On Mothers' Day, May 9, 2010, poets will gather at historic Flushing Meeting House to read names of people who died in New York City, 1980-2008, located through the Hart Island Project digital database. Each poet with read a page of names from a ledger book followed by a poem of his/her own choice. The Hart Island Project seeks to uncover the secrets of the City’s public burial ground on Long Island Sound, a "potters field" managed by the N.Y.C. Department of Correction. Prison labor is used to bury those who are unidentified or unclaimed, including infants. This is the first time the names of the dead have been publicly read aloud since graveside religious services on Hart Island ended in 1958. The public is no longer permitted to visit the actual gravesites. Visit the project Web site. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham