At 5:30 on Friday, August 24th, Michele Battiste will take part in a reading celebrating “Starting Today: Poems for the First 100 Days.”
The day before the inauguration, Rachel Zucker and Arielle Greenberg sent out a call to poets they admired to write poems that responded, however loosely, to the presidency, the nation, the government or the current political climate. More than 100 American poets responded immediately. The first 100 poets were each assigned one of President Obama’s first 100 days in office, and their poems were posted daily on a blog (http://100dayspoems.blogspot.com). Held on the 95th day, this event features over 20 poets reading their blog poems: Mark Bibbins, Cornelius Eady Thomas Sayers Ellis, Patricia Carlin, John O’Connor, Leah Souffrant, Matt Rohrer, Patricia Spears Jones, Monica de la Torre, Joy Katz, Rachel Zucker, Craig Teicher, Amy Lemmon, Jeanne Beaumont, Brenda Shaughnessy, Lindsey Wallace, Robin Beth Schaer, Michele Battiste, Cate Marvin, Betsy Fagin, Catherine Barnett, Jason Schneiderman, Katherine Varnes, and Elizabeth Scanlon.
Location: Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House, 58 West 10th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues