Free Verse: Poets House Moves to Battery Park City

Maybe you haven’t picked up a book of poetry in a couple of years, or your last memory of trying to compose a poem was writing a Valentine’s Day limerick to your fourth-grade crush. Well, you can change all that, because as of last week, New York’s Poets House has a bigger, better, splashier new home in Battery Park City. (Ten River Terrace; 212 421-7920)
The 50,000 volume library and literary center, which was founded by poet Stanley Kunitz and arts administrator Elizabeth Kray in 1985, just re-opened in a new space by the water. The 11,000 square-foot space offers poetry lovers more than twice the area of the former Soho second-floor loft. It features a Children’s Room; multimedia archive; Reading Room (added bonus: fantastic views of the Hudson River); and an exhibition space.
The center offers more than 200 public programs a year, including workshops, lectures and readings; it has a poetry collection that includes books, journals, chapbooks and digital media. It’s a delightful resource for anyone interested in poetry, and wonderful memorabilia includes handmade Christmas cards by Robert Frost and a first edition of Dylan Thomas’ “A Child's Christmas in Wales.”
The center has been granted rent-free use of the space for the next 60 years.