When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? When I was ten years old in Chennai (then known as Madras), India, I found a copy of Palgrave’s Golden Treasury in my local lending library, and later bought it. I fell in love...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? I fell in love with poetry through an elective workshop in college. That’s where I first read a full collection by a contemporary American poet (Jerome Rothenberg), and...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? My earliest encounters with poetry were poems by A.A.Milne and Robert Louis Stevenson. As a teenager and young adult I spent time in the New Hampshire and the Maine woods and I...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? Poetry was the first form of creative expression that I can remember being truly irresistible. The idea of writing being something that could move down the page without being...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? My first encounters with poetry occurred when I was a child, hearing nursery rhymes and songs, along with school-yard rhymes. I imagine this is true for many of us. High school...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? My first encounter was listening to my father recite poetry on long car rides. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” was a favorite: All in a hot and copper sky/the bloody sun at...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? In second grade I was thrilled to have my first poem displayed on the bulletin board. The following year I authored a much longer rhyming piece, which I can still recite! The...
As we prepare to launch our 2024 - '25 programming, we're seeking volunteers to support our events and programs at GrubStreet's Center for Creative Writing to the Massachusetts Poetry Festival. We're looking for people with a passion for poetry to step in and fill...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? I’ve been an avid (and advanced) reader since I was in 1st grade, but I think I truly discovered poetry through music. All the way into college I wanted to be a musician, but...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? I heard Anne Sexton read when I was fourteen (my aunt and uncle were friends of hers), and I was stunned by the power of her presence and her words. I also had a wonderful high...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? As a child I first encountered poetry when I was given a Shel Silverstein book. Later in grade school I can remember an assignment of taking text from Macbeth and creating a...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? I know I must have encountered poetry earlier than high school but the moment that sticks with me the most was in a high school AP English Language & Composition class. Our...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems?I found poetry everywhere in the remote mountains of southern West Virginia where I spent the firstpart of my childhood. I remember teaching myself how to write a 4 in the dirt...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? It is no exaggeration when I say that poetry has been a lifeline for me. I started writing poetry when I was in high school. As a teenager, I struggled with severe untreated...
On May 3rd, 2024, Mass Poetry's Executive Director Daniel Johnson and SW@MP (Spoken Word at Mass Poetry) and Teen Council Member Maria Zaki appeared on WBUR to discuss Mass Poetry's inaugural Teen Spoken Word Festival, Maria's experiences as a member of Mass Poetry...
On May 3rd, 2024, Mass Poetry's Executive Director Daniel Johnson appeared on CBS News to promote our inaugural Teen Spoken Word Festival. Watch the complete interview here!
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? Like any good Doc Martens wearing teenage proto-goth of the early ‘90s, I loved Sylvia Plath, along with Yeats. It’s hard to believe now, but that was as close to contemporary...
Authievre answered our questions in English and Spanish. Enjoy her responses. Authievre contestó nuestras preguntas en inglés y español. ¡Disfruta sus respuestas! When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? Before I knew I...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems?I was drawn to repetition in sounds and language from an early age – my earliest memories are of the Madeline books (“She even said ‘poo-poo’ to the lion in the zoo”) and the...
When did you first encounter poetry? How did you discover that you wanted to write poems? Like most kids, I was exposed to and asked to write poetry in elementary school. In middle school and high school we were forced to analyze the genre. For most of that time, I...
On January 27th, 2024, Parker-Vincent Alva was named Boston's next youth poet laureate. Parker-Vincent Alva is a SW@MP (Spoken Word at Mass Poetry) member and a 2023 GrubStreet Teen Fellow, as well as a student and writer from Boston, MA. He writes poetry and prose...