Draft: From Poetry in the Branches to Branching Out
Sunday, 6/25/2006
Description: The ten-year old Poetry in the Branches program model that trains librarians in the how-to’s of poetry programming, collection development and display, has grown! Disover how the NEH-funded project, Branching Out: Poetry for the 21st Century, brings talks on classic and contemporary poetry by outstanding poet/scholars to five U.S. cities. Learn how to replicate this program in your library. Hear former poet laureate Robert Pinsky give his Branching Out talk on William Carlos Williams and Robert Frost.
Lots of handouts, including a Program Planing Overview that looks really useful.
Moderator, Marcia Howard from the ALA Public Programs Office. Joined by Tom Phelps from the NEH; Susan Larson from the New Orleans Times Picayune; Gerrie _____ from New Orleans Public, Lee Briccetti, Poets House; Alice Quinn, Poetry Society of America & The New Yorker; Robert Pinsky, 3-term Poet Laureate.
Marcia:
There is a “cultural readiness” for poetry now. For selection, librarians can look to the “Showcase” at the Poetry House website. NYPL’s initiative, the multi-element Poetry in the Branches, successful over 10 years. A model for national “Branching Out.” Elements are:
1) exposure
2) ongoing conversation
Related PSAs on public transit—Poetry in Motion.
The means of production has been democratized by technology. (Aha, my conference theme keeps emerging!)
Poetry is hot—hiphop, slams, open mikes, chap books.
Alice:
“creating a living education in poetry”
“A sentence is a sound itself.” –Robert Frost
Being attentive to the music in our own speech.
Poetry Sourcebook—yearly guide to using poetry in libraries. [Does SDCL own? No.]
1. Order one title a month from a living artist
2. www.poetshouse.org selection source—Directory of American Poets
3. Consortium (of small poetry publishers). Booth #3526. Good web site. Also Small Press Distributors.
4. Do displays. Add poetry to anything—face out—merchandise!
5. Ask readers to select a favorite poem. Copy it and have a place where it is displayed on a rotating basis.
6. Include staff—open meetings with a poem.
7. Include poetry in book discussion groups.
8. www.favoritepoemproject.org
9. Form memory circles for group recitations
10. Poetry readings. Poets’ own work + their favorites.
Gerrie:
Pretty much inherited Branching Out w/o knowing much about it—a former employee had applied for and received the grant.
Robert Pinsky did a program in the spring. Successful beyond wildest expectations. More programs scheduled for fall. Katrina hit. Moved program to Lake Charles in cooperation with that system. Then Rita. Moved next to Jefferson Parish. Still good turn-out. People really appreciated it seemingly more after the storms, and all the changes in hosts/venues/etc.
Robert:
Program brings together people in order to be a great nation. “Becoming a people.”
US still in progress—improvisational. Schools now carry almost the full burden of cultural learning, compared to 18th and 19th centuries. Public libraries are a major contributor.
Closeness is essential to civilization. Poetry=intimate and social activity.
Originally with Branching Out, Robert was supposed to write a paper and read it at a public library. Thought that was a terrible idea.
Pub libs=important counterweight to academia. Tom has to fight upstream for poetry funding against the academic flow.
Robert decided to look at Wm. Carlos Williams and Robert Frost in terms of the agricultural-industrial tension in their works. “Poetry is a machine made out of words & breath.”
Three Esses: Straight, smooth, and square. Blank verse—iambic pentameter without rhyme. Looks at “Directive” by Frost and “To Elsie” by Williams.
Recites them, pulling out lines, drawing out the sounds and rhythms. I had to stop taking notes. It was enthralling. Then, believe it or not, he is completely interrupted by a very loud fire alarm. We must evacuate to a stairwell. By the time it is over, it is time for the next session…how cruel.
Description: The ten-year old Poetry in the Branches program model that trains librarians in the how-to’s of poetry programming, collection development and display, has grown! Disover how the NEH-funded project, Branching Out: Poetry for the 21st Century, brings talks on classic and contemporary poetry by outstanding poet/scholars to five U.S. cities. Learn how to replicate this program in your library. Hear former poet laureate Robert Pinsky give his Branching Out talk on William Carlos Williams and Robert Frost.
Lots of handouts, including a Program Planing Overview that looks really useful.
Moderator, Marcia Howard from the ALA Public Programs Office. Joined by Tom Phelps from the NEH; Susan Larson from the New Orleans Times Picayune; Gerrie _____ from New Orleans Public, Lee Briccetti, Poets House; Alice Quinn, Poetry Society of America & The New Yorker; Robert Pinsky, 3-term Poet Laureate.
Marcia:
There is a “cultural readiness” for poetry now. For selection, librarians can look to the “Showcase” at the Poetry House website. NYPL’s initiative, the multi-element Poetry in the Branches, successful over 10 years. A model for national “Branching Out.” Elements are:
1) exposure
2) ongoing conversation
Related PSAs on public transit—Poetry in Motion.
The means of production has been democratized by technology. (Aha, my conference theme keeps emerging!)
Poetry is hot—hiphop, slams, open mikes, chap books.
Alice:
“creating a living education in poetry”
“A sentence is a sound itself.” –Robert Frost
Being attentive to the music in our own speech.
Poetry Sourcebook—yearly guide to using poetry in libraries. [Does SDCL own? No.]
1. Order one title a month from a living artist
2. www.poetshouse.org selection source—Directory of American Poets
3. Consortium (of small poetry publishers). Booth #3526. Good web site. Also Small Press Distributors.
4. Do displays. Add poetry to anything—face out—merchandise!
5. Ask readers to select a favorite poem. Copy it and have a place where it is displayed on a rotating basis.
6. Include staff—open meetings with a poem.
7. Include poetry in book discussion groups.
8. www.favoritepoemproject.org
9. Form memory circles for group recitations
10. Poetry readings. Poets’ own work + their favorites.
Gerrie:
Pretty much inherited Branching Out w/o knowing much about it—a former employee had applied for and received the grant.
Robert Pinsky did a program in the spring. Successful beyond wildest expectations. More programs scheduled for fall. Katrina hit. Moved program to Lake Charles in cooperation with that system. Then Rita. Moved next to Jefferson Parish. Still good turn-out. People really appreciated it seemingly more after the storms, and all the changes in hosts/venues/etc.
Robert:
Program brings together people in order to be a great nation. “Becoming a people.”
US still in progress—improvisational. Schools now carry almost the full burden of cultural learning, compared to 18th and 19th centuries. Public libraries are a major contributor.
Closeness is essential to civilization. Poetry=intimate and social activity.
Originally with Branching Out, Robert was supposed to write a paper and read it at a public library. Thought that was a terrible idea.
Pub libs=important counterweight to academia. Tom has to fight upstream for poetry funding against the academic flow.
Robert decided to look at Wm. Carlos Williams and Robert Frost in terms of the agricultural-industrial tension in their works. “Poetry is a machine made out of words & breath.”
Three Esses: Straight, smooth, and square. Blank verse—iambic pentameter without rhyme. Looks at “Directive” by Frost and “To Elsie” by Williams.
Recites them, pulling out lines, drawing out the sounds and rhythms. I had to stop taking notes. It was enthralling. Then, believe it or not, he is completely interrupted by a very loud fire alarm. We must evacuate to a stairwell. By the time it is over, it is time for the next session…how cruel.
posted by lislemck at 7:37 AM
1 Comments:
Thanks for your comments on the program! I'm actually not from the PPO of ALA but retired from NYPL and the Poetry in The Branches Coordinator for Poets Hosue. It's Geri (Geraldine) Harris who's the Asst City Librarian for NPOL. Glad you enjoyed the program. Come to the PITB National Institute in NYC in October. We'll try not to have any fire alarms.
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