Join us for a continuation of our informal series of discussions of 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 November, and on the second Friday of December, from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM.

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

Reading schedule

9/20   Mark Doty, DEEP LANE (2015): having lost lovers and husbands to AIDS and other illnesses, the discovery of sensual connections late in life.

10/18  Rita Dove, THOMAS AND BEULAH (1986): a semi-fictitious lyric sequence about her maternal grandparents during Jim Crow (winner of the 1987 Pulitzer)

11/15  Diane Seuss, FRANK: SONNETS (2021): a contemporary sonnet sequence about the ravages of love, history, and time on the bodies of women and gay men (winner of the 2022 Pulitzer)

12/13  [Please note: this is the 2nd Friday of the month] Marie Howe, MAGDALENE (2017): a lyrical sequence that reimagines Mary Magdalene as the corporeality to set against the spirituality of Jesus.

Past Reading

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 each month before the discussion group meets.

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