What Keeps Us: A Community Poetry Reading in Response to Violence
Monday, December 11 @ 6:00
Third Haven Friends Quaker Meeting House, Easton
As we approach the holiday season, Shore Lit invites you to participate in a community poetry reading that bears witness to suffering. Participants may read aloud a poem from a pre-selected collection, curated by Shore Lit and Poetry Daily, or sit in intentional silence. It is important to understand that this is not a forum for voicing opinions or engaging in dialogue; for this one hour, we’ll let the language of poetry speak for us, and for those we’re holding in our thoughts. Seating is limited and registration is required for this event.
We are very grateful to Third Haven Friends for allowing us to use their historic Brick Meeting House for this special event. The address is 405 S. Washington St., and the entrance is three tenths of a mile south of the Memorial Hospital. Attendees are advised not to use Google for directions, as they may not be accurate, and instead to follow instructions from the Third Haven Friends website. Please find additional details about parking, accessibility, and safety via the registration link, and the collection of "What Keeps Us" poems for the reading below:
Monday, December 11 @ 6:00
Third Haven Friends Quaker Meeting House, Easton
As we approach the holiday season, Shore Lit invites you to participate in a community poetry reading that bears witness to suffering. Participants may read aloud a poem from a pre-selected collection, curated by Shore Lit and Poetry Daily, or sit in intentional silence. It is important to understand that this is not a forum for voicing opinions or engaging in dialogue; for this one hour, we’ll let the language of poetry speak for us, and for those we’re holding in our thoughts. Seating is limited and registration is required for this event.
We are very grateful to Third Haven Friends for allowing us to use their historic Brick Meeting House for this special event. The address is 405 S. Washington St., and the entrance is three tenths of a mile south of the Memorial Hospital. Attendees are advised not to use Google for directions, as they may not be accurate, and instead to follow instructions from the Third Haven Friends website. Please find additional details about parking, accessibility, and safety via the registration link, and the collection of "What Keeps Us" poems for the reading below:
- What Keeps, C.D. Wright
- Hope, Czeslaw Milosz
- Blessing the Boats, Lucille Clifton
- Two Countries, Naomi Shihab Nye
- [Obake Obachan], Bret Yamanka
- The Triumph of Song, Rowan Ricardo Phillips
- Téssara, Nathalie Handal
- Old Song, Patrick Phillips
- Traces, Matthew Shenoda
- Forefather, Glenis Redmond
- Findspot Unknown, Peter Gizzi
- Let It Go, Mariana Berenice Bredow Vargas, trans. Forest Gander
- Heart Butte, Montana, M.L.Smoker
- Tamar, Susan Wicks
- Charleston, Afaa Weaver
- Yet Another Poem at Solstice, Richard Forester
- The Bell, Brandon Shimoda
- Unpacking a Globe, Arthur Sze
- Souvenir of the Ancient World, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, trans. Mark Strand
- A Glimpse, Walt Whitman
- Ode to Drinking Water from My Hands, Ross Gay
- [Hope is a strange invention—], Emily Dickinson
Book Talk: David George Haskell
Sunday, February 4 @ 2:00 pm
Avalon Theatre, Easton
Biologist and nature writer David George Haskell has spent his career reminding us to pay closer attention to nature. In his latest book, which was nominated for a 2022 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction, Haskell turns his perceptive powers to “Earth’s fraying soundtrack”—the planet’s orchestral richness, which is being increasingly blocked out by human noise. Haskell will deliver a book talk and play some recordings of nature’s most wondrous sounds in the Stoltz Listening Room of the Avalon Theatre. This program is presented by Shore Lit, Adkins Arboretum, and the Avalon Foundation.
Sunday, February 4 @ 2:00 pm
Avalon Theatre, Easton
Biologist and nature writer David George Haskell has spent his career reminding us to pay closer attention to nature. In his latest book, which was nominated for a 2022 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction, Haskell turns his perceptive powers to “Earth’s fraying soundtrack”—the planet’s orchestral richness, which is being increasingly blocked out by human noise. Haskell will deliver a book talk and play some recordings of nature’s most wondrous sounds in the Stoltz Listening Room of the Avalon Theatre. This program is presented by Shore Lit, Adkins Arboretum, and the Avalon Foundation.
Book Talk: Andrew Leland in Conversation with Shore Lit Founder Kerry Folan
Thursday, March 7 @ 6 pm
Academy Art Museum, Easton
In his teens, Andrew Leland was diagnosed with a rare congenital condition that would eventually leave him blind. In in his new memoir, hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “a wonderful cross-disciplinary wander," Leland approaches his gradual sight loss from the perspective of an explorer, braiding anecdotes of professional and family life with deep research into the history of blindness and keen analysis of its resonance as a literary trope. The writer, podcaster, and longtime editor of the The Believer magazine will discuss Country of the Blind, an NPR "Best Book of the Year", with Shore Lit Founder Kerry Folan.
Thursday, March 7 @ 6 pm
Academy Art Museum, Easton
In his teens, Andrew Leland was diagnosed with a rare congenital condition that would eventually leave him blind. In in his new memoir, hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “a wonderful cross-disciplinary wander," Leland approaches his gradual sight loss from the perspective of an explorer, braiding anecdotes of professional and family life with deep research into the history of blindness and keen analysis of its resonance as a literary trope. The writer, podcaster, and longtime editor of the The Believer magazine will discuss Country of the Blind, an NPR "Best Book of the Year", with Shore Lit Founder Kerry Folan.
Book Talk: Susan Muaddi Darraj in Conversation with Shore Lit Founder Kerry Folan
Friday, April 19 @ 6:00 pm
Academy Art Museum, Easton
A workaholic lawyer finds unexpected love. A young college student moves in with her traditional grandparents. A cop returns his estranged father’s body to Palestine for burial. In this funny and touching novel, American Book Award-winner Susan Muaddi Darraj weaves intricately interlocked stories, exploring issues of class, gender, ancestry, and exile in Baltimore’s Palestinian-American community. Darraj will discuss Behind You Is the Sea with Shore Lit Founder Kerry Folan.
Friday, April 19 @ 6:00 pm
Academy Art Museum, Easton
A workaholic lawyer finds unexpected love. A young college student moves in with her traditional grandparents. A cop returns his estranged father’s body to Palestine for burial. In this funny and touching novel, American Book Award-winner Susan Muaddi Darraj weaves intricately interlocked stories, exploring issues of class, gender, ancestry, and exile in Baltimore’s Palestinian-American community. Darraj will discuss Behind You Is the Sea with Shore Lit Founder Kerry Folan.