Poetry: Tribute to Robert Hayden

Award-winning poetry by established and emerging poets throughout the summer. Please join us for a tribute to poet Robert Hayden in honor of the 250 th anniversary of American independence. Iain Haley Pollock is the author of three poetry collections, Spit Back a Boy (2011), Ghost, Like a Place , and All the Possible Bodies (Alice James, September 2025).  He has received several honors for his work including the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, the Alice Fay di Castagnola Award from the Poetry Society of America, a NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Poetry, the Bim Ramke Prize for Poetry, and a nomination for an NAACP Image Award.  His poems have appeared in many literary outlets, including African American Review , Poem-a-Day , American Poetry Review , The Kenyon Review , The New York Times Magazine , PoetrySociety.org and The Progressive . Pollock directs the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Manhattanville University in Purchase, NY and lives in the Lower Hudson Valley. Nathan McClain (he/him) is the author of two collections of poetry: Previously Owned (Four Way Books, 2022), longlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award, and Scale (Four Way Books, 2017). He is a recipient of fellowships from The Frost Place, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and is a Cave Canem fellow. He earned an MFA from Warren Wilson College. His poems and prose have appeared in The Hopkins Review, The Common, Guesthouse, Poetry Northwest , and Zócalo Public Square , among others. He teaches at Hampshire College and serves as poetry editor of the Massachusetts Review . May 26: Arden Levine, Chet'la Sebree, Darrel Alejandro Holnes, and Monica Ferrell June 2: A Celebration of Sonnets with Dora Malech and Phillis Levin June 9: Anne Marie Macari, Francisco Aragon, Maggie Dietz, and Yanyi June 16: Poets from Four Way Books with Hannah Matheson July 7: A Tribute to Robert Hayden with Iain Haley Pollack and Nathan McClain July 14: J. Brooke, Nicole Santalucia, Phillip Schultz, and R.A. Villanueva July 21: Adrian Matejka and Elizabeth Scanlon July 28: Beth Ann Fennelly, David Baker, Maya C. Popa, and Owen Lewis August 4: David Groff, Kazim Ali, Martha Rhodes, and Richard Smith August 11: Allison Joseph, Brendan Constantine, Erica Lewis, and Stephen Mills August 18: Amy Dryansky, Dan Tobin, Ethel Rackin, and Steven Kleinman August 25: A Tribute to Larry Levis with Debra Allbery and John Skoyles September 1: A Celebration of Poetry and Healing with Danielle Ofri and Thomas Dooley September 8: Poets from Sibling Rivalry Press with Bryan Borland September 15: Chelsea Whitton, Dilruba Ahmed, Matt Yaeger, and Sahar Muradi