"Inanimate Objects": Have you inherited an inanimate object that carries emotional weight? Have you bestowed a name on your bicycle or your car? The poems featured in this episode respond in a variety of ways to inanimate objects. Leigh Stein, "What Happens If You Click It," from What To Miss When (NY: Soft Skull Press, 2021). Richard Polt, "The Typewriter Manifesto," from The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist's Companion for the 21st Century (Woodstock, VT: The Countryman Press, 2015). Robert Wrigley, "Box," from Box (Penguin Books, 2017), read with kind permission of the author. Stephen Dunn, "The Sacred," from The Not Yet Fallen World: New and Selected Poems (W.W. Norton, 2022). Sharon Olds, "Adolescence," from The Wellspring (NY: Knopf, 1996), read with kind permission of the author. The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com).
“Parents Viewed Unconventionally”: Three contemporary female poets comment on one or more parents in somewhat unexpected ways. Molly Twomey, “The Drop Off,” from Raised...
What do you think of the remarks by the old people you know? Do they offer wisdom? Do they complain? Are they forward-looking? Are...
“Swimming”: We dive in with two action-packed excerpts from ancient poetic narratives. Both depict heroic swimmers moving through dangerous waters. This episode concludes with...