Guest Poets
- 2013 Dennis Barone
- 2012 Lisa Starr
- 2011 Dana Gioia
- 2010 Marge Piercy
- 2009 Marilyn Nelson
- 2008 Forrest Gander
- 2007 D.H. Melhem
- 2006 Martin Espada
- 2005 Robert Pinsky
- 2004 John Ashbery
- 2003 Mei-mei Berssenbrugge
- 2002 Stanley Moss
- 2001 Michael Harper
- 2000 Robert Creeley
- 1999 C.D. Wright
- Inaugural Reading: 1998 Richard Wilbur
Project Honorees
- 2013 David O'Connell: A Better Way to Fall
- 2012 Lucile Burt: Neither Created Nor Destroyed
- 2011 Ellen LaFleche: Workers' Rites
- 2010 Kathleen M. Kelley: The Waiting Room
- 2009 Jennifer E. Whitten: Auction
- 2008 John Brush: Chrysalis
- 2007 Leslie McGrath: Toward Anguish
- 2006 James F. Connolly: Last Summer
- 2005 Lynn Tudor Deming: Heady Rubbish
- 2004 Justin Lacour: Mr. Gravity's Blue Holiday
- 2003 Linda Voris: AntiGraphi
- 2002 Laura Cherry: What We Planted
- 2001 Nehassaiu deGannes: Percussion Salt & Honey
- 2000 Mimi White: The Singed Horizon
- 1999 Marjorie Milligan: Coats Field
Philbrick Poetry Project
Philbrick Poetry Project News
The Providence Athenaeum is pleased to announce that guest poet Dennis Barone has selected David O'Connell's manuscript A Better Way to Fall as the honoree of the 2013 Philbrick Poetry Project. Mr. O'Connell's manuscript will be published in the spring as a chapbook by the Athenaeum.
On Friday, April 26, 2013, at 7pm, both Mr. Barone and Mr. O'Connell will read from their work in the Athenaeum's Reading Room. The reading is free and open to the public.
Of Mr. O'Connell's manuscript, Mr. Barone wrote: “A Better Way to Fall offers the reader fifteen poems full of cruel irony and beautiful precision, Greek mythology mixed with contemporary mass-media, global vision and neighborhood close-up. These poems of our moment presented in an all-of-a-piece orchestration are readily understandable and profoundly meaningful. They tell a reader that an instant in the sun might be worth the fall. They warn a reader that too often innocence does not lead to experience but instead self-induced ignorance ends in cliché: events, as well as sounds, repeat. Falling may be necessary, these poems say, if we plan—someday—to rise or, at least, “‘navigate escape.’”
After earning his M.F.A. from Ohio State University, David O'Connell taught high school English for nearly a decade. His poems have been published in Columbia Poetry Review, Drunken Boat, Poet Lore, and Rattle, among other journals. He has received two fellowships from the Rhode Island State Council of the Arts.
Submissions to the Philbrick Poetry Project
Submissions to the Philbrick Poetry Project chapbook series are now closed.
Guidelines for this past chapbook series are posted here.
History of the Philbrick Poetry Project
The Philbrick Poetry Project was established to honor Charles and Deborah Philbrick by promoting the art of poetry in New England. Professor Philbrick taught at Brown University and published several books of poetry, including New England Suite and Nobody Laughs, Nobody Cries. Deborah Philbrick contributed her talents throughout her lifetime to help charitable organizations and mentor many of Providence's aspiring young poets.
Each year, the Philbrick Poetry Project recognizes an emerging New England poet who has not yet published a book. The project is sponsored by The Providence Athenaeum in cooperation with New Urban Arts and School One. Generous funding was provided by the Philbrick family and by donations to the Philbrick Poetry Project Fund.
This activity is made possible in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Chapbook Series
Copies of the chapbooks are available online from the Providence Athenaeum. Click here to order a copy.