Favorite Poem Project

Comes Home to BU

MEMBERS OF THE BU COMMUNITY SHARE THEIR CHOICES IN NEW SERIES OF VIDEOS

Robert Pinsky launched the Favorite Poem Project, an effort to document the role of poetry in the lives of ordinary Americans, in 1997. The College of Arts & Sciences professor was then serving the first of his unprecedented three terms as US poet laureate. The project invited citizens of all ages and backgrounds to share their favorite poem on video and talk about its significance in their lives. A yearlong open call drew letters and emails from 18,000 people, and 50 were selected for the project. In the intervening decades, the project, now based at BU, has remained active, holding annual public readings and producing new videos intermittently.