint, hint, Vancouver).
More important than the building, though, are the free Poets House haiku pencils given out in the lobby. Be sure to take one if you visit, or better yet, grab three and you have a portable haiku-generator. Some (rather terrible) examples:
Erasure writing seems to be all the rage these days. How about Pencil + Eraser haiku writing? Maybe I should run a contest.
Speaking of clumsy segues, the deadline for Geist's Erasure Contest has been pushed back to July 15th. C'mon, you know you want to win a writing contest without writing anything - submit, already!
More trip updates to come (hopefully soon, before I forget everything we did)...
1 comment:
There is a thought. 2B or not 2B.
When I was a kid I spend time staring at my pencil. I wish there was more worthwhile stuff on them to read or chew on.
We can call it graphite poetry or carbon poetry.
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