Poetry Central

Poetry Central

Company type	Collective
Industry	Arts, Poetry
Founded	1972
Founder	James Lavilla-Havelin
Defunct	1986
Headquarters	Rochester, New York , United States
Area served	Rochester, New York
Products	Poetry readings, poetry education, newsletters, public-access television broadcasts

Poetry Central was a community of performance poets and their audiences located in Rochester, N.Y., active approximately between 1972 and 1986. The group mainly organized events at the First Unitarian Universalist Church on Clinton Avenue, although securing stable venues often proved challenging.

Activities

The collective was initiated by poet and museum arts educator James Lavilla-Havelin and regularly included contributors such as William Pruitt, Diane Baum, David Shevin, David Michael Nixon, Bobby Johnson, Wally Butts, and Joe M. Connelly. It featured readings from notable poets like Anne Waldman, Michael McClure, Gregory Corso, Robert Creeley, Gary Snyder, Diane Wakoski, and Robert Bly. Additionally, fiction authors such as acclaimed mystery writer Edward D. Hoch and local playwright Emanuel Fried took part.

Poetry Central served as a venue for public poetry readings in Rochester and actively promoted poetry education within schools, supported local writers’ publications, and organized poetry gatherings in cafés and bars. The collective also made use of public-access television to broadcast content and showcased poetry on signage at key public locations including bus stops. It aimed to establish partnerships with similar organizations nationwide and produced the Poetry Central Newsletter.

Context

Rooted in the poetics of the Beat generation and influenced by the cultural transformations of the 1960s, the collective faced financial difficulties and internal disputes. Its decline intensified during the Reagan administration as American cultural priorities shifted toward individualism and commercial interests, leading to diminished community participation in collective artistic projects like Poetry Central. By the mid-1990s, poetry’s influence as an agent of cultural change had notably waned in western New York and beyond.

Although only a small number of original participants remain active locally, Poetry Central is remembered for its significant role in uniting Rochester’s poets independently of dominant cultural trends.