Poetry &: Worker Writers School
November 20, 2021
Saturday, November 20, 2 pm, Fish & Chikzz, New Windsor, New York
Building on nearly thirty-five years of poetry programs at Dia Art Foundation and curated by José Olivarez, Poetry & is a new series that invites poets to reimagine their work and its public presentation. In conversation with other artists and art forms, each event offers new encounters with poetry at and beyond Dia.
For Poetry &’s inaugural event, members of the Worker Writers School, an organization that promotes poetry by working-class, unionized writers, intervened in Dia Beacon’s galleries. From November 12 to 15, a poem in neon by Christina Yvette Lewis from the recent collection Coronavirus Haiku was displayed in the museum. On Saturday, November 13, at 2 pm, poets Lorraine Garnett and Christine Yvette Lewis read and joined a conversation with the school’s founder Mark Nowak.
After the Dia engagement, Hudson Valley residents can continue to experience the neon as it will be installed in local storefronts. This includes the site of the reading on Saturday, November 20, at 2 pm at Fish & Chikzz in New Windsor, New York, where poets Alando McIntyre and Kelebohile Nkhereanye will read their work. The installation will then go on long-term view at the Worker Justice Center in Kingston, New York.
Video: Poetry &: Worker Writers School