January–March | 5:30pm | 213 Water Street | $45
Do you find poetry intimidating? Do you race past the poems in The New Yorker on your way to the fiction or the cartoons? Have you persuaded yourself that you’ll “just never get it?”
Join the Seaport Museum and Pulitzer Prizewinning poet and former Poetry Editor of The New Yorker Paul Muldoon for a special gathering where participants discuss poems published only that week in literary journals and magazines—not just to uncover their meanings, but to reflect on where poetry has been as an art form and where it’s going. Since 2023, the extraordinary “How to Read a Poem” discussion has been held at literary festivals and universities around the world, and this Winter, you can take part while nestled in the beautiful first-floor gallery of the A.A. Thomson & Co. building.
Poems for discussion will be provided at the session. No preparation or prior poetry knowledge required—just bring an open mind! Advance registration required. Tickets will be distributed through BOOKTHEWRITER. Visit their website below to sign up.
About the Speaker
Paul Muldoon has been Howard G. B. Clark Professor at Princeton, teaching creative writing, Irish literature, songwriting and translation for nearly forty years. He served as Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1999 to 2004 and Ireland Professor of Poetry from 2022 to 2025. He has taught at Cambridge University, University of St. Andrew, University of East Anglia, and Lancaster University. His fifteen major collections of poetry, published in America by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, include the Pulitzer Prize winning Moy Sand and Gravel and Joy in Service on Rue Tagore, a New York Times Notable Book of 2024. He is the editor of many anthologies of poetry, including, most recently, Scanty Plot of Ground: A Book of Sonnets.
Enjoy More That the Museum Offers
Access to the historic ships and exhibition galleries at the Seaport Museum is not included with this event. If you would like to explore more that the Museum has to offer, book in advance or ask Museum staff about admission tickets, available Wednesday through Sunday from 11am to 5pm when you check in.
Museum admission tickets grant access to the 1885 tall ship Wavertree and 1908 lightship Ambrose at Pier 16 as well as all current exhibitions on view in the introduction galleries inside Schermerhorn Row located at 12 Fulton Street. Admission tickets also include entry to the three-floor exhibition Maritime City in A.A. Thomson & Co. located at 213 Water Street.
Ready for more?
Head over to our Programs and Events page to see what else is happening at the Museum. Sign up for an upcoming talk, learn more about visiting Wavertree, or explore our virtual offerings.