Favorite Poem Project: Florida
Florida residents share their favorite poems in a national video documentary initiative about the role of poetry in American lives
CHICAGO –The Favorite Poem Project and the Poetry Foundation present four mini-documentary videos of Floridians from DeFuniak Springs to Key West sharing their favorite classic or contemporary poem as part of Favorite Poem Project: Florida.
“Florida possesses a rich poetry tradition,” said Henry Bienen, president of the Poetry Foundation. “Through these videos, the Foundation wanted to reveal the deep personal connection and resonance that poetry has with Americans living in the many communities across the country.”
In a series of national poetry programs that celebrate, document, and encourage the role of poetry in American lives, Favorite Poem Project: Florida brings poet Robert Pinsky’s national initiative as U.S. Poet Laureate (1997-2000) to the Sunshine State. During National Poetry Month (April) 2015, Floridians were asked to submit the title and author of their favorite poem with a few sentences about why it resonated with them. In 2014, the Poetry Foundation relaunched Pinsky’s Favorite Poem Project with Favorite Poem Project: Chicago.
“Many different American musics, cuisines, languages and people find a unique mix in Florida, with its reach into the past and the future,” said Pinsky. “All that is appropriate for the Favorite Poem Project, which involves individual choices and shared heritage, democracy and aspiration–and, above all, pleasure and art.”
For more information and to view the videos: poetryfoundation.org/favoritepoemflorida.
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About the Favorite Poem Project
The Favorite Poem Project is dedicated to celebrating, documenting, and encouraging poetry’s role in the lives of Americans. Robert Pinsky, the 39th Poet Laureate of the United States, founded the project shortly after the Library of Congress appointed him to the post in 1997. During a one-year open call for submissions, 18,000 Americans wrote to the project sharing their favorite poems—Americans from ages five to 97, from every state, and of diverse occupations and backgrounds. From those letters emerged several enduring collections: three anthologies and 60 mini-documentaries, which are available for viewing at favoritepoem.org.
About the Poetry Foundation
The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience. The Poetry Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, and encouraging new kinds of poetry through innovative literary prizes and programs. For more information, please visit poetryfoundation.org.
About Poetry Magazine
Founded in Chicago by Harriet Monroe in 1912, Poetry is the oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English-speaking world. Monroe’s “Open Door” policy, set forth in Volume 1 of the magazine, remains the most succinct statement of Poetry’s mission: to print the best poetry written today, in whatever style, genre or approach. The magazine established its reputation early by publishing the first important poems of TS Eliot, Ezra Pound, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, H.D., William Carlos Williams, Carl Sandburg and other now-classic authors. In succeeding decades it has presented— often for the first time— works by virtually every major contemporary poet.
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