Poetry in Louisiana Prisons and Communities

With the Lifelines Poetry Project, Louisiana Poet Laureate Alison Pelegrin brings poetry writing workshops to prisons and community centers, and by doing so emphasizes poetry’s tendency to prod humanity to the surface under any conditions. It is her hope that writing and sharing poems with a common starting point will underscore that people are connected, at the very least, by the gestures they make towards poetry. The project website will feature resources for classroom or personal use, making it possible for anyone to participate. Poetry inspired by each of the prompts will be featured on a series of posters and distributed statewide. The results of this work will be celebrated at the New Orleans Poetry Festival in 2025.