Poems in Progress

Draft of “George Herbert’s Glasse of Blessings” by poet Molly Peacock.

In honor of the 20th anniversary of the MacKnight Black Poetry Prize Reading this spring, Special Collections unveils its new collection of poetry drafts, “Poems in Progress,” written by noted poets.  The Poems in Progress Archive is the inspiration of Lafayette Writer-in-Residence Lee Upton, who encouraged the poets to contribute drafts of a poem that would show their creative process at work. Some poets sent two or three revisions of a poem; some sent many more. These drafts offer a unique window on the trajectory of a poem—how it might emerge, and where it eventually lands.

Simon Room, Spring 2014