The Millay Poetry Challenge is well under way.

At the start of April 2020’s National Poetry Month, when the COVID-19 pandemic was keeping us all indoors, we turned to Millay’s poems for solace and inspiration, buoyed by her keen wit and insight into the human condition. By sharing her work with others from our living rooms, kitchens, and other makeshift studios, we hoped to lift the spirits of friends and strangers alike with the equalizing power of poetry.

On this page we are collecting submissions from the many talented Millay fans who accepted our challenge to video themselves reading or reciting a favorite Millay poem on their iPhone, iPad or computer. You can view the full library of these videos here by clicking on the red POETRY CHALLENGES Button on the right or by visiting our YouTube channel. As videos arrive, we are posting them on our social media venues as well: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

We hope you will join us in accepting the Poetry Challenge by reading or reciting a favorite Millay poem. Once your video is complete, just fill out this brief Millay Poetry Challenge form and upload it at the end.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at

All good wishes,                  

Holly Peppe, Literary Executor

THOSE WHO HAVE ACCEPTED THE MILLAY POETRY CHALLENGE.

Megan Ainsworth – “Time does not bring relief, you have all lied”
Barbara Bair – Exiled
Melissa Baird – Recuerdo
Katie Barbato - The Blue-Flag in the Bog
Vincent Barnett – The Fawn
Jeanne Marie Beaumont - "And you as well must die, my belovèd dust"
Bill Bless - Renascence
Laurel Blossom - Dirge Without Music
Betty Buckley - Souvenir
Nancy Castaldo - On Thought in Harness
Kathleen Chalfant - If It Should Rain
Kimberly Collison – Kin to Sorrow
Tandy Cronyn - Recuerdo
Blythe Danner - “I know I am but summer to your heart”
Carmel Dean - First Fig / The Penitent
Jerri Dell – Daphne
Graeme Dempsey - Love is Not All
Steven DeWater - "Even in the moment of our earliest kiss"
Barbara Feldon - Rendevous
Alison Fraser – Departure
Joanna Gleason - The Ballad Of The Harp Weaver
Joanna Gleason - Dirge Without Music
Charlie Gravina - Un Poema de Un Mil Lays
Nikki Grimes – Ashes of Life
Krystyna Poray Goddu – “Well, I have lost you; and I lost you fairly”
Karen Alkalay-Gut - "I Shall Forget You Presently, my dear"
Paul Hecht - Childhood is the Kingdom Where Nobody Dies
Amy Higgins - Spring
Thomas Hill - Prayer to Persephone
Timothy Jackson - Winter Night
Sally Murray James - Passer Mortuus Est
George Jempty - Lines for a Grave-stone
Eric Johnson - Rosemary
Marilyn Johnston - Wild Swans
Mary Kelly - An Ancient Gesture
Laura Klinkon - "The heart once broken is a heart no more"
Christina Avis Krauss - "Oh, my belovèd, have you thought of this"
Dan Lauria - Love is Not All
Linda Law - Song of A Second April
Bridgitte Lubker - Tavern
Sue Ann Martin - Land of Romance
Barry Mastellone - "If I should learn, in some quite casual way"
John Mathewson - The Concert
Roberta Maxwell - Spring
Michael Minchak – The Gardener in Haying Time
Don Mitchell - “Oh, think not I am faithful to a vow"
Paul Newbury - "Not in a silver casket cool with pearls"
Mark O’Berski – The True Encounter
Alicia Ostriker - Wild Swans
Holly Peppe - “What lips my lips have kissed”
Yvonne Perry – “I shall forget you presently, my dear”
Kathryn Petruccelli - Inland
Paula Plum - "What lips my lips have kissed"
Stacy Pratt – Eel-Grass, Travel
Brenny Rabine - Kin to Sorrow
Kim Rehberg - Afternoon an a Hill
Tim Ross - The Penitent
Anina Rossen - "Only until this cigarette is ended"
Irene Bueno Royo - Love is Not All
Kathryn Sajdak - The Courage That My Mother Had
Thomas Smith - The Lamp and the Bell
Julie Carr Smyth - An Ancient Gesture
Judy Soukup - "I think I should have loved you presently"
John Stanizzi - The Dream
Jennifer Van Dyck - "When you, that at this moment are to me"
Sasha Volokh - Dirge Without Music
Cole Walsh – The Spring and The Fall
Susan West - Spring Song
Dr. Joseph Wiinikka-Lydon – Dirge Without Music
Lora Woodward – Sorrow

Millay Reciting Her Poetry circa 1923

To view all the Millay Challenges, click the button below.