"The sea rose angrily. It knew that freedom here was short." Declan O'Connor reads John Robert Lee's "Skeete's Bay, Barbados" in the final film in this year's collaboration with @irishculturalcentr.bsky.social.

"Each day is a threshold of the same dream. I awake to the clatter of leaves, a frayed dawn cawing in its wooden cage." Jennifer Elise Foerster, "The Outskirts"

This month, we’ve partnered with @dinglelit.bsky.social to bring you two events featuring our films! dinglelit.ie

We are delighted to share that we are part of the collaborative contributing to the Literary Arts Fund, a new initiative of $50M that will be providing grants to US literary arts nonprofits supporting publishing and writing. Learn more at literaryartsfund.org.

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk. John Keats, born #OnThisDay in 1795.

"We are alone because the dead are alone." James Byrne performs Michael Hartnett's poem "For Edward Hartnett" in a film created with @irishculturalcentr.bsky.social.

In the thistledown fall, He sings towards anguish; finches fly In the claw tracks of hawks On a seizing sky. Dylan Thomas was born #OnThisDay in 1914.

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." Obioma Ugoala performs John Donne's "No man is an island" from Meditation XVII in a film created with @irishculturalcentr.bsky.social.

I once that lov’d the shady woods so well, Now thought the rivers did the trees excel, And if the sun would ever shine, there would I dwell. Anne Bradstreet, "Contemplations"

"But nothing whatever is by love debarred, The common and banal her heat can know." Patrick Kavanagh was born #OnThisDay in 1904. Here, Aaron Monaghan performs his poem "The Hospital."

Deadline Extended: Poet in Residence 2025-2027 🖌 We have extended the deadline to apply for the role of Poet in Residence 2025-2027 to Friday 31st October at 5:00 p.m. For more details visit www.poetryireland.ie/education/ne... Supported by @brinkerhoffpoetry.bsky.social

It must’ve been the third trimester when my mother put down seeds at the side of the house still under construction. Desiree C. Bailey, "Ma and the Snake"

“I hear that song, that unending crescendo, feels like I’m the one who’s unbreakable.“ We are deeply saddened by the loss of Jubi Arriola-Headley. Our condolences to the Miami poetry community and to the many who knew and cared about him.

Rest in Peace, dear Jubi Arriola-Headley

The rain of matter upon sense Destroys me momently. The score: There comes what will come. The expense Is what one thought, and something more— One’s being and intelligence. Yvor Winters, born #OnThisDay in 1900. www.brinkerhoffpoetry.org/poems/at-the...

"That night, the young doctor with the black moustache too close to me at 2 a.m., his breath in my ear, whispering – Something has to be done about the Irish." Martina Evans performs her poem "Clinical Indications" in our latest poem film with @irishculturalcentr.bsky.social.

Wendell Berry

Join us as our new Poet in Residence 2025-2027 🖌 We are looking for our third Poet in Residence at Poetry Ireland as we move back home to No. 11 Parnell Square. For more details on the role and how to apply visit www.poetryireland.ie/education/ne... Supported by @brinkerhoffpoetry.bsky.social

"Mysterious shapes, with wands of joy and pain, Which seize us unaware in helpless sleep, And lead us to the houses where we keep Our secrets hid, well barred by every chain That we can forge and bind." Helen Hunt Jackson, born #OnThisDay in 1830.

"It is October, I have returned the jellyfish to the sea. You’ve been given another chance said the doctor (strange term for anyone on the brink of divorce)." James Byrne performs his poem "The Overmind" in a new film created with @irishculturalcentr.bsky.social.

"Good Morning — Midnight — I'm coming Home — Day — got tired of Me — How could I — of Him?" Emily Dickinson, from "Good Morning — Midnight —"

"My heart is like an opal, flashing fire And flaming gleams of pointed light At thy approach; or lying cold and white When thou art gone." Ruth Muskrat Bronson, born #OnThisDay in 1897.

"Every old man I see In October-coloured weather Seems to say to me 'I was once your father.'" Declan O'Connor performs Patrick Kavanagh's "Memory of My Father" in our latest film created with @irishculturalcentr.bsky.social.

"...'you're not in Ireland now.'" Such deep feeling in Martina Evans' reading of Eavan Boland's poignant childhood memoir, beautifully framed and filmed, as always, by @brinkerhoffpoetry.bsky.social. brinkerhoffpoetry.org/poems/an-iri...

Push me higher until I am all stomach, until my eyes are like that fist of muscle, tight and hungry. Fill me with green fields for sky. Victoria Kennefick, from Eat or We Both Starve (@carcanet.bsky.social)

"Tonight, holding a stranger in my arms— Suddenly a downpour, a late Summer storm." Larry Levis was born #OnThisDay in 1946. Here, @aanaxagorou.bsky.social reads Levis's poem "After the Blue Note Closes."

The love of wicked men converts to fear, That fear to hate

O, glorious is this night! The Summer sweetness fills my heart with songs, I can not sing, with loves I can not speak. George Marion McClellan, born #OnThisDay in 1860.

"I do not find The Hanged Man. Fear death by water." T. S. Eliot was born #OnThisDay in 1888. Watch Giannina Braschi perform an excerpt of Eliot's "The Waste Land" in this poem film directed by Williams Cole.

I have a word for it— the way the surface waited all day to be a silvery pause between sky and city— which is elver. Eavan Boland was born on this day in 1944.

From Rita Dove's Collected Poems: bookshop.org/a/862/9780393354935 #poem #books #writing

I want Ireland to know whose son I am / And that I am also its son Happy birthday to @akasomeguy.bsky.social! Here, Shane McCrae performs his poem "Loving Ireland" in a film created with the Irish Arts Center. www.brinkerhoffpoetry.org/poems/loving...

This is the island. It is small and vulnerable, it is a woman, calling. Happy birthday to Tiphanie Yanique! Watch Selina Nwulu perform Yanique's poem "Dangerous Things."

"Swans lightly pass Oh the aching nature of September evenings The colours of the daytime blend" Peter Doolan performs his poem "Scrambling the Number Stations" in a new film created with @irishculturalcentr.bsky.social.

It is a willow when summer is over, a willow by the river from which no leaf has fallen nor bitten by the sun turned orange or crimson. William Carlos Williams, born #OnThisDay. www.brinkerhoffpoetry.org/poems/willow...

Arthur Sze has been named the new U.S. poet laureate. He succeeds Ada Limón, who has held the position since 2022. During his term as poet laureate, Sze plans to have a special focus on translating poetry originally written in other languages. Read more: at.pw.org/ArthurSze

"I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother." Obioma Ugoala performs Langston Hughes' poem "I, Too" in the second film in our new series with @irishculturalcentr.bsky.social.

"Why not let the pears cling to the empty branch? All your coaxing will only make a bitter fruit—" H.D. (Hilda Doolittle), born #OnThisDay in 1886.

From Sierra DeMulder's book, Ephemera. #poem #books #writing

"We used to say, That’s my heart right there. As if to say, Don’t mess with her right there." Willie Perdomo performs his poem "That's My Heart Right There" in a 2024 film created with @poetsorg.bsky.social.

I can't stop looking. You can't get over whatever has happened, so shell-shocked that birds could land and roost. Kamilah Aisha Moon, born on this day. @fourwaybooks.bsky.social

"Airless, humid dark. Leaf-noise. The stirrings of a garden before rain. A hint of storm behind the risen moon." Martina Evans reads Eavan Boland's poem "An Irish Childhood in England: 1951" in the first in our new series of poem films with @irishculturalcentr.bsky.social.

"Water is heavy silver over stone. Water is heavy silver over stone’s Refusal." Archibald MacLeish, from "What Any Lover Learns."

"before I could speak I was a wandering eye my silence made me feral once it came" @yaddyrap.bsky.social performs her poem "What If the Sound of the Humpback Whale Lived in My Mouth?" in a 2024 film created with @omiamifestival.bsky.social.

"One element. Aniibiishaaboo. Tea brown wealth. Like maple sap. Amber. The liquid eye of moon." Happy birthday to Kimberly M. Blaeser! Here, she performs her poem "Wellspring: Words from Water" in a film created with @tippetrise.bsky.social.

From Aracelis Girmay's book, Teeth: bookshop.org/a/862/9781931896368 #poem #books #writing

Today’s Featured Poem: “We Came Here to Get Away from You” by @donikakelly.bsky.social from The Natural Order of Things published by @graywolfpress.bsky.social Read here: spare.poems.com/poem/we-came...

"alone I smile in the mountain wild hot air curling my black hair to the sky the sun will come, I will fade and shade at last into blue eternity" Chengxi Fu performs Gu Cheng's poem "I Once Was the Smallest Flame in the Fire" in a 2024 poem film.

‘Tis the last rose of Summer, Left blooming alone; All her lovely companions Are faded and gone; No flower of her kindred, No rose-bud is nigh, To reflect back her blushes Or give sigh for sigh! Thomas Moore, "The Last Rose of Summer"

pinballs on the table of heaven— Linda Pastan