““I spotted a disproportionate amount of urbanites meandering barefoot, grinning, straw fedoras tilted on their heads in a suspiciously jaunty manner.””
Every year on the last weekend in July, the New York City Poetry Festival unites the vast and diverse New York City poetry community on the idyllic summer paradise of Governors Island. The festival invites poetry organizations and collectives of all shapes and sizes to bring their unique formats, aesthetics, and personalities to the festival grounds, which are ringed with a collection of beautiful Victorian houses and tucked beneath the wide, green canopies of dozens of century old trees. The purpose of the New York City Poetry Festival is to liberate New York poets and their work from the dark corners of bars, bookstores, and universities. By uniting the largest community of poets in the country and offering a unique setting for literary activity, the New York City Poetry Festival electrifies arts and literature and brings poetry to new light in the public eye.
