Margin Notes

During the pandemic, The Paris Review created Poets on Couches, a series of videograms in which poets read another poet’s work and discuss it. From their couch, they describe their personal responses to the poem they have selected and comment on its craft. They share their noticings, curiosities, and connections to other writing.

The archives from 2020 and 2021 offer a wide range of poetry and reactions to it. Each post includes the transcript of the poem and a short video. This is a tremendous source of poetry and models of poetry discussions. You might incorporate this series by:

• inviting students to watch the video and then discuss how their responses to the poem are similar or different
• watching a selection of videos and creating an anchor chart of “what we talk about when we talk about poetry” strategies
• sharing some of the videos as a way to introduce students to new poems and poets
• using the videos as models for students to create their own Poets on Couches poetry responses