W.H. Auden, Wallace Stevens and Elizabeth Bishop are among the many poets who have read at the Y since 1939. Mason expects that figure to climb above 1,000 this season. The Poetry Center attracts so many members for several reasons. I think people are curious about the so-called 'famous writers' on our program. But-on a deeper level, many people come to readings hoping to find a human point of entrance into books that may be difficult to read.
Poetry can be hard to approach unguided.
After a reading, many listeners return to the poetry on the page with fewer inhibitions. The extraordinary number of books we sell after a writer's appearance seems to confirm this. That's probably the law of averages in any art form. But even the less-inspiring readings don't seem to keep people away. Our audience is very faithful.