At the second inauguration of President Obama on January 21, 2013, RICHARD BLANCO stirred the country with his words as he spoke of our shared narratives and dreams. He was the fifth Presidential Inaugural Poet in U.S. history—the first Latino, immigrant, and gay person to serve in such a role. The poem he recited on that day, as well as those included in his latest stunning collection, How to Love a Country, speak to the heart of what it means to be part of the American story—one he reminds us is full of terrible pain and prejudice as well as progress and hope. Blanco’s new poems about the Pulse nightclub massacre, about a lynching, about the pull on an immigrant’s heart, are full of a luminous melancholy. “Like thirst, like hunger, we ache with the need to save ourselves, and our country from itself,” he writes in “Como Tu/Like You/Like Me.” Come hear him read and talk about the art and calling of the poet in today’s world.

Read more about Richard Blanco here.