Join us this summer for an informal discussion of three contemporary poetry collections. We’ll talk about technique, form, and meaning, trying as a group to come to terms with published collections by U. S. poets of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Come prepared to offer your thoughts, listen closely, and deepen your understanding of the craft for this most un-modern road: the contemplative path of poetry.

No poetry training is needed, and no other skills are required, except to read the works carefully and be ready to discuss them openly. Cookies or treats will be provided every week. 

This series meets on third Fridays, June through August, 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM.

Enrollment is limited to 30 participants in order to make discussion possible. 

If you signed up for the first session (June 21st), you're enrolled for the whole series and will receive reminder emails. 

If you did not register for the June 21st session, you are welcome to sign up July 19th and/or August 16th session. We will admit people from the waitlist as space allows. 

Reading schedule

21 June        Ellen Bass, INDIGO (2020)

19 July         Dorianne Laux, LIFE ON EARTH (2024)

16 August    Galway Kinnell, MORTAL ACTS, MORTAL WORDS (1980)

Books and availability: SML will have a limited number of books for borrowing beginning June 1st. (Should you wish to purchase books, copies will be available at Oblong Books. INDIGO and LIFE ON EARTH are also available on Kindle.) Galway Kinnell’s 1980 work is most readily available as the middle section of the collection THREE BOOKS (Ecco, 2002). 

Mark has kindly provided a primer on How to Read Poetry for participants in this series. If you would like a copy, please click this link.

This series is made possible by the generous support of the Friends of the Scoville Library.