Poetry in the Museum: Student Poets Get Inspired By America at 250

In senior Dylan Beckett’s poem A Numbers Game (read the full poem below), numbers keep multiplying exponentially. Two and three become thousands, millions, and billions before transforming into invented figures: “frackousand degradillion petrolium pumps” and “superultramosterillion lifted power trucks.”

As the poem goes on, the underlying assumption becomes increasingly clear: more must mean better.

Beckett was among the student poets who read their work at "Poetry in the Galleries" in October. Presented alongside the exhibition USA@250, the program featured students reading a mix of original poetry and other works inspired by the exhibit, which itself was inspired by the United States’ 250th anniversary.

The show explores the nation’s history through a series of artworks created since 1776, all from the Museum’s own collection. The intention of the exhibition is to both celebrate the artistic accomplishments of the past 250 years and to make visible the diversity of American life throughout the nation’s history.

Pairing student poetry with the show opened conversations about American values, identity, and belonging.

For Beckett, the event presented an opportunity to question what they call “the number-go-up culture,” in which increasing wealth is understood as inherently good. 

“I find that to be extremely morally dubious and at the root of a lot of problems today,” Beckett said. “So, I wanted to write something satirizing by including these further and further ridiculous numbers.” 

“A Numbers Game” juxtaposes its ever-growing numbers with images of industrial expansion and environmental destruction. As trees become stumps and railroads cross the continent, the speaker accumulates increasingly extravagant possessions. Yet, satisfaction remains beyond reach: “Just a little better now, / Just a little bigger now, / And I’ll finally have won.”

Rin Pastor ’27 approached the exhibition through a different American landscape: New York City. Her chosen painting, John Sloan's A Window on the Street, connected both her interest in the New York School of poets and a class she took with Associate Professor of English Samia Rahimtoola called Poetry and the City.

“There is a long tradition of poets trying to write in the same language as different types of art, and I was so happy to try my own hand at it,” Pastor said.

In Rahimtoola’s course, Pastor explored the window as a symbol of an “ephemeral in-between space.” The painting offered a way to revisit that idea through the contradictions of urban life. Pastor described the American city as a place both of possibility and exclusion, where economic prosperity and social opportunities coexist with redlining and exploitative labor.

“Like a window, the American city, especially New York City, is a place that holds all of these contradictions in such tension, and poetry is the most interesting medium for exploring tension,” she said.

Jaeleen Baffour ’28 responded to the exhibition by drawing on their personal experience in this country. “A lot of my poetry, I would say, has a lot of political and social commentary, as it’s about me moving in the world as a Black queer person in America,” Baffour said. “I loved the exhibit and have a lot of really strong feelings about America.”

Baffour described the pairing of images and poems as a compelling way to encounter the exhibition. “I honestly wish I had experienced the exhibit like this for the first time,” they said.

The opportunity to experience visual art through another art form—or, to “surround yourself in visual and verbal imagery”—helped motivate organizers Anne Cross, an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Curatorial Fellow, and Jonathan Pessant, a security officer at the Museum and a poet himself.

Pessant and Museum Shop Manager Rachel Rodrigues have hosted “Poetry in the Pavillion” during National Poetry Month for years. After attending that program last year, Cross was struck by the students’ creativity, so this year, she partnered with Pessant to organize poetry readings in response to a specific exhibition.

“I hope attendees take away an appreciation for poetry, but also an awareness that the BCMA can be a space for all arts, not just the visual arts,” Cross said. 

The collaboration reflects museum staff members’ growing interest in interdisciplinary arts programming, Cross said, pointing to Beckwith Artist-in-Residence George Lopez's popular gallery concerts.

For Pastor, the BCMA’s welcome has been a defining part of her relationship with the Museum, which has hosted The Quill, Bowdoin's literary magazine, on many occasions. “They’ve made my time at Bowdoin so special,” Pastor said of the Museum staff.

Following the first program’s success, Cross and Pessant plan to organize another Poetry in the Galleries event in the spring. Asked about her favorite part of the event, Cross pointed to the students whose voices brought the exhibition into new focus. Other presenters included Jack Twining ’27, Cameron McDonald ’29, and Cole Hickey ’30.

“I was blown away by the incredible talent of the students who contributed, and appreciate their generosity in sharing their work with BCMA audiences,” she said.