New England Review

Middlebury Gathers at Poetry Free for All

Gwyneth Lewis – former Welsh Poet Laureate, Bread Loaf Professor, and the evening’s emcee – offers some brief remarks to the audience before introducing the first readers of the evening.

Who do we want to be? This past Friday, July 15, members of the Middlebury community stepped away from the daily bustle and into a space of active reflection at the Kirk Alumni Center for the first-ever Poetry Free for All, hoping to answer that question as best they could. Co-sponsored by the Bread Loaf School of English, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conferences, the Middlebury Language Schools, and the New England Review, the event featured a diverse spread of readers that put the breadth and depth of Middlebury’s influence on full display. Included below are a handful of photos from the event.

Those interested in learning more about the various readers can read more on the Middlebury College website here.

From right to left: Middlebury President Laurie L. Patton, former Navajo Nation Vice President Rex Lee Jim, and Arizona native Taylor Abasta chat briefly before the Free for All gets underway.
Special guest Lauren Marie Schmidt offers poetry from her recently-published collection, “Psalms of the Dining Room,” as well as the upcoming “Filthy Labors.”
Alumnus Jack DesBois ‘15.5, an active member of the Middlebury and Addison County community, treats the audience to a Robert Louis Stevenson poem as well as one of his own.
From right to left: the Middlebury Spanish Language School’s Francisco Layna Ranz reads while fellow faculty members and poets Jacobo Sefamí and Pedro Angel Palou look on.

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