“What Matters Now” Poetry Festival 2020

Join The Conversation

Wherever you are, wherever you’re from, welcome to City Night Readings Poetry Festival in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This is a special moment in our lifetime that requires us to do many things differently. Whether you are in this city or anywhere else in the states, you are welcome. You are welcome from Madrid; you are welcome from Port-au-Prince; you are welcome from Casablanca or any other city in the world. Let’s celebrate poetry on the theme of “What Matters Now.” Read us one poem or two and send us both the text and the recording (voice or video) to read@citynightreadings.com. Join your voice in this celebration of the Art of Words for what matters now in the world as we pave the way for a better tomorrow.

It is not certain when again we will gather
To speak, share, and celebrate our work together.
It’s neither for tomorrow nor the coming weeks
That we will congregate for a warm reading fix
As we have often done in so many places:
A jam-packed room, a backyard, at sacred spaces,
An auditorium, a salon, or a garden.
We’d never have thought that could be from us taken.
Malè pa gen klaksonn,[i]life does as it pleases!
We’re, of course, confronted to face the challenges.
This era is defined by social distancing,
But just as nature does, we can still make life sing.
Even in times like this, poetry still matters.
Let’s gift the season with some well-deserved chapters.


Deadline: Send your participation by Friday May 1, 2020. If it’s not your own creation, please read and send us something you enjoy.
This project is a partnership between City Night Readings Series, CCTV in Cambridge, and other organizations. The launching is scheduled for the third Friday of the month.

NB. (We speak your language)

Jean Dany Joachim 

[i] trouble doesn’t have horn