Poetry’s Unique Power to Change Its Readers and Sustain Them Too

During a Pandemic, Poems Offer ‘a Space of Words Where You Can Dwell’

What is it about poetry that allows us to escape our greatest anxieties, find space for introspection, or even achieve catharsis? What is it about the poetic combination of meter, rhyme, and carefully chosen words that hits us so hard in hard times? Why, when faced with uniquely modern problems and pandemics, do we reach for this oldest of art forms?

Last night, United States Poet Laureate emeritus Juan Felipe Herrera, poet and author Inez Tan, and Arizona Poet Laureate Alberto Ríos visited Zócalo to speak about reading and writing poetry. The conversation, which asked “What can …

Aspirational Self Portrait on the Color Wheel | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Aspirational Self Portrait on the Color Wheel

Lips, perhaps, in Pyrrole Red (pigment used in automotive finishes):
my first car, a small Ford built
to replace (impossible) the Mustang.

Eyes designed by Guignet of Paris, who patented the …

United States Poet Laureate Emeritus Juan Felipe Herrera | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

United States Poet Laureate Emeritus Juan Felipe Herrera

I Was a Mariachi Embryo

Juan Felipe Herrera is a writer, cartoonist, teacher, activist, and the 21st United States Poet Laureate. His numerous collections of poetry include 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border: Undocuments 1971-2007 …

Arizona Poet Laureate Alberto Ríos | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Arizona Poet Laureate Alberto Ríos

I Am at My Most Creative After the Fact

Alberto Ríos, Arizona’s inaugural poet laureate and recent chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, is the author of numerous books of poetry and prose, most recently, Not Go Away Is My …

Writer, Poet, and Educator Inez Tan | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Writer, Poet, and Educator Inez Tan

I Try to Start the Day Journaling

Read Inez Tan’s letter to Zócalo listing 10 of her favorite poems for being present and 10 of her favorite poems for dwelling “elsewhere.”

Inez Tan is a fiction writer, poet, …

Streaming Tonight | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Streaming Tonight

Here’s How to Join “What Can Poetry Offer Us In Distressing Times?”

Click here to join the conversation, airing tonight at 6:30 PM PDT.

In the most challenging situations, poetry plays a special role, helping us name our deepest feelings. What is it …