Dead Poets Society of America

Etheridge Knight's Birthday Poem for His Wife : Sonia Sanchez

Six Videos on Poe posted for his Birthday

Just in time for the 202nd Anniversary of Poe's Birthday we've posted six new videos related to Poe: his three burials, his ideas on aesthetics, some sources for his horror stories, the cemetery where "Helen" and the Allan family is buried, movie posters, and more.

Dead Poets Remembrance Day a Winner

The eleven celebrations (that I'm aware of) of the first Dead Poets Remembrance Day marked a very successful launch of the literary holiday.

More photos and posts will be added in the days to come. The Great Boston Poetry Marathon was a great day of sunshine and poetry and the Remembering the Poets of the Granite State event was also a smash! Many thanks to all who particicpated. See -- and Hear You -- next year!

Coloradans Joining 1st National Celebration

Word from Colorado State Poet Laureate, Mary Crow, that on October 6th residents in Ft. Collins will gather to read from the poetry of Thomas Hornsby Ferril and Ed Dorn, as well as poetry from other favorite non-Colorado poets.

Welcome aboard the Dead Poets Remembrance Train Colorado! Mary makes the 19th State Poet Laureate to endorse the holiday, and Kevin Stein, the laureate of Illinois, marks 20!

Dan Beachy-Quick will host the historic event and poets reading include: Bill Tremblay, Matthew Cooperman, Aby Kapang, Francisco Leal, Veronica Patterson, Fernando Valerio-Holguin, and Lisa Zimmerman.   

Iconic Frost Farm Hosts Dead Poets Celebration

The beautiful and historic Robert Frost Farm has joined with the Dead Poets Society of America to host the first New Hampshire Dead Poets Remembrance Day. The grand celebration will take place in the famous Frost barn at 3 PM, on Sunday, October 10th.

Come hear a dozen of New Hampshire's best poets read the poetry of Jane Kenyon, Odgen Nash, Robert Lowell, Celia Thaxter, Robert Frost, Scott Mowrer, May Sarton, Richard Eberhart, Phillip Booth, and more, in this National Historic Landmark.

All are welcome to attend the reading. There is a fee of $4 (NH resident) or $5 (non NH resident) to enter to Farm, which is truly one of the best-kept literary sites in the country.

Many thanks to S. Stephanie, poet and wife of NH Poet Laureate, Walter Butts, and Bill Gleed, manager of the Frost Farm and co-founder of the Hyla Brook Poets, for putting this event together.

Rumi & Dead Poets Day

Coleman Barks is well-know, not just for his own poetry, but for his long love of and translations of Rumi. He joined with the 18 state poets laureate this week in endorsing the Dead Poets Remembrance Day. Here is what he wrote:

"The areas around the tombs of Hafez and Saadi in Shiraz, Iran, are great continuous celebrations. The same with Rumi's resting place in Konya, Turkey. We have a lot to learn from those ancient cultures about how to enjoy our poets, and poetry in general."

"In the Marble Quarry" By James Dickey from ChiefFallingLeaf on Vimeo.

Welcome to Norbert Krapf and Denise Low-Weso

Norbert Krapf, who just completed his musical term as Indiana's poet laureate, and Denise Low-Weso, the former poet laureate of Kansas, are number 16 and 18 on the list of state poets laureate who are endorsing the celebration of Dead Poets Remembrance Day.

Stay tuned: we are hoping to break the 20 mark soon. It is great to be adding more Midwestern bards to our number, with Utah adding one for the West.

Welcome Kansas -- Long Live the Dead Poets

Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, the poet laureate of Kansas, is now the 15th current or former state poet laureate to hop on the Dead Poets train! Welcome Caryn, and through you, all of Kansas!

On her blog Caryn wrote:

How can we create this new tradition? Well, organize readings, or just stand on a chair in the middle of your living room and read some of the great works of Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, or your great aunt Leonora who wrote poetry in secret. As for me, I’ll be telling folks about this holiday from the readings and workshops I’ll be doing that day in Marshall County, Kansas.

Long live the dead poets! Long may we sing of those known and unknown to changed our lives with their words.

Thanks, Caryn. Your first contribution to the new holiday is another very cool slogan for the new holiday: Long Live Dead Poets!

The Great Boston Poetry Marathon of 2010 Announced

This Columbus Day sail the ocean of poetic imagination as Dedgar The Poemobile leads a sunrise to sunset reading of over 40 poets at five major locations. Celebrate Dead Poets Remembrance Day in style, by joining the caravan for the whole day, starting at 6:15, in Gloucester, or meeting for a reading at Beverly, Salem, Boston Commons, Mt. Auburn Cemetery, or Author's Ridge.

This historic journey to the graves of so many sung and unsung poets is the longest poetry marathon in the history of Mt. Parnassus. We are looking for a reader for each of our 44 poets being read.

"Remembering Maine's Island Poets" Oct. 7th

On October 7th, the Dead Poets Society of America, in cooperation with individuals and institutions on the Maine coast, is organizing "Remembering Maine's Island Poets", a day-long, 6-event reading up the coast of Maine, starting at sunrise in Harpswell and ending at sunset at Cadillac Mountain.

A new blog has been started to provide Mainers with information about where we will have community readings that highlight the lives and work of 36 Maine poets.

Participants are welcome to sign up to read a work from one of their favorite Maine poets, and blog readers can make comments with suggestions for poems to be read that day (they all will have something to do with the "Islands" ie., fishing, shipbuilding, sailing, vacationing, the coast, etc.)

On October 7th, the Dead Poets Society of America, in cooperation with individuals and institutions on the Maine coast, is organizing "Remembering Maine's Island Poets", a day-long, 6-event reading up the coast of Maine, starting at sunrise in Harpswell and ending at sunset at Cadillac Mountain.

A new blog has been started to provide Mainers with information about where we will have community readings that highlight the lives and work of 36 Maine poets.

Participants are welcome to sign up to read a work from one of their favorite Maine poets, and blog readers can make comments with suggestions for poems to be read that day (they all will have something to do with the "Islands" ie., fishing, shipbuilding, sailing, vacationing, the coast, etc.)