IM: I believe it (poetry) has the power to do that. Poetry should not be used to beat up on the other guy, but to explore our common humanity. It comes from our common connection. Menkiti, quoted in Doug Holder”s blog about the Boston poetry and small press scene

Poet Ifeanyi A. Menkiti has strong feelings about the power of poetry, and last month, he put his money and patronage where his heart is when he bought The Grolier Poetry Book Shop in Boston”s Harvard Square. It’s been a Boston landmark for nearly 80 years, and it will continue to be a home for poets, thanks to Menkiti. Harvard Square’s Grolier Poetry Book Shop has been in business continuously since 1927 when it was founded by Adrian Gambet and Gordon Cairnie. As of the mid-1990’s it was one of only two poetry-only for-profit stores in the United States.

Menkiti, a tenured professor at Wellesley College and a poet with three published books of poetry, first set foot in the Grolier in 1969 when he was studying the philosophy of justice in the Ph.D. program at Harvard University. He has frequented it over the years, enjoying the atmosphere that has attracted such poets as e. e. cummings, Allen Ginsberg, Marianne Moore and T. S. Eliot. When he learned that former owner Luisa Solano was planning to sell the store – and that it was in danger of closing – Menkiti decided to go into business for himself. According to the Boston Globe, Menkiti never planned on owning a business, but when he realized that the 79 year old bookstore might close its doors, he stepped up to save the day, purchasing the store on April 1, 2006.

The store has been closed through April to complete inventory. It will reopen tomorrow with a celebration of international poetry, including readings from the works of Nigerian poet Christopher Okigbo. The celebration should set the tone for the new ownership of the Grolier Poetry Book Shop. Menkiti says that he plans to expand the collection at the Grolier by adding more international poets and encouraging people to linger in conversation as the poets used to do when he first found its aisles and open books.

The Grolier Poetry Book Store
6 Plympton Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617) 547-4648
Outside Massachusetts 1-800-234-POEM ~ Fax (617) 547-4230