Pleasures of Poetry 2023

Pleasures of Poetry meets this IAP 2023, and this year for four days before IAP begins, in 14E-304 from 1-2 p.m. every weekday from January 3-20, with the exception of MLK Jr. Day (Jan. 16). This popular activity – which aims to reach all those with an interest in poetry, regardless of experience level – has been offered every IAP for several decades. This will be the 27th year of Pleasures of Poetry at MIT. Each one-hour session is devoted to a poet or two, often a single poem, chosen by session leaders who volunteer to facilitate conversation for that day. Collaborative close reading is the aim and ideal of each hour. Some participants attend every session, but many others may drop in only once or twice during the series to discuss a favorite poet or poem, or to discover new favorites. The roster of poets is typically diverse — from classic Chinese poets to American poets laureate, and from such canonical figures as Shakespeare, Keats, Dickinson, and Bishop to contemporary poets including Eve L. Ewing, Alice Notley, and many more.

Free and open to the public; as well as staff, alumni, and students.

Pleasures of Poetry 2023 Poetry Booklet PDF 
Schedule: January 3 – January 20 (with the exception of MLK Day January 16th)
Building 14, 14E-304 @ 1:00-2:00pm

Jan 3 Stephen Tapscott – Ghazals by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi and Agha Shahid Ali
Jan 4 Nina (Yihong) Li – “Note after Note” by Li Qingzhao
Jan 5 Mark Hessler – “To a Skylark” by Percy Bysshe Shelley and “The Caged Skylark” by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Jan 6  Skyler Jones – “The Bewlay Brothers” by David Bowie and “Vegetable Man” by Syd Barrett
Jan 9 Zachary Bos – “After the Rioting and the Burning of the Jaffna Public Library” by Hasanthika Sirisena
Jan 10 Peter Shor – “Le ciel est, par-dessus le toit” (6 translations) & “À Horatio” by Paul Verlaine
Jan 11 Susan E Carlisle – “Snake-Light” by Natalie Diaz
Jan 12 Elizabeth Doran – “O Jeweled Land”, “The Bird was Just a Bird”, “Captive” & “Pair” by Forough Farrokhzad (translated by Elizabeth T. Gray Jr.)
Jan 13 David Thorburn – “Death of a Naturalist”, “Digging”, and “Song”
by Seamus Heaney
Jan 16 Martin Luther King Jr. Day – Institute Holiday (Closed)
Jan 17 Anne Hudson – “Myth” and “Quotidian” by Natasha Trethewey
Jan 18 Benjamin Mangrum –  “Miracle of the Black Leg” by Natasha Trethewey
Jan 19 Mary Fuller – “Cascadilla Falls” by A.R. Ammons, “Mud” by Stephen Tapscott, and “Trash IV” by Joshua Bennett
Jan 20 POP23 Wrap-up: Our Favorites