Gather in Poems 2023 featured these readers sharing some of their favorite poems in the spirit of community and connection:
Ricardo Maldonado reads “Behind the Word is Silence” by Giannina Braschi, translated by Tess O’Dwyer
Denice Frohman reads from “Relax” by Ellen Bass
Kwame Dawes reads “Traces” by Matthew Shenoda
Dorianne Laux reads “Counting, This New Year’s Morning, What Powers Yet Remain To Me” by Jane Hirshfield
Oliver de la Paz reads “Whom You Love” by Joseph O. Legaspi
Elizabeth Acevedo reads “My Mama moved among the days”; “wishes for sons”; “cutting greens”; and “blessing the boats” by Lucille Clifton
Joy Harjo reads “Deer’s Breath of Every Color” by Max Early
Naomi Shihab Nye reads “Zero” by Dorothea Tanning
Kimiko Hahn reads “Silverswords” by Juliet S. Kono
Afaa Michael Weaver reads “A March in the Ranks Hard-Prest, and the Road Unknown” by Walt Whitman
Yasmine Seale reads “The Song in the Dream”; “Inside”; and “This Hour” by Saskia Hamilton
John Keene reads “The Healing Improvisation of Hair” by Jay Wright
Yvette Siegert reads her translation of “Distant Footsteps” by César Vallejo and “On Living” by Nâzim Hikmet, translated by Mutlu Konuk