Poetry
In working to advance its mission to “promote the study of the world’s religions in their classical and contemporary forms,” the Center for the Study of World Religions (CSWR) has focused on the intersections of poetry, philosophy, and religion.
Since 2017, Sherah Bloor, CSWR resident fellow, host of the poetry series, and editor-in-chief of Peripheries, has played an instrumental role in addressing the Center’s focus on poetry through programming and resources, in addition to offering a creative venue for HDS poets. Poetry Series initiatives can be viewed as a three-legged stool; talks and workshops with visiting poets, in-house poetry workshops, and the publication Peripheries.
Poetry at the CSWR: Events and News
Video: The Invisible Sun: Poetry, Translation, and the Mystical Imagination
CSWR Poetry Series: With Sholeh Wolpé The Invisible Sun is the first comprehensive English collection of poetry by the twelfth-century Persian mystic Attar, revered by Rumi as his master. Translated by award-winning poet Sholeh Wolpé, this luminous...
Video: CSWR Poetry Series: A Reading by Jane Hirshfield
On January 29, 2026, the Center for the Study of World Religions welcomed acclaimed poet Jane Hirshfield for a memorable evening of poetry and reflection. One of the most esteemed poets writing today, Hirshfield is known for work that brings together...
VIDEO: Poetry Reading: Writing as Alchemy with Laynie Browne, Julie Carr, & Chloe Garcia Roberts
On November 13, 2025 the CSWR and Sherah Bloor, Editor-in-Chief of Peripheries, hosted three poets—Laynie Browne, Julie Carr, and Chloe Garcia Roberts—who read from their new books, each engaging in its own way in an intertextual communion with the living...
Video: Shangyang Fang Poetry Reading: Study of Sorrow
On October 8, 2025, in the CSWR Common Room, the CSWR and Sherah Bloor, Editor-in-Chief of Peripheries, hosted a celebration of the publication of Study of Sorrow: Translations (Copper Canyon Press, October 2025). Shangyang Fang read his translations of...
Rooms Within Rooms: Peripheries 7 Explores the Architecture of Poetry and Art
Peripheries is a journal of word, image, and sound that crosses thresholds between genres, senses, languages, and traditions. This seventh edition explores poetry—and art—as a habitable space, a room of sorts. After all, “stanza” comes from the Italian...
Volume 7 of Peripheries Explores Spirituality, Memory, and the Arts
The Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School will mark the release of the seventh volume of Peripheries: A Journal of Word, Image, and Sound with a public launch featuring readings, art, and multimedia installations on May 1...
The Intersection of Arts and Spirituality: A Journey Beyond the Self
To what degree do the arts open us to religion and spirituality? To what degree is creativity part and parcel of spirituality and religion? The CSWR creates the conditions to model the intersection of spirituality and the arts—to discuss, practice, and...
Video: Adrie Kusserow's The Trauma Mantras, Reading with HDS poets
On September 19, 2024, the CSWR hosted Adrie Kusserow who read from her recently released work, The Trauma Mantras. Other readers at the event included local poets Yena Sharma Purmasir and Zia Polis. The Trauma Mantras is a memoir written by medical...
Video: Poetry Reading featuring Jackie Wang and Stephanie Burt, joined by Nat Raha and Ethan Seeley
On September 9, 2024, the CSWR hosted our first poetry event of the academic year. The reading featured four poets: Jackie Wang, Stephanie Burt, Nat Raha, and Ethan Seeley. Jackie Wang is the author of the poetry collection The Sunflower Cast a Spell to...
Video: Spring Poetry Reading and Q&A with Poet Jane Miller
On April 17, 2024, poet Jane Miller presented works from her collection Paper Banners, published in 2023 with Copper Canyon Press, and from more recent work inspired by the editors of Peripheries Journal. Jane Miller is the author of thirteen books of...
Video: Peripheries Launch Event 2023
On the evening of November 30, 2023, the much-anticipated event celebrating the launch of Peripheries, the Center for the Study of World Religions’s (CSWR) annual literary and arts journal, unfolded with a blend of poetry, music, and art, drawing over 140...
An Evening of Poetry, Music, Art: Celebrating Peripheries No. 6
by Tristan Angieri, MDiv Student and CSWR Student Research Assistant On the evening of November 30, 2023, the much-anticipated event celebrating the launch of Peripheries, the Center for the Study of World Religions’s (CSWR) annual literary and arts...
Poetry, Philosophy, and Religion at the CSWR: Peripheries Launch 2023
by Gosia Sklodowska Peripheries, our annual literary and arts journal, occupies a special place at the CSWR. The journal publishes poetry, prose, visual art, and music that is, broadly understood, "peripheral"; work that, in form, explores the interstices...
Video: Don Revell, Reading and Conversation (with Intro by Stephanie Burt): Almost a Prayer: The Afterlife of Enchantment
As part of the CSWR Poetry Series, the Center hosted award-winning poet, Don Revell for the Fall 2023 Poetry Symposium, Almost a Prayer: The Afterlife of Enchantment. The symposium and Revell were introduced by literary critic, poet, and professor of...
The Peripheries Poetry Series and Sherah Bloor at the Center for the Study of World Religions
In working to advance its mission to “promote the study of the world’s religions in their classical and contemporary forms,” the Center for the Study of World Religions(CSWR) focuses its efforts along five themes, one of them being, “poetry, philosophy...
Pulitzer Prize-Winner Tracy K. Smith Hosts Poetry Workshop at HDS
“If this were the only poem that you had ever seen, what would you suspect poems are for?” On a recent sunny afternoon, Harvard Divinity School students and community members made their way to the Center for the Study of World Religion (CSWR) for a...
Video: Poetry Craft Talk and Reading with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Tracy K. Smith
On Monday, May 8, 2023, CSWR Resident Fellow and Editor-in-Chief of Peripheries, Sherah Bloor hosted a Poetry Craft Talk and Reading with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Tracy K. Smith for a capacity Zoom audience. "During the Zoom lecture, Smith read aloud...
Video: New Voices in Poetry: Tawanda Mulalu, Isabel Duarte-Gray, and Jess Yuan
On April 10, 2023, Sherah Bloor, editor of the Peripheries Journal at the Center for the Study of World Religions hosted three exciting new voices in poetry. Bloor invited Tawanda Mulalu, Isabel Duarte-Gray, and Jess Yuan to discuss their latest works...
Video: The Jew as Migrant: From Theory to Poetry
On February 25, Vivian Liska, Professor of German literature and director of the Institute of Jewish Studies at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, delivered the annual List Lecture in Jewish Studies at the CSWR. The Jew as archetypal migrant is a...
Video: Forms of Grief
This talk, held February 3 at the CSWR, examined the forms that grief can take, in the work of Zoe Leonard, Peter Hujar, David Wojnarowicz, and John Constable. Kate Zambreno is the author of several acclaimed books, including Screen Tests, Heroines, and...
