“The Poet is In” — “Brainchild” of New York State Poet Laureate Marie Howe — Happens Under the Arch Sunday 5 p.m. Featuring Words of Walt Whitman | Join in!

We’ve had “Opera Under the Arch” and every kind of musical performance under the Arch at Washington Square and now… Poetry! The last two Sundays a new interactive poetic experience has taken place under the monument — “The Poet is In,” the “brainchild” of poet, also New York State Poet Laureate, Marie Howe. It occurs again this Sunday, October 20th at 5 p.m.

Bring your Walt Whitman, the featured poet, and read and experience his poetry under the Arch.

Actor and writer James Lecesne, who has been involved since the beginning, says of the effort, “This has all been the brainchild of poet, Marie Howe, our current NY State Poet Laureate. She had an idea that she wanted to find a way to get poetry to the people in a way that was accessible and even fun. We combined the poetry with the techniques that the OCCUPY movement created – the Mic Check. Someone reads a line of the poem and then the gathering repeats it back as a chorus. This allows the words to be heard when the crowd gets big, but it also has the added value of having the poems move through the voices and bodies of those gathered. Not only are we listening to the poems we are saying them.”

It sounds fantastic! The two previous poets featured have been Emily Dickinson and Rumi. Come join in Sunday!