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Limelight Poetry

Where poetry meets in NYC

Limelight Poetry is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting world poetry, founded in 2024 in New York City by poet Wang Yin. It invites outstanding poets and artists from around the world to share their work in various forms, with the goal of showcasing poetry in underrepresented languages. Drawing on the city's rich cultural resources, Limelight Poetry connects poetry with other art forms, fostering a global exchange of poetic expression. It welcomes audiences into a vibrant and inspiring world of poetry, music, and beyond.

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September 16, 2025 | 6:30 PM
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library

Limelight Poetry Series x World Poetry Salon III

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POET

Colm Tóibín
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MUSICIAN

Martin Hayes
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HOST

Leonard Schwartz
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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! 

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UPCOMING
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Victoria Chang

Tue. Jun 17, 2025
6:30pm - 8:00pm

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
455 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016
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Luljeta Lleshanaku

Mon. Nov 03, 2025 
6:30pm - 8:00pm

Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
455 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016

Latest Recap

World Poetry Salon II

Victoria Chang with yuniya edi kwon and Patricio Ferrari

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POEM OF THE DAY

Out of Touch

I thought it would be good

Since my father had come back

From the dead after all the years,

To take him to places

He had known or studied in.

 

We began in London, walking up

Charing Cross Road, heading towards

The British Museum. 

                                    ‘It was so strange

About your mother,’ he said.

‘No matter what book I found for her,

She wanted something else,

With more, more – what’s the word? - until I could find

Nothing that she liked.’

 

And then he turned, suddenly curious:

‘Is she dead, Colm? Is that what happened?’

 

Yes, more than twenty years ago, I told him. 

‘Of course,’ he replied, ‘we’ve been out 

Of touch. I didn’t even know she was sick.’

by Colm Tóibín

On a clear day, 

the horses

they had been 

fed were left.

across the field 

and had

people found them, 

they still

people who 

hunched over

But the sounds 

of their

a clear day, all the 

sounds fit

day, all my 

thinking fits into

What if our 

thinking was

If it only 

remains thinking

When out, it 

becomes

shapes with 

sharp points.

of thinking but all 

the thinking

Today, I am hungry 

but all the

only 48. On 

clear days

48 people, 

and 48

And 48 

apples.

But no 

matter how

6 dead 

Asian women who

All night, my 

thoughts are

morning, I lean in 

closer to the

drawn lines 

across my face.

both the 

outline and the

not meant 

to hold in

disappeared. Just 

the apples

The apples 

were strewn

become 

rectangles. When

gathered and 

ate them. The

their apples were 

far away.

chewing were 

over here. On

into the boxes. 

On any clear

boxes that can’t 

be opened.

never meant to 

come out?

within 

boxes?

weapons, takes 

on different

Today, there is 

no shortage

is divided 

into portions.

portions are gone, 

there are

there are only 

48 birds,

houses. And 

48 wars.

I keep counting 

grids.

I try, I still 

get

don’t fit into 

48 boxes.

shaped like 

birds. In the

mirror and 

someone has

I realize that 

failure consists of

outlined. That 

lines are

our 

emptiness.

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

Поема на денот

ПО НАС

Еден ден некој ќе ги здипли нашите ќебиња

и ќе ги прати на хемиско чистење 

од нив да го истрие последното зрнце сол,

ќе ги отвори нашите писма и ќе ги реди по датуми

наместо по исчитаност.

 

Еден ден некој ќе го размести мебелот во собата

како шаховски фигури на почеток од нова игра,

ќе ја отвори старата кутија за чевли

во која ги чуваме паднатите копчиња од пижамите,

недотрошените батерии и гладта.

 

Еден ден ќе ни се врати болката во 'рбетот

од тежината на хотелските клучеви и 

сомнежот со кој рецепционерот ни го подава

далечинскиот управувач.

 

Туѓите сожалувања ќе тргнат по нас

како месечина по заталкано дете.

од Никола Маџиров

ДОМ

КОГА НЕКОЈ ЗАМИНУВА

СÈ ШТО Е СОЗДАДЕНО СЕ ВРАЌА

НЕ ЗНАМ

ОДВОЕН

ОБИЧНОТО ЛЕТНО ЗАНОЌУВАЊЕ

ИЗРЕЧЕНОТО НÈ ПРОГОНУВА

СЕНКИТЕ НÈ ОДМИНУВААТ

ОНОЈ ШТО ПИШУВА

OKOTO

ВИДОВ СОНОВИ

БРЗ Е ВЕКОТ

Photo by Peng Yu

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