The Dead Poets of New England

May 14th: Emily Dickinson Poetry Walk

This year's Emily Dickinson Poetry Walk will focus on her poetry in translation. The 1 PM Community reading on Saturday, May 14th will move from place to place in town, finishing at HER GRAVE. Should be a very informative and fun event.

There will be an open house at her homestead museum from 3 to PM.

Charles Olson Tombstone is Craking in Two

On the eve of the Charles Olson Centennial starting later this week, the Dead Poets Society of America has issued a press release detailing how the famous modernist poet's tombstone is splitting in half and in need of emergency repair.

You can read the press release and see the pictures for yourself.

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. It is the GREAT BOSTON POETRY MARATHON.

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.

Emily Dickinson Marathon Sept 25th

(News from the Emily Dickinson Musuem) Emily Dickinson lovers of all ages are invited to join the Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon, a daylong marathon reading of all 1,789 poems by Emily Dickinson. The event, which is sponsored annually by the Emily Dickinson Museum, will take place from 7 a.m. to approximately 11 p.m. at the Dickinson Homestead. All are welcome to participate in the free event as a reader, a listener, or both! Stay for just a single poem or join us for the entire day.

A Visit with Anne Sexton and E.E. Cummings

(From Forest Hills Cemetery) Join us for a pilgrimage to the gravesites of two of the most famous American poets of the 20th century – Anne Sexton and E.E. Cummings. Along the way, we will read their poetry and see contemporary art inspired by their work, decode Victorian symbolism and view elegant 19th-century sculpture, and hear the stories of some of the other notables buried at Forest Hills during a walk led by the Trust’s Director Cecily Miller and Program Coordinator Jonathan Clark. $9

Historic Grand Tour Report Now Online

The initial report of the historic Dead Poets Grand Tour 2010 is now online.

It chronicles all the places visited and the names of the poets read. From the Report: 

"We started on Shakespeare’s birthday, in Portland, Maine, the 23^rd of April, and we ended with a bang 6,500 miles later at the first Boston Poetry Marathon, May 25th. During those 34 days, and with the cooperation of 13 current and former State Poets Laureate, we held a Dead Poets Bash in 19 different States and visited 43 cemeteries!

The Grand Tour map can be accessed at the top left corner of the Dead Poets Society of America blog:  http://deadpoets.typepad.com/dpsablog/  

The other readings and interviews we held at poets’ graves and houses were really great as well, including the Lorine Niedecker home, the Carl Sandburg home, the E.L. Masters home, the Sidney Lanier house, The Virginia Military Institute, The Poe Museum, the Longfellow House and the Woodberry Poetry Room, at Harvard.

All totaled we visited the graves of 75 American poets, and heard the amazing poetry of over 100 American poets read. Dedgar and the crew kept up a pace of just over 191.18 miles per day and 2 poets’ graves per day!

The initial report of the historic Dead Poets Grand Tour 2010 is now online.

It chronicles all the places visited and the names of the poets read. From the Report: 

"We started on Shakespeare’s birthday, in Portland, Maine, the 23^rd of April, and we ended with a bang 6,500 miles later at the first Boston Poetry Marathon, May 25th. During those 34 days, and with the cooperation of 13 current and former State Poets Laureate, we held a Dead Poets Bash in 19 different States and visited 43 cemeteries!

The Grand Tour map can be accessed at the top left corner of the Dead Poets Society of America blog:  http://deadpoets.typepad.com/dpsablog/  

The other readings and interviews we held at poets’ graves and houses were really great as well, including the Lorine Niedecker home, the Carl Sandburg home, the E.L. Masters home, the Sidney Lanier house, The Virginia Military Institute, The Poe Museum, the Longfellow House and the Woodberry Poetry Room, at Harvard.

All totaled we visited the graves of 75 American poets, and heard the amazing poetry of over 100 American poets read. Dedgar and the crew kept up a pace of just over 191.18 miles per day and 2 poets’ graves per day!

Poetry Marathon About to Begin

In two hours, at sunrise, here in Provincetown, the Great Boston Poetry Marathon is about to begin.

We can't visit 26.2 graves, but either 25 or 26 would break the land speed record for poets' graves visited within a 24 hour period.

Historic Reading At Robert Lowell's Grave

Join the Dead Poets Grand Tour 2010 at a reading in the historic Stark Family cemetery, in Dunbarton, NH, on Saturday, April 24. This is where Robert Lowell is buried. (Directions from Concord on Google)

We'll be joined by NH poet laureate, Walter Butts, and other regional poets, at 4 PM.

Please contact Walter Skold, at info (at) deadpoes  [dot] org if you plan to attend. There is no rain location as of yet, and we plan to hold the event if there are gray skies or light rain.

Poems for New Hampshire/Dunbarton Reading

This post is for people to list which poems they wish to read at the April 24th, 4 PM reading at the grave of Robert Lowell. Please use the comments to list your poem/s. They should be from past poets from New Hampshire and New England.

I would like for someone to start off with Lowell's "Dunbarton"

Would also be interesting for someone to read "At the Indian Killer's Grave", and "In Memory of Arthur Winslow" (who is buried near Lowell).

Dead Poets of Vermont & New Hampshire Online

The Dead Poets of Vermont & New Hampshire Map is now online. You can find out the grave location of your favorite past poet from Vermont or New Hampshire, as well as help find the location of some not known. (We know this is quite incomplete. You can always send in more names and locations in the comments.)