Kicking off our 50th with lots of press! Chicago Reader – Featured Article on CPC’s Legacy and Current Moment NBC – 3 Minute Feature on NBC Chicago for Exhibit and Event Poetry Foundation: Essay […]

Students crafted visual and then poetic Exquisite Corpses! It’s a great way to work with one line at a time, which was the goal! Afterward, they were challenged to create a clay figure of […]

Things got louder and noisier for Twain 4th graders during their fifth week of poetry. Students discovered Onomatopoeia, when poets use words that imitate sounds from everyday life. I had shown examples of onomatopoeia […]

Week 4 of our 3rd grade residency was during the final week of October, and many students were looking forward to overflows of Halloween treats! We warmed up by verbally creating similes that were […]

PACBI and BDS at CPC In 2024 Chicago Poetry Center conducted a community process and vote to formally adopt the guidelines of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) […]

This week is Halloween! To celebrate, on Tuesday, Twain 4th grader learned how rhymes can be magical. I asked students, “If you could create a magic spell, what would you use it for? Students […]

For our 3rd session, I brought in containers of things for Twain 3rd graders to smell: (1) fresh lemon zest with lemon juice; (2) almond extract; (3) dried and fresh orange peel; (4) vanilla […]

For our 3rd week of poetry, Twain 4th graders thought about memorable places they have visited, whether it’s in their neighborhood or as far away as Mexico. Travel is about adventure and a discovery […]

CPC is facilitating three poetry workshops for middle and high school students at the Boys & Girls Club in Bridgeport! Musu Bangura, Timothy David Rey, and Madison Mae Parker are the Poets in Residence […]

What’s your favorite day of the week? What’s your least favorite? Why are some days better than others? These are the questions I asked this past Tuesday for my second week with Twain 4th […]

The Chicago Poetry Center Board invites you to join us at Bigger Table: Write & Give Back – a thematic writing fundraiser series to support poetry programming at Chicago Public Schools. Date & Time: November […]

The Chicago Poetry Center Board invites you to join us at Bigger Table: Write & Give Back – a thematic writing fundraiser series to support poetry programming at Chicago Public Schools. Date & Time: November 9th (Saturday), 7-8:30 […]

The Poetry Out Loud will be celebrating its 20th Anniversary in 2025. The Poetry Out Loud Recitation Contest is a national program that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through analysis, […]

The Chicago Poetry Center presents BLUE HOUR, a free monthly in-person reading series and generative writing workshop at Haymarket House, 800 W. Buena. Our November featured readers are Monica Rico and Kush Thompson. The […]

Twain 3rd graders were eager to know what we would be doing for our 2nd session. We talked about things that poets do, such as pay attention to details and pay attention to how […]

It was my pleasure to return to Twain Elementary to meet with fresh groups of 3rd graders for our fall poetry residency. Students were curious and ready to begin our adventure into reading, discussing, […]

I’m excited to be back teaching 4th graders this year at Twain Elementary. To get to know this new group of students, the theme for our first session on Tuesday was self-portraits. Artists create […]

At the Chicago Poetry Center, we believe that poetry is for everyone: children and adults, career writers and hobbyists, people with creative writing degrees and folks who write privately in their journals. We also […]

You’ve written poems. Now it’s time find your readers. But where to start? Join the Chicago Poetry Center as poet and editor Lisa Low shares advice on finding the right publications your poetry, writing […]

The Chicago Poetry Center presents BLUE HOUR, a free, public monthly in-person reading series and generative writing workshop at Haymarket House (800 W. Buena) hosted and facilitated by Marty McConnell. The Blue Hour reading […]

The Chicago Poetry Center board, staff, and community at large are mourning a massive loss in our community, the passing of Mary Ellen Woods.  Mary Ellen Woods joined the Chicago Poetry Center board in […]

A Bigger Table: 50 Years of the Chicago Poetry Center Closing Event* Saturday, September 1411 AM – 12:30 PMPoetry Foundation: 61 E. Superior St. *Registration Required! Please register here. Celebrate the last day of […]

We hope that you’ll join us in Albany Park this month at ECOS: A Chicago Latine Poetry Festival. The fest celebrates Chicago’s relationship with and influence on Latine poetry. It echoes (“ecos’ in Spanish) the […]

The Chicago Poetry Center presents BLUE HOUR, a free, public monthly in-person reading series and generative writing workshop hosted and facilitated by Marty McConnell. The Blue Hour reading includes a brief open mic followed […]

Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Poetry Foundation for the exhibition opening of A Bigger Table: 50 Years of the Chicago Poetry Center. We had a blast celebrating CPC’s 50th anniversary […]

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“Writing poetry makes me feel like I can see myself, like I can see my reflection, but not in a mirror, in the world. I write and I know I can be reflected.”
-Oscar S.

“Writing poetry makes me feel free.”
-Buenda D.

“Writing poetry is like your best friend.”
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