Join Us For "Common Threads" Poetry Discussions in April

Common Threads is a program of MassPoetry.org that seeks to have as many people as possible read and discuss the same nine poems during the month of April, National Poetry Month. All poets selected have strong ties to Massachusetts. As part of the annual celebration, Michael West will lead a discussion of the poems on three afternoons in April at the Vineyard Haven Library. Each week Michael West will be joined by one of the island's poet laureates to discuss three of the poems:

Saturday, April 7th, 2pm
Justen Ahren (incoming poet laureate of West Tisbury)
Baseball by Gail Mazur
Horseface by Sam Cornish
The Hardness Scale by Joyce Peseroff

Saturday, April 14th, 2pm
Fan Ogilvie (outgoing poet laureate of West Tisbury)
No. 1129 – Tell all the Truth but tell it slant by Emily Dickinson
For the Union Dead by Robert Lowell
if see no end in is by Frank Bidart

Saturday, April 28th, 2pm
Dan Waters (first poet laureate of West Tisbury)
Out at Lanesville by David Ferry
The Author To Her Book by Anne Bradstreet
The Fire of Drift-Wood by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The nine poems and discussion questions are available at http://masspoetry.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/This-Is-It.pdf. This year the MassPoetry website also features videos of the living poets reading their own poems as well as those poems of the non-living poets: http://masspoetry.org/about/common-threads-2012-updated/?. Even if you are unable to join the discussion, please stop by the library to read the poems, which will be featured in a special display throughout the month of April.