Vessels and Passages: A poetry series

A monthly poetry series hosted at the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington in the Tiffany Gallery. Vessels and Passages features established poets, who will share their work and facilitate open discussions with the public. The series will also support student and local emerging poet programs in the greater DC area to enable their work to be shared as well. Just like in the visual arts, poets need space to share their creativity, and this series will provide that space.

Free to attend. 

Upcoming Poets for the Vessels Series:

• July 31: Olga Livshin
• August 28: Courtney LeBlanc
• September 18: Laura Martin
• October 30: TBD
• November 20: TBD

Stay tuned for the featured poets of each month as they are announced!

JULY POET: Olga Livshin

Ukrainian-American poet, Olga Livshin, will read original work and translations of Ukrainian poets.

Olga Livshin’s poetry and translations appear in the New York Times, Ploughshares, the Kenyon Review, and other journals. She is the author of A Life Replaced: Poems with Translations from Anna Akhmatova and Vladimir Gandelsman (Poets & Traitors Press, 2019). Livshin co-translated Today is a Different War by the Ukrainian poet Lyudmyla Khersonska (Arrowsmith Press, 2023), and A Man Only Needs a Room, a volume of the immigrant Russian poet Vladimir Gandelsman (New Meridian Arts, 2022). She lives near Philadelphia.

AUGUST Poet: Courtney LeBlanc

Courtney LeBlanc is the author of the full-length collections Her Whole Bright Life (winner of the Jack McCarthy Book Prize); Exquisite Bloody, Beating Heart; and Beautiful & Full of Monsters. Her next collection, Her Dark Everything is forthcoming in April 2025. She is the Arlington County Poet Laureate and the founder and editor-in-chief of Riot in Your Throat, an independent poetry press. She loves nail polish, tattoos, and a soy latte each morning. Find her online at www.courtneyleblanc.com.

SEPTEMBER Poet: Laura Martin

Laura Martin was born in a place of front porch conversations, fresh blackberries, and unlocked doors in the mountains of southwest Virginia. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in English. Laura worked at New Hope Housing and Shelter House, where she was a case manager and then program director for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. She returned to school and obtained a Masters in Divinity at Wesley Theological Seminary. Laura currently serves as Associate Pastor at Rock Spring United Church of Christ in Arlington. She published her book of poetry, Breaking into Light, in 2023. She loves peonies, running, and time with her miniature goldendoodle, Finn.

Please consider contributing to this new, exciting series at MoCA Arlington: DONATE HERE.