Poets & Writers Theater

“Now that your life nears its end / when you turn back what you see / is ruin.” Frank Bidart reads a selection of poems from his book Half-light: Collected Poems 1965–2016 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017), which is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“The viewer has to essentially expose themselves in the most vulnerable way I can think of to another poet’s words.” Using gold leaf paint on the porcelain of men’s urinals around Miami, artist Ian Thomas installs excerpts of contemporary poetry by poets, including Frank Bidart, Elizabeth Bishop, Anne Carson, and Natasha Trethewey, as part of the 2015 O, Miami Poetry Festival.

In this 2014 video from the Chicago Humanities Festival, Frank Bidart reads his poem “Herbert White,” which is included in his latest collection, Half-light: Collected Poems 1965–2016 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017). The new book is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Herbert White is a short film based on Frank Bidart’s poem “Herbert White,” which takes the form of a psychopathic murderer’s dramatic monologue. Written and directed by James Franco in collaboration with Bidart, the 2010 film stars Michael Shannon.

Award-winning poet Frank Bidart reads his work, including poems from his most recent collection, Metaphysical Dog (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2013), followed by a Q&A with novelist William Giraldi.

Last April Frank Bidart, who is interviewed in the current issue by frequent contributor William Giraldi, read Robert Lowell's "For the Union Dead" as part of Mass Poetry's second annual Common Threads group reading and discussion program for National Poetry Month. Bidart's new book, Metaphysical Dog, will be published in May by FSG.