Robert Pinsky and Philip Schultz: The First Two Books of Poems and Enormous Morning

Overview

Two of America’s most distinguished poets, Robert Pinsky and Philip Schultz, come together for an evening of readings and conversation celebrating the enduring mark they have left on American poetry.

Bringing together his landmark early collections, Sadness and Happiness and An Explanation of America, former US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky presents The First Two Books of Poems — a fresh encounter with the poems that established one of the defining voices of contemporary American literature. Moving effortlessly between the local and the national, the lyrical and the philosophical, Pinsky’s groundbreaking early poems examine the intersection of both personal and national myths — making him a defining voice of his generation.

Pulitzer Prize winner Philip Schultz reads from Enormous Morning, his vulnerable, expansive, deeply moving new collection exploring the lives and sacrifices of the women who shaped him. Long celebrated for his compassionate examinations of fathers and sons, Schultz turns his attention to mothers, wives, daughters, and friends, weaving intimate family history with reflections on democracy, civic responsibility, and the fragility of the American experiment.

Together, Schultz and Pinsky offer a rare opportunity to experience the work of two master poets and longtime friends whose writing spans decades — remaining urgently engaged with the questions of our moment. Don’t miss this evening of powerful readings that explore family, history, compassion, and the possibilities of poetry to deepen our understanding of ourselves and one another.

“Robert Pinsky belongs to that rarest category of talents.” — Robert Lowell

“Philip Schultz’s Enormous Morning makes a formidable case for compassion and the world-redeeming power of love” — Tracy K. Smith