LibGuides: Poetry: Home

ebooks

Search Overdrive to find ebooks and e-audiobooks by your poet. If you can't find one, please email Sarah or Hilda to see about availability of ebooks for your poet!

Interviews

Commonplace: Coversations with Poets
"A series of intimate and captivating interviews with poets and artists ... One feels the pleasure of eavesdropping on the kind of unexpected, intriguing connections that only happen when interesting people sit together in a small room and talk about their real concerns and ordinary lives."
Divedapper interviews
Divedapper is "a project devoted exclusively to featuring interviews with major voices in contemporary poetry. It has no affiliation with any institution, academic or literary or otherwise. All site content will be free forever to anyone with an internet connection."
Fishouse poems
This is a free online audio archive showcasing "emerging poets (defined for this purpose as poets with fewer than two published books of poetry at the time of submission) reading their own poems, as well as answering questions about poetry and the writing process."
NPR
Find interviews with your poet from NewsHour, Fresh Air, and more.
The Paris Review
Search for your poet, then limit to Interviews

Proquest
limit your search to interview under Document Type
Literature Resources
search by keyword, then limit to Primary Sources & Literary Works

Evaluating Sources

Use CRAAP detection to evaluate sources

Currency: When was it written?
Relevance: Does it answer questions you need answered?
Authority: Is the author or creator an expert in the field? Is there an author listed?
Accuracy: Is it accurate? Do the authors cite their sources?
Purpose: What is the purpose of the site?

Click here for more on CRAAP

Poems

Poetry Foundation
find poems by many poets!
Academy of American Poets
Many poems that can be searched by theme, occasion, or form.
Poetry Society of America
explore American poets, find readings by poets by clicking on Listen.
The Quarry
Find poets who write about social justice
New York Times Magazine
Every week, the NYTimes Magazine features a poem! Browse, or search the website for a particular poet.

Google

Interviews
Search for you poet in quotes and add the term interview.
For example: "Tracy K. Smith" Interview
Click on video to find in-person or televised interviews!

Other poet information
Search for you poet in quotes and add the term reading. Then click videos to find the poet reading their own poems and maybe talking about their lives! Some poets even have their own websites that include links to interviews, published essays, blogs, and more.

Essays

The Paris Review
Search for your poet, then limit by Letters & Essays

Proquest
Search for the poet name, then select author from the drop-down menu

Contact your poet

Tips for communicating with a poet!

Poet's personal websites are a good start if they have one. Look for a contact link or page, which often give their agent's info (which you can totally use to reach out to them!).
If they teach (and you know where they teach), send the letter to the school they teach at, or email them at their school email address (often on their department page or school directory).
Find the social media platforms where their poets are active and send a DM! It's easy for the poet to hit reply, and some of poets in the past have tweeted about their interactions with 2A students!
Reach out to their most recent publisher (which will take the longest, so I suggest it as a final straw).
Email library@urbanschool.org for more help, or if you aren't sure which is the best way to connect.

Poetry: Home

Poets