PUBLIC POETRY PROJECT

The Coffee Line
By Judith Volmer

Many people who have read Judith Volmer’s “The Coffee Line” have had the image of the burner, “the wedding ring of night & morning fused” linger in their minds for weeks and months afterward, so powerful is its use here.

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Judith Volmer reads "The Coffee Line"

Gerry Jones, 14
Student
By Walter Dean Myers

Gerry Jones represents the young Walter Dean Myers sitting and reading in his Harlem tower and gauging whether the action below is enough to take his eyes off the page. Usually the book wins, but the sights, sounds, and smells still find their way into the soul of the poet and the minds of his characters.

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Walter Dean Myers reads "Gerry Jones, 14" at the Lee Bennett Hopkins Award Ceremony

The Planet Krypton
By Lynn Emanuel

Gary Fincke said about Lynn Emanuel’s “The Planet Krypton,” “I've loved this poem since I heard Lynn read it . . . it's so well observed and takes its images under the surface to where the ‘real poem’ lies.”

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Gabe Welsch reads "The Planet Krypton".

So Far, So Good
By Jeanne Murray Walker

Barbara Crooker said about Jeanne Murray Walker’s “So Far, So Good,” “One of the many things I admire about it is its telescopic quality, the way it zooms way out there to the universe, to the eye of God, and back again, firmly grounded in the things of the world, plastic placemats, spaghetti, mashed potatoes.”

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Jeanne Murray Walker reads "So Far, So Good".

The Company We Keep
By Ron Mohring

Deirdre O’Connor said of Ron Mohring’s “The Company We Keep,” “There's something childlike in both the sound-driven language and in the act of collecting crayfish that is gently but usefully undermined by the conclusion that we human beings insist on our dominion.”

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Ron Mohring reads "The Company We Keep".