Published July 17th, 2025 News
From July 12 to 13, 2025, the Poetry Society of New York celebrated the 14th edition of their landmark New York City Poetry Festival. Over two days, spread across five stages and a vendors’ village, poetry enthusiasts of all kinds and backgrounds wandered Governors Island — an idyllic get-away just one short ferry ride south of Manhattan. For the second time in a row, Tint Journal was right in the middle of it all.
Editor-in-chief Lisa and poetry editor John took care of Tint Journal’s representation amidst a splendid crowd of poetry presses large and small, literary initiatives, authors, art and jewelery designers, and exquisite food vendors (special shout-out to Crispin Dopamine for serving excellent tequeños just a few feet from our booth). On the second day, Lisa and John were joined for a little while by Tint’s long-serving prose editor Matt. For an international journal with volunteers spread across the globe, such a gathering of three editors in one place was quite a spectacle, and a much cherished one atop of it.
We were also excited to meet with Brianna Colmenares, who we have had the honor to publish in Tinted Trails, and many other exciting English-as-a-second-language poets, who we might still have the honor to publish in the future. We also want to show appreciation for the many teachers working in public high schools or collages, with and beyond ESL students, who took great interest in our initiative and with who we had the pleasure to engage in great conversations about writing, language, and living in a globalized yet often too narrow world. Special shout-out also to the many literary organizations and presses with who we got into touch and might build some things together in the future.
The NYC Poetry Festival does many things very well, but maybe what stands out the most is its openness to the unusual, its welcoming atmosphere, and its collaborative spirit. In one word: kindness. To close with an excerpt from “Kindness” by headlining poet Naomi Shihab Nye:
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.(in Words Under the Words: Selected Poems, 1995)
We can’t wait to return next year. Thank you for having us!
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