Poetry for the Pandemic

This special collaboration between Theater of War Productions and the PBS series Poetry in America presented readings by the actors Bill Murray (Lost in Translation) and Moses Ingram (The Queen’s Gambit) of Robert Hayden's 1960s sonnet “Those Winter Sundays,” as a catalyst for a powerful, guided discussion about the everyday struggle of surviving, thriving, and connecting during this incredibly difficult winter. The event also featured a recorded reading of Hayden's poem by President Joe Biden, helping frame crucial dialogue between diverse communities about economic hardship, family dynamics, parenting, domestic violence, racism, and American identity during this divided and fractured time. Using the poem to build bridges and create a vocabulary for talking about the challenges before us and within our homes, Those Winter Sundays aims to foster compassion, understanding, healing, and resilience.

Facilitated by Bryan Doerries and Elisa New.

Featuring the following panelists:
Karen Bailey, Teacher, Flint, MI
Anthony Almojera, EMS Officer FDNY
Manasi Garg, National Student Poet, Saratoga, CA
Al-Tabar Hudgins, RISE Project Uptown Coordinator, NYC
Nathalie Arzu, RISE Project Uptown Program Manger

Poetry For the Pandemic: November 12, 2020

Bill Murray reads:

When Poetry Visits: Ars Poetica by Laura Rothenberg

Tracie Thoms reads:

The 19th Amendment and my Mama by Mahogany L. Browne
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America will Be by Johsua Bennett After Langston Hughes

Bill Murray reads:

Transubstantiation by Molly McCully Brown

Isabella Ramirez and Juan Felipe Herrera, US Poet Laureate 2015–2017 Read the article in The Emory Wheel.

Isabella Ramirez reads:

Let me Tell You What a Poem Brings by Juan Felipe Herrera for Charles Fishman

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Exiles by Juan Felipe Herrera

Juan Felipe Herrera reads:

Mama by Isabella Ramirez

Anthony Wiles and Joshua Bennet read each other's poems.

Joshua Bennett reads:

we went Home to Crystal by Anthony Wiles

Anthony John Wiles, Jr reads:

Mike Brown is a Type of Christ by Joshua Bennett

Manasi Garg and Mahogany L. Browne read each other's poems.

Manasi Garg reads:

litany by Mahogany L. Browne

Mahogany L. Browne reads:

Conversations at the Kitchen Table by Manasi Garg

Patricia Smith and Maddy Dietz read each other's poems.

Patricia Smith reads:

BRACKEN by Madelyn Dietz

Madelyn Dietz reads:

10-Year-Old Shot Three Times, but She’s Fine by Patricia Smith

Molly McCully Brown and Ethan Wang read each other's poems.

Ethan Wang reads:

What There is To Give by Molly McCully Brown

Molly McCully Brown reads:

walk through the suburbs by Ethan Wang

An intergenerational discussion about poetry during the pandemic.