Residents Connect at Lenbrook Through Shared Love of Poetry
When people read aloud poems that have shaped their lives, a special connection forms. At Lenbrook, 24 residents gathered recently for Favorite Poems Night, sharing coffee, dessert, laughter, reflection, and the timeless power of verse.
The event was inspired by America’s Favorite Poem Project, founded almost 30 years ago by then-Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky. The project was built on a simple but powerful idea: something profound happens when people gather to hear poems read aloud by friends and neighbors. Since its founding, hundreds of poetry nights modeled on his vision have taken root across the country every year.
At Lenbrook’s event, some poems were tied to residents’ childhood memories or lifelong passions, and others to the losses and joys of a life fully lived.
There were poems of fear and relief, like Henry Taylor’s Another Postponement of Destruction, and poems that questioned the boundaries we draw for ourselves, like Wislawa Szymborska’s Psalm. A reader of Longfellow’s The Children’s Hour remembered memorizing it as a young child, finding in it the joy of children and the tenderness of parental love. One resident recalled memorizing the long, demanding verses of Robert Service’s The Shooting of Dan McGrew, drawn in by the poet’s deceptively simple language.
A resident who once read Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends to her children each night shared two of his poems, Stork Story and Description. Rounding out the evening were W. B. Yeats’ meditation on young romantic longing and vulnerability about unspoken feelings; Fred Chappell’s In the Future, chosen by a fellow alumnus of UNC Greensboro; and Shakespeare’s Polonius’s Advice to Laertes from Hamlet, words a resident said had guided her through life, “although not always entirely successfully.”
In addition to Favorite Poems Night, Lenbrook hosts a weekly Poetry Club. People read poems – whether contemporary, traditional, translated from other languages, or ones they wrote – and discuss them. Lenbrook Resident Shia Elson was instrumental in starting the club in April with five attendees. Today, 14-18 people attend per meeting, with new members regularly joining.
“The unexamined life is wasted,” he said. “Poetry allows us to examine, scrutinize, and appreciate the world around us. It allows us to see the wonder of living. It shows us life from a different angle. We share our thoughts and enjoy the fellowship of shared thoughts.”
Lenbrook Resident Lynne Wright has attended meetings since the club formed.
“I enjoy hearing someone read a poem they treasure, and it’s delightful to get to know something about them and the poem,” she said. “Art is a big part of human nature. Art is good for the soul and the body, whether it’s poetry, literature, music, sculpture, painting, or dance.”
Through shared poetry readings and discussions, the Lenbrook Poetry Club and the Favorite Poems Night help connect residents to each other and to the moments that linger long after the verses are read.