The 2023 Massachusetts Poetry Festival

The word “canon” in literary studies was intended to refer to humanity’s greatest writings — the works containing the highest ideals and greatest beauty, with which all educated people should be familiar. Thanks to the work of critics and scholars of color, however, we are now able to recognize the exclusions, the silences, and the gaps that exist in the traditional concept of the canon. The three poets (who are also college professors) on this panel will read from their own work and discuss how they deconstruct and expand the literary canon in their work and in the classroom.