In this installation of the P.O.P video series, Patricia Spears Jones reads Lorenzo Thomas's poem “Discovering America Again” as well as her own poem “The Birth of Rhythm and Blues.” When asked “What does it mean to be a literary citizen,” Spears replies, “I would hope that as literary beings we can be good citizens.”
Produced by poet and photographer Rachel Eliza Griffiths, P.O.P (“Poets on Poetry”) is a video series featuring contemporary American poets reading both an original poem and a poem by another poet. Each poet then reflects on these poems and answers a question provided by a previous participant in the series. What results is an evolving, multifaceted conversation among poets about the art form. The Academy of American Poets has partnered with Griffiths to release the P.O.P video series on Poets.org, alongside Rachel Eliza Griffiths’s essay on the project: "Poets on Poetry: A Virtual Village of Discovery and Poetics.”