Poetry Month-Common Threads 2013

This year, Mass Poetry is offering its third annual Common Threads group reading and discussion program for April, National Poetry Month. The poets included are Lloyd Schwartz, Afaa Michael Weaver, Andrea Cohen, Martha Collins, Patricia Smith, Jack Gilbert, Stephen Jonas, Matt W. Miller, Robert Frost, and Frank O'Hara. Each poem is followed by questions for discusssion and a writing prompt. Here's a selection:

Autobiographia Literaria

Frank O'Hara
When I was a child
I played by myself in a
corner of the schoolyard
all alone.

I hated dolls and I
hated games, animals were
not friendly and birds
flew away.

If anyone was looking
for me I hid behind a
tree and cried out "I am
an orphan."

And here I am, the
center of all beauty!
writing these poems!
Imagine!



Common Threads Welcome, including videos of poets reading, an article about how to get a group started if you haven’t already done so, and a piece written for last year’s Common Threads by Mark Schorr.

Common Threads 2013 pdf
Paper copies of the book can also be purchased at the Harvard Book Store.