summer songs: weekly

prompt

Put pen to paper and write with us.

Our first writing prompt is inspired by Eduardo C. Corral’s “Lines Written During My Second Pandemic.”

“Vacation”
Rita Dove

“Summer, You’re a Boneyard”
Gustavo Hernandez

“Ode to Kool-Aid”
Marcus Jackson

“Summer Holiday”
Robinson Jeffers

“Erie Waters”
Emily Pauline Johnson

From “Late Summer”
Deborah Landau

“Summer Morn in New Hampshire”
Claude McKay

“Summer Haibun”
Aimee Nezhukumatathil

“Still Life with Invisible Canoe”
Idra Novey

“In the Mountains on a Summer Day”
Li Po

“Strawberrying”
May Swenson

“Summer Song”
William Carlos Williams

from the archive

Former Chancellor James Tate receiving the 1995 Tanning Prize from poet, FSG publisher, and former Chairman of the Academy of American Poets Jonathan Galassi.

enjambments

“grief has multiple layers”

An interview with Christian Gullette on Coachella Elegy (Trio House Press, 2024), Enjoy a selection of poems: 

“Tattoo”
“The Fish”
“Coachella Elegy”
“Palm Springs”

poet laureate fellows

“The poetry of earth is ceasing never…”

Read 2022 Poet Laureate Fellow Rena Priest’s reflections on ecopoetry.

pick of the week

Tune in to see Academy Chancellor Patricia Smithreceive the Fuller Award from the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame for her lifetime contributions to literature. Free and open to the public, in person and online.

the glimpse

In a way, the mundane here is elevated to the space of the divine by the form.

Camille Rankine and Hafizah Geter on poetry and former Chancellor Carl Phillips via The Glimpse podcast, produced by the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation.

literary seminars

Explore Rumi’s views on divine love, heartache, ecstasy, and liberation with Haleh Liza Gafori.

Three sessions: August 6, 13, & 20
2:30–3:45 p.m. EDT 
Live over Zoom with recordings available

2025 Ambroggio Prize: $1,000 publication prize given for a book-length poetry manuscript originally written in Spanish and with an English translation. Giannina Braschi will judge. Read the full guidelines and apply by September 15.

2025 Academy of American Poets First Book Award: Winner receives $5,000, publication by Graywolf Press, and a six-week residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center. Former Chancellor Alberto Ríos will judge. Apply here by September 1.