Communications Intern Colby Meeks, Harvard College ’25, reports on a poetry reading at the Woodberry Poetry Room.
People buzzed with energy as they filed into the Woodberry Poetry Room on a recent Thursday evening for a marathon of rapid-fire poetry readings from Boston-area poets. The event, which was part of the Boston Originals reading series, kicked off the Woodberry Poetry Room’s Fall 2024 season of programming.
Christina Davis, the curator of the Woodberry Poetry Room, began the night with remarks about the origin of the Boston Originals reading series, launched during her tenure as curator. Boston is not just “a Brahmin city on a hill,” she said, emphasizing that the reading aims to highlight the “bohemian” parts of the city.
Davis expressed deep appreciation for both the poets reading at the event as well as for the community that filled the Poetry Room. To her, this community defines the room.
Included in the reading were poets Sean Cole, Octavio González, Antonio Ochoa, Ted Pearson, Trace Peterson, and Eleni Sikelianos, all in different stages of their careers and writing in different forms. Throughout the readings, the audience was treated to a tour-de-force of Boston-area poetry, including sonnets written in daily poetic exercises, excerpts from long poems, and poems bleeding the lines between poetic verse and song verse. The subject of the poems ranged widely, too—including Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, growing up in poverty, being a trans person in a cis world, and more.
There was raucous laughter, thoughtful hums, and loud applause throughout all six poets’ readings. Afterwards, everyone stayed for the reception, as refreshments were served, books were sold and traded, and conversation filled the Woodberry Poetry Room.
Old friends talked about their lives, poets chatted about their manuscript projects, and everyone seemed to find a perfect comfort in wandering around the room making easy conversation with strangers. For the Woodberry Poetry Room community, it was a true homecoming.
The Woodberry Poetry Room’s Fall season of events can be found in full on our website.