Philip Levine reads his poem "They Feed They Lion" | LIVE from the NYPL

Recorded on June 4th, 2013 at the New York Public Library
For more events by LIVE from the NYPL visit: www.nypl.org/events/live-nypl
Watch the full 90-minute recording here: goo.gl/ho4oUB
To coincide with The New York Public Library's exhibition “Back Tomorrow: Federico Garcia Lorca / Poet in New York,” this special installment of LIVE from the NYPL celebrates Lorca's life and legacy with performances and readings. Participants include John Giorno, Will Keen and Maria Fernandez Ache, Philip Levine, Christopher Maurer, Paul Muldoon, Patti Smith, and Tracy K. Smith.
Written while Federico García Lorca was a student at Columbia University in 1929-30, Poet in New York is arguably one of the poet’s most important works, and a powerful testament to New York City as seen through the eyes of one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. The book was published posthumously in 1940, but the manuscript mysteriously disappeared, lost to scholars for decades.
The Fundación Federico García Lorca in Madrid and The New York Public Library exhibit it now for the first time, together with drawings, photographs, letters, and mementos. Join LIVE for a celebration of this homecoming.
PHILIP LEVINE
Philip Levine "is a large, ironic Whitman of the industrial heartland" who, according to Edward Hirsch in the New York Times Book Review, should be considered "one of [America's]...quintessentially urban poets." He was born in 1928 to Russian-Jewish immigrants, in Detroit, a city that inspired much of his writing. The author of twenty collections of poetry, including the most recent, News Of The World (Knopf, 2009), the 1995 Pulitzer Prize-winning The Simple Truth, and What Work Is, which won the National Book Award in 1991. Levine is known as the poet of the working class, and he remains dedicated to writing poetry "for people for whom there is no poetry.” He was the eighteenth United States Poet Laureate for 2011-2012.

[@brianp2195]

The first time I heard this poem, I was searching the internet for a poem to recite in college speech. That was in '97 or '98, while attending the University of Maryland. Listening (over and over) to a live reading by Mr. Levine helped me ace my reading.

[@nyxxie023]

Thanks so much for your words, Philip Levine. Godspeed.

[@XxBulletproofxX1]

Just read this for class, and I love it. Having this reading is very insightful and interesting, and I'm glad to have it as a resource. Thanks for posting!

[@Olhamo]

Christopher Smart, wonderful poet!

[@v.i.p.matthew]

Waw!!. Thank you!. 🤩🥰

[@Olhamo]

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