Festival-goer Susan Roney-O'Brien said with economic problems growing in the United States and around the world, focusing for a day on poems and their meanings offers a respite, The Boston Globe reported Sunday.

"Poetry is so important, especially during times of economic stress," Roney-O'Brien said at Saturday's event. "It's the one thing you can count on. The words aren't going to change on the page."

The three-day festival in Lowell, Mass., was no simple task to bring about as organizers were forced to reach out to the education community for help.

"We've been working on it non-stop for about six months with our 36 partner institutions across Lowell and through poetry networks around the state, including colleges and universities," organizer LZ Nunn said.

The Globe said the state's first poetry festival, which began Friday, featured readings from poets such as Robert Pinsky and Martin Espada.