2023 Gather in Poems
2023 Gather in Poems featured these readers sharing some of their favorite poems in the spirit of community and connection. Founded in 1934 in New York City, the Academy of American Poets is the nation’s leading champion of American poets and poetry, with members in all fifty states. Its mission is to support American poets at all stages of their careers and to foster the appreciation of contemporary poetry.
Ricardo Maldonado reads “Behind the Word is Silence” by Giannina Braschi, translated by Tess O’Dwyer
Denice Frohman reads from “Relax” by Ellen Bass
Kwame Dawes reads “Traces” by Matthew Shenoda
Dorianne Laux reads “Counting, This New Year’s Morning, What Powers Yet Remain To Me” by Jane Hirshfield
Elizabeth Acevedo reads “My Mama moved among the days”; “wishes for sons”; “cutting greens”; and “blessing the boats” by Lucille Clifton
Joy Harjo reads “Deer’s Breath of Every Color” by Max Early
Naomi Shihab Nye reads “Zero” by Dorothea Tanning
Kimiko Hahn reads “Silverswords” by Juliet S. Kono
Afaa Michael Weaver reads “A March in the Ranks Hard-Prest, and the Road Unknown” by Walt Whitman
2023 Gather in Poems Video
https://poets.org/gather/2023-program
Gather in Poems 2022
The Academy of American Poets was honored to present the third Gather in Poems on November 17, 2022. This reading was free and open to the public, with presentations by award-winning poets, including former U.S. Poet Laureates Juan Felipe Herrera, Tracy K. Smith, and Natasha Trethewey; and, Hanif Abdurraqib, Marie Howe, Dorianne Laux, and more. Established in 1946, the Board of Chancellors is an elected group of distinguished poets who advise the Academy of American Poets on artistic matters, judge its largest legacy prizes, and serve as ambassadors for poetry. This event was free to attend and open to the public.
The Academy of American Poets is supported by the financial contributions of more than eight thousand individuals members nationwide, and funding from private foundations, corporations, and government sources such as the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.