LITERANISTA Dialogue on Multicultural Books, Tech & Life

Literanista April 2, 2010

In celebration of National Poetry Month in April, Poetry Everywhere with Garrison Keillor (pbs.org/poetry) returns to public television and the Web with new poems and unique voices. The project offers 32 short poetry films during unexpected moments in the public television broadcast schedule. Through television and the Internet, viewers will have an exclusive, front-row seat at the world’s greatest poetry festival.

Poetry Everywhere offers something for everyone. Robert Frost reads his classic, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening in an archival clip; former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins reads The Lanyard, a poem marked by his characteristic mix of poignancy and humor; Mary Louise-Parker, Tony Kushner, and Wynton Marsalis share their favorite poems; an Emily Dickinson poem is rendered in an animation.

There are poems by Pulitzer Prize-winner Yusef Koumanyaka, National Book Award-winner Adrienne Rich, former U.S. Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz, the great 13th-century Persian poet Rumi, Nobel Prize-winner W.B. Yeats, and many more, including a number of contemporary poets filmed at The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, North America’s largest poetry festival.

Building on Poetry Everywhere’s existing collection of 24 short poetry films, the project’s third year adds eight new poets reading their own works including: Marilyn Chin, The Floral Apron; Toi Derricotte, Blackbottom; Martín Espada, Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper; Seamus Heaney, Blackberry Picking; Maxine Kumin, After Love; W.S. Merwin, Yesterday; C.D. Wright, Lake Echo, Dear; and Daisy Zamora Mother’s Day. The project aims to reach a wide range of new audiences with the power of great poetry, and to increase poetry’s presence on television and the Web.

New to the project this season is the Poetry Everywhere iPhone App. The App continues the project’s ongoing mission of bringing poetry to people through new channels and provides poetry lovers and audiences with a new way of experiencing great poems.

The Poetry Everywhere channel on You Tube for embeddable poems from the project: www.youtube.com