We here at the Free For All are committed to helping all our readers overcome their metrophobia, and live a life full of poetry. We want to make poetry more than an arduous few weeks in high school where you learned how to dissect a verse into its component meters and feet and rhymes, and, instead, help us all better appreciate the sheer beauty and power of poetry without fear of getting it ‘right’.
To that end, there are several programs coming up on the Library’s Super-Terrific Calendar of Events for poetry lovers and recovering metrophobes alike that we wanted to bring to your attention:
First is the 82 Main Poetry Series, a partnership between The Peabody Institute Library and Mass Poetry that will bring a series of monthly poetry readings in the library’s historic Sutton Room. Our first reading will take place on September 19th at 7pm, and will feature Boston’s current poet laureate, Danielle Legros Georges, who will offer a reading followed by a Q&A session.
Danielle Legros Georges was born in Haiti and raised in the United States. She received a BA from Emerson College in Boston and an MA in English and creative writing from New York University. She is the author of two poetry collections—The Dear Remote Nearness of You (Barrow Street Press, 2016) and Maroon (Curbstone Books, 2001). She has received grants and fellowships from the Barbara Deming Fund, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and the Black Metropolis Research Consortium. In 2014 Legros Georges was chosen as Boston’s second poet laureate. She is a professor at Lesley University and lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
Professor Georges’ visit will kick off a series of three further poetry readings and discussions, each of which are described in our calendar (or click here). You can sign up for these events by calling the Library, or online, by clicking here.
In October, we are thrilled to be welcoming back Professor Theo Theoharis to the Library for another of his wonderful literary discussions. This time, his program, which begins on October 19th, at 7:30pm, is also based on poetry, specifically The Penguin Anthology of Twentieth Century American Poetry, edited by Rita Dove. The book is remarkable for being the first book of it’s kind to be compiled by an African-American woman poet. Together with the classic work by American white men–Frost, Williams, etc.–, the sessions will also focus on poems by black women–Rita Dove, Lucille Clifton, Audre Lord– and men–Robert Hayden, Langston Hughes, Sterling Brown–to show the range of experiences and voices that make up recent American poetry. The aim is to celebrate what Walt Whitman called ‘the various carols’ to be heard in American life.
For those of you who have had the pleasure of hearing Professor Theoharis’ talks at the Library before, you know that this is going to be a series to remember. Those who need further convincing are welcome to call the Library for more information, but be prepared for my rhapsodical praise of these incredible programs. You can sign up by calling the Library, or by clicking here. Beginning Monday September 19th, books will be available at the Main Library on a first-come first-served basis. Meetings will be held on October 19th, October 26th, November 1st and November 9th at 7:30 p.m.
Poetry has, for too long, been treated like an inaccessible and/or ‘boring’ mode of expression, but the truth of the matter is that it is all around us–in the commercials we hum inadvertently to the songs in our earbuds to the films we see to the graffiti on walls to the words on our pages, and its high time we celebrated the loveliness and the humanity of this form of expression. Come join us at the Library and learn just how fundamental, how inspiring, and how moving poetry can be–and how easy it is to love–at the Library this fall!
The 82 Main Poetry Series is generously funded by the Friends of the Peabody Institute Libraries.
This poster was spotted in a number of London Underground stations this past week–namely, a young person, who I think to be a young lady, sitting in a large leather chair in a fancy waistcoat and jacket, looking very pleased. The ad is for “The Sherlock Holmes Experience”…at Madame Tussauds Museum.
Seeing this poster made me realize just how popular Sherlock Holmes has become once again. When I was a younin’ (you know, before cell phones and the high-speed internet and the wheel), and told people that I wasn’t as impressed by The Hound of the Baskervilles as I was by The Sign of the Four, or that I cried while reading “The Final Problem” and “The Case of the Dying Detective”, I got funny looks. When I told people that my favorite part of going to London was visiting Baker Street, I was asked “Oh, is that, like, a real place? How funny (you are!)!” Now, thanks to Mr. Cumberbatch and 
A Study in Charlotte:
A Scot in the Dark
A Shocking Assassination
Adventures in Human Being: A Grand Tour from the Cranium to the Calcaneum
Behold the Dreamers:
Ghost Talkers
If you don’t know what a hashtag syllabus is, you aren’t alone. They are a new to me as well. And how I do love new book-related things! 
Between the World and Me
ke
No Choirboy
Sing Street
Falling Glass:
The Return of the Native
Fire of the Raging Dragon
