In Poetry Is Not a Luxury we use the best contemporary poets to explore the most urgent social issues. Each month we focus on a different book and discuss poetry as poets do. We read our favorite poems out loud, listen for sound and rhythm, consider how the poet plays with language, and consider the joys and sorrows in the poems.

Our 2017-2018 season focuses on Voices of the Silenced/Voices of the Resistance.

The March selection for Poetry Is Not a Luxury is Cathy Linh Che's Split. In this stunning debut, we follow one woman's profoundly personal account of sexual violence against the backdrop of cultural conflict deftly illustrated through her parents' experiences of the Vietnam War, immigration, and its aftermath.

April 25 - Juan Felipe Herrera, "Notes on the Assemblage"
May 23 - Amal al-Jubouri, "Hagar Before the Occupation, Hagar After the Occupation"
June 27 - Ocean Vuong, "Night Sky with Exit Wounds"
July 25 - Janine Joseph, "Driving Without a License"