On the first Wednesday of each month through June, the Boston Athenaeum will offer Poetry at Noon. These thirty-minute readings of original work by Boston poets will be free to the public.

The series begins in April with Lloyd Schwartz, known not only for his poetry but also his association with classical music. Schwartz delivers reviews of symphonic recordings and performances on National Public Radio, most notably on Fresh Air, and he serves as classical music editor for the Boston Phoenix. Schwartz has taught at Harvard University and Boston State College, and is currently the Frederick S. Troy Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. His third and latest book of poems, Cairo Traffic, includes some dreams, some musings on mythological themes, and several translations of contemporary poems from Brazil.

In May, the Athenaeum will host the award-winning Irish-born poet, Mary O’Donoghue. Hailing from the County Claire, O’Donoghue has published translations of Irish-language poetry (most notably the first major bi-lingual edition of Louis de Paor’s Ag Greadadh Bas sa Reilig/Clapping in the Cemetery), in addition to her own original poems and short stories. O’Donoghue is an assistant professor of English at Babson College.

June brings the director of creative writing at Suffolk University, Frederick Marchant. His new collection of poems, The Looking House, is described in an Athenaeum press release as laying out “a map of human suffering, from wars within the psyche to wars that rage across the contemporary landscape.” Marchant, it points out, “was one of the first Marine officers to be honorably discharged as a conscientious objector” during the Vietnam War.

Visitors to the Boston Athenaeum for Poetry at Noon will have the opportunity to view some of the library’s permanent collection of fine art, located in its first floor galleries.