"Unlived Lives": What prompted you to make personal life-altering choices? Do you believe a sky-god or some other cosmic force oversees your personal choices? Has your life unfolded due to random events? The three contemporary poems in this episode reflect on our personal choices that at times lead us to fantasize about how it all could have been different. Tony Hoagland, "Happy and Free," from Priest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God (Graywolf Press, 2018). Ellen Bass, "Indigo," from Indigo (Copper Canyon Press, 2020). Carl Dennis, "The God Who Loves You," from Practical Gods (Penguin Books, 2001) and reprinted in New and Selected Poems, 1974-2004 (Penguin Books, 2004). The theme music for Poems for Company is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun" from his CD Live from Montana, available at Sweetgrassmusic.com
“Exile and Return”: What is it like to try to enter and exit Middle Eastern countries, especially Palestine? Today’s poems offer glimpses, even before...
"Inanimate Objects": Have you inherited an inanimate object that carries emotional weight? Have you bestowed a name on your bicycle or your car? The...
How do we respond to the birds in our community? What do they tell us about ourselves? This show features eight poems: Emily Dickinson,...