Poetry Foundation Spring Event Season Celebrates Lineages, Collective Power, and the Midwest
Presenting free poetry events, writing workshops, a new exhibition on the poetics of home, and more.
Photograph by Sarah Joyce courtesy of the Poetry Foundation.
CHICAGO, February 5, 2025—The Poetry Foundation announces its roster of free public events for the spring 2025 season under the theme “Power Lines,” inspired by the landmark anthology of the same name released by the Guild Literary Complex 25 years ago. The electrifying event season highlights new work by Chicago and Midwest presses, partner organizations, and authors.
Tapping into Collective Power
The season kicks off on February 27 with Archive(s) of Style, an event at the Poetry Foundation honoring Black History Month and Audre Lorde’s birthday. Poets Cheryl Clarke, Harmony Holiday, Nikki Patin, and Natalia Molebatsi introduce an intergenerational lineage of Black queer feminist poetry with readings from their latest titles.
March 6 offers reflections from Like a Hammer: Poets on Mass Incarceration, Haymarket Books’ anthology of writers speaking on the United States prison-industrial complex. Editor Diana Marie Delgado and contributors, including John Murillo and Nicole Sealey, will read from the anthology.
In partnership with the Center for Native Futures, the Poetry Foundation celebrates the release of Blood Wolf Moon by Elise Paschen, who appears with Osage visual artists June Carpenter and Lydia Cheshewalla on April 10. The event also features Esther Belin, whose guest-edited issue of Poetry magazine, Diné Poetics, publishes in March and includes a special roundtable on Indigenous poetics from poets writing in Diné, Osage, Delaware, Nez Perce, and other Indigenous languages.
Celebrations continue in May when Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize recipient Kimiko Hahn launches her retrospective collection Ghost Forest with a reading alongside three other poets with new books: Sarah Ghazal Ali, Mónica de la Torre, and Rosalie Moffett. On May 22, the Poetry Foundation commemorates the 25th anniversary of the anthology Power Lines, an assemblage of Chicago’s spoken word poets and poets of letters published by Tia Chucha Press, the publishing branch of the Guild Literary Complex. Featured readers include Ana Castillo, Angela Jackson, Tyehimba Jess, Simone Muench, Mark Turcotte, anthology editors Julie Parson Nesbitt, Luis Rodriguez, and Michael Warr, and others.
The Forms & Features workshop series connects poets of all experience levels to and through poetry. Generative workshops on forms, techniques, and themes are offered throughout the year, both online and in person. Workshop participants are invited to share their work in a celebratory Community Reading on June 12. Monthly book clubs offer another chance to connect over poetry from anywhere.
“Power lines run through our veins, an energetic current connecting us to the past and fueling us toward the futures of our imagination,” said public programs manager and season curator, Noa Fields. “We invite you to tap in with us throughout this exciting new season of events that amplify poetry and celebrate poets.”
Photograph by Constance Jaeggi courtesy of the Poetry Foundation.
The Poetics of Home and Light
Opening during Poetry Month, Escaramuza, the Poetics of Home, is a new exhibition that tells the story of escaramuza, the team sport of Mexican American women’s precision horse riding. Through arresting photography by Constance Jaeggi alongside poems by Angelina Sáenz and ire’ne lara silva, the exhibition addresses complex themes of identity, family, and gender. The exhibition is on display at the Poetry Foundation from April 17 through August 23, 2025, and opens with an event featuring an artist talk by Jaeggi followed by readings by Sáenz and silva.
For respite from the dim days of Chicago’s winter, plan a visit to the Poetry Foundation to experience the exhibition More Light! Luftwerk x Aram Saroyan before it closes on February 15. Luftwerk’s immersive interpretation of Aram Saroyan’s poem “lighght” brings viewers inside an ever-shifting prism of colored light, transforming the Poetry Foundation gallery into a dynamic lightbox.
These are only a sampling of the Poetry Foundation’s offerings; please subscribe to the Poetry Foundation's newsletters and visit PoetryFoundation.org/Events for the most up-to-date listings.
Event Accessibility
Poetry Foundation events are free and open to the public. Readings and events are live-streamed and include captioning and ASL interpretation unless otherwise noted. Masks are strongly encouraged and available at check-in. For more information about accessibility at the Poetry Foundation, please visit our Accessibility Guide.
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About the Poetry Foundation
The Poetry Foundation recognizes the power of words to transform lives. The Foundation works to amplify poetry and celebrate poets by fostering spaces for all to create, experience, and share poetry. Follow the Poetry Foundation and Poetry magazine on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Media Contacts
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