Poets & Writers Theater

Blessing the Boats: A Tribute to Lucille Clifton, a celebration of the late poet's life and work on the occasion of the posthumous publication of her Collected Poems by BOA Editions, was held on February 21 and featured readings by poets Sherman Alexie, Tina Chang, Toi Derricotte, Michael Dickman, Timothy Donnelly, Cornelius Eady, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Nick Flynn, Tonya Foster, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Marie Howe, Dante Micheaux, Sharon Olds, and Tracy K. Smith.

“What we feel most has no name but amber, archers, cinnamon, horses, and birds.” Listen to a reading of “The Forgotten Dialect of the Heart,” by poet Jack Gilbert, who died on Tuesday in Berkeley, California, at the age of eighty-seven. His Collected Poems was published by Knopf in March.

"My joy is the same as twelve Ethiopian goats standing silent in the morning light," writes Jack Gilbert in his poem "The Forgotten Dialect of the Heart." His Collected Poems will be published by Knopf in March.