The Poetry Foundation recently sent out a letter noting that "Ruth Lilly's historic gift made it possible to think of a dedicated building that would be a place for poetry in Chicago, and an addition to the national landscape for poetry." They included an architect's rendering of the new building that "will give to Chicago a place of airy lightness by day and a jewel box, lit from within, by night" (visit poetryfoundation.org/building to see a slide show). The website notes, "Like several other dedicated poetry spaces around the country, the Poetry Foundation building will be a physical manifestation of the nationwide resurgence of poetry in American culture."
The letter adds that "the building will also be a coming home for Poetry." Having perched in rented or donated space since the magazine's founding by Harriet Monroe in 1912, "Poetry will settle into the first ever home of its own just in time to celebrate its centenary." In expressing "the weight of feeling that this carries for us all," the Poetry Foundation Board chairman Don Marshall quoted a poem by Adrienne Rich:
Stone by stone I pile
this cairn of my intention
with the noon's weight on my back,
exposed and vulnerable
across the slanting fields
which I love but cannot save
from floods that are to come;
can only fasten down
with this work of my hands,
these painfully assembled
stones, in the shape of nothing
that has ever existed before.
A pile of stones: an assertion
that this piece of country matters
for large and simple reasons.
A mark of resistance, a sign.
-"A Mark of Resistance," from Poetry, August 1957
Chicago is one of my favorite cities. Having grown up in the suburbs, I loved going to the Art Institute, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Planetarium, and Grant Park for concerts such as the Chicago Blues Festival. This coming summer the doors will open to this new home for poetry, and I look forward to having one more reason to head back from Minnesota to Chicago for a visit.
The letter adds that "the building will also be a coming home for Poetry." Having perched in rented or donated space since the magazine's founding by Harriet Monroe in 1912, "Poetry will settle into the first ever home of its own just in time to celebrate its centenary." In expressing "the weight of feeling that this carries for us all," the Poetry Foundation Board chairman Don Marshall quoted a poem by Adrienne Rich:
Stone by stone I pile
this cairn of my intention
with the noon's weight on my back,
exposed and vulnerable
across the slanting fields
which I love but cannot save
from floods that are to come;
can only fasten down
with this work of my hands,
these painfully assembled
stones, in the shape of nothing
that has ever existed before.
A pile of stones: an assertion
that this piece of country matters
for large and simple reasons.
A mark of resistance, a sign.
-"A Mark of Resistance," from Poetry, August 1957
Chicago is one of my favorite cities. Having grown up in the suburbs, I loved going to the Art Institute, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Planetarium, and Grant Park for concerts such as the Chicago Blues Festival. This coming summer the doors will open to this new home for poetry, and I look forward to having one more reason to head back from Minnesota to Chicago for a visit.
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