Limelight Poetry
Where Poetry Meets NYC
Limelight Poetry, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating and promoting world poetry, was founded in New York City in 2024 by poet Wang Yin. Bringing outstanding poets and artists from around the globe to the city, it creates innovative cross-disciplinary experiences—with a particular commitment to poetry in underrepresented languages. Drawing on New York's rich cultural landscape, Limelight Poetry connects poetry with music, the visual arts, dance, and performance, fostering global dialogue through the power of poetry.
UPCOMING
Victoria Chang
Tue. Jun 17, 2025
6:30pm - 8:00pm
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
455 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Ilya Kaminsky
Wednesday, November 4, 2026
6:30pm - 8:00pm
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
455 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016
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Limelight Poetry Series
x World Poetry Salon ViII
Wednesday, November 4, 2026 | 6:30 PM
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
Location
Reserve
ticket
POET
Ilya Kaminsky
musician
Carrie Erving
musician
Chris Loxley
HOST
Patricio Ferrari
Location
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
Join The New York Public Library and Limelight Poetry at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL) for our World Poetry Salon!
Join The New York Public Library and Limelight Poetry at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL) for our World Poetry Salon!
Hello Friend,
Consider supporting Limelight Poetry, a poetry nonprofit rooted in the heart of New York City.
As 2025 draws to a close, we pause to look back on a year of beginnings. This past year marked the inaugural chapter of Limelight Poetry. From that first step, we were fortunate to gather remarkable voices across poetry and music from around the world. These included poets Nikola Madžirov, Victoria Chang, Colm Tóibín, and Luljeta Lleshanaku, alongside musicians Becca Stevens, yuniya edi kwon, Martin Hayes, and Nava Dunkelman, among others.
In collaboration with the New York Public Library, we presented more than four vibrant World Poetry Salons, realizing a dynamic fusion of poetry and music and fulfilling our original goals.
During this holiday season, your gift is fully tax-deductible. More importantly, your generosity allows Limelight Poetry to continue serving the community in 2026, opening room for deeper exploration, new experiments, and bolder artistic encounters. Our mission has always been to expand the possibilities of poetry.
Thank you for keeping us in motion. It is your support that makes all of this possible.
With warm wishes,
Founder of Limelight Poetry
Latest Recap
World Poetry Salon VII
Forrest Gander, Zelda and Georgia b. Smith, Nola S. Smith and Patricio Ferrari
Photo by Tianyun Chen, Shengxuan Yu/Limelight Poetry & Jonathan Blanc/The New York Public Library
Poem of the Season
HOME
WHEN SOMEONE GOES AWAY
EVERYTHING THAT’S BEEN DONE COMES BACK
I DON'T KNOW
SEPARATED
USUAL SUMMER NIGHTFALL
WHAT WE HAVE SAID HAUNTS US
SHADOWS PASS US BY
THE ONE WHO WRITES
THE EYE
I SAW DREAMS
FAST IS THE CENTURY
I Ask That I Do Not Die
—but if I do
I want an open coffin
I am an American poet and therefore open
for business
Owls peck the windows of the 21st century
as if looking for
the board members
of Exxon Mobil
who who who who who
Listen
my beloved nothings
your seriousness
will kill you!
But before you die
my doctors
have prescribed happiness
God is a warm brick
or a claw
or the silence that survives
empires
An old woman
in the rain with a pot of mushroom soup
is one of God’s
disguises. Her dog
lifts its leg
another one of God’s shenanigans
and pushes its nose
into morning’s ribcage
I point my hand
God this and God that and
when God has nothing
I still have my hairy hand for a pillow
Put me in an open box
so when God reaches inside my holes
I can still see
how a taxi makes a city more a city
slippers on my feet, and only half
covered by a sheet,
in a yellow taxi
so as not to seem laid out in state
but in transit
Forrest Gander
El cuanta de la indiada
El indio roto, pobre y descrestado, habiendo anticipado la "ciencia actual", el cuanta del enredo molecular, habiendo sostenido esa imagen en su vida, generación tras generación, sostenido la vida en la tierra, la imagen de las lluvias y flores soñando las unas el canto de las otras, cada una recordando el lugar de su contrapartida, sabiendo que en el espaciotiempo todo es relación, habiéndolo sostenido por milenios, ahora son borrados, destruidos por haberlo sostenido.
¿Llegaremos a tiempo a re-encarnar esa visión en la tierra, como lo hizo la indiada yoeme, wixarika y raramuri?
¿Llegaremos a honrar, como especie el sueño de la vida soñando su transformación?
Cecilia Vicuña