Do you find poetry intimidating? Do you race past the poems in The New Yorker on your way to the fiction or the cartoons? Have you persuaded yourself that you’ll “just never get it?” Join the South Street Seaport Museum and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and former Poetry Editor of The New Yorker Paul Muldoon for a special gathering where participants discuss poems published only that week in literary journals and magazines—not just to uncover their meanings, but to reflect on where poetry has been as an art form and where it’s going. Tickets are $45 and are available here.



Since 2023, the extraordinary “How to Read a Poem” discussion has been held at literary festivals and universities around the world, and this Winter, you can take part while nestled in the beautiful first-floor gallery of the A.A. Thomson & Co. building.



Poems for discussion will be provided at the session. No preparation or prior poetry knowledge required—just bring an open mind! Advance registration required.



About the Speaker

Paul Muldoon has been Howard G. B. Clark Professor at Princeton, teaching creative writing, Irish literature, songwriting and translation for nearly forty years. He served as Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1999 to 2004 and Ireland Professor of Poetry from 2022 to 2025. He has taught at Cambridge University, University of St. Andrew, University of East Anglia, and Lancaster University. His fifteen major collections of poetry, published in America by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, include the Pulitzer Prize winning Moy Sand and Gravel and Joy in Service on Rue Tagore, a New York Times Notable Book of 2024. He is the editor of many anthologies of poetry, including, most recently, Scanty Plot of Ground: A Book of Sonnets.



About A.A. Thomson & Co.

This Italianate cast iron and stone warehouse, located at 213 Water Street, was designed by the renowned New York City architect Stephen D. Hatch (1839–1894) in 1868 for Alexander and William A. Thomson of A.A. Thomson & Co.. Before the structure was built, this lot was occupied by two three-story buildings, originally part of a 1750 water lot grant, on what would have been considered one of the principal streets in New York City. At the Building Rededication Ceremony for the warehouse in October 2024, the Museum rededicated the historic warehouse to a renewed purpose, converting this former industrial space to an education venue, welcoming all to see themselves reflected in the Museum. seaportmuseum.org/about-thomson



Enjoy More That the Museum Offers

Access to the historic ships and full exhibition galleries at the Seaport Museum is not included with this event. If you would like to explore more that the Museum has to offer, book in advance or ask Museum staff about admission tickets when you check in. Museum admission tickets grant access to the 1885 tall ship Wavertree and 1908 lightship Ambrose at Pier 16 as well as all current exhibitions on view in the introduction galleries inside Schermerhorn Row located at 12 Fulton Street. Admission tickets also include entry to the three-floor exhibition Maritime City in A.A. Thomson & Co. located at 213 Water Street. seaportmuseum.org/admission



About the South Street Seaport Museum

The South Street Seaport Museum, located in the heart of the historic seaport district in New York City, preserves and interprets the history of New York as a great port city. Founded in 1967, the Museum houses an extensive collection of works of art and artifacts, a maritime reference library, exhibition galleries and education spaces, working 19th century print shops, and an active fleet of historic vessels that all work to tell the story of “Where New York Begins.” seaportmuseum.org



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• January 7, 2026 at 5:30 pm
  and every first Wednesday of the month until March 4, 2026

  January 7, 2026 05:30
• South Street Seaport Museum
  213 Water Street, New York, NY

  Directions to event · Directions from event
• Contact Michelle Tabnick for more information
  6467654773 or [email protected]
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