POEMS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN The Marianne Moore Edit

POEMS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN [PITPD] represents a new form of poetic anthology—one that celebrates the role of the reader in shaping the life of a poem. PITPD was originally launched as a long-form generative collection in 2022, in which 14 readers took turns discovering 30 classic poems.

This Marianne Moore Edit, created specially for the RE-PLACEMENT exhibition, presents four texts from Moore’s seminal 1921 book POEMS and introduces a 15th reader, with new identifying handwriting.

As in the original collection–and inspired by Roland Barthe's maxim: those who fail to reread are obliged to read the same story everywhere–each reader is represented by multiple pen colors, suggesting the crucial act of rereading.

Verses vanish, just like the memory of their exact words might fade but distilled moments of personal connection remain, symbolized by the marginalia. In time, even the annotations wane, creating a palimpsest of shared meaning and connection as the poem is discovered and interpreted anew.

PITPD explores authorship. When a poem enters the public domain, it no longer belongs to its author but to its readers. In the intimate moments we read a poem, we link it to our private, pulsating worlds and help ensure others will read it, too.

Readers write poetry’s survival.