A man with brown hair and blue glasses in front of a brick wall — Daniel Borzutzky

Pegasus illustration by Melinda Beck — Daniel Borzutzky

Readings & Lectures

The Murmuring Grief of the Americas: Daniel Borzutzky, Rae Armantrout, and Forrest Gander

October 5, 2024 | 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Poetry Foundation, 61 West Superior Street, Chicago, IL 60654

Three award-winning poets read from their latest collections grappling with landscapes of grief. National Book-winning Chicago poet Daniel Borzutzky’s The Murmuring Grief of the Americas exhumes the necrophilic underbelly of carceral capitalism and authoritarianism in the hemispheric Americas. Pulitzer Prize-winning language poet Rae Armantrout’s Go Figure tries to find humor and consolation in a disaster-ridden world. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Forrest Gander’s novel-poem Mojave Ghost takes grief on a memory-ridden pilgrimage home, walking 800 miles across the Mojave Desert.

Murmurs from the poets:

We ask the murmurers what they want to do with themselves now that they don’t get to live anymore. They say they want to love all the things they could not love when they were

alive.

— Daniel Borzutzy, from The Murmuring Grief of the Americas

A sentimental journey through a doomsday

scenario

— Rae Armantrout, from Go Figure

Walking the rift, they keep their voices small. Shallow vibrations scuttle along the fracture

zone.

— Forrest Ganders, from Mojave Ghost

This program is part of the Poetry Foundation’s fall 2024 season, Murmuring Americas. All Poetry Foundation events are completely free of charge and open to the public, though advanced registration is encouraged. The performance space is ADA-compliant and wheelchair-accessible, and the program will feature CART captioning and ASL interpretation. For more information about accessibility at the Poetry Foundation, please visit our Accessibility Guide.