Poetry For All
Finding Our Way Into Great Poems
We found 9 episodes of Poetry For All with the tag “joy”.
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Episode 63: Rumi, Colorless, Nameless, Free
August 29th, 2023 | Season 6 | 29 mins 56 secs
13th century, ghazal, guest on the show, islam, joy, poetry in translation, restlessness, rhymed verse, spirituality, surprise, wonder, world poetry
In this episode, poet and translator Haleh Liza Gafori joins us to closely read and discuss a poem by Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (1207-1273 CE), one of the greatest of all Sufi poets. We discuss the poetic constraints of the ghazal form, Rumi's encounters with the divine, and the significance of his friendship with Shams, a man who transformed his life and poetic practice.
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Episode 62: Kobayashi Issa, Haiku
August 11th, 2023 | Season 6 | 17 mins 19 secs
18th century, haiku, joy, poet laureate, poetry in translation, spring, surprise, world poetry
What makes haiku "the perfect poetic form"? This episode reads three wonderful haiku by Kobayashi Issa and explores what makes them so moving and fun.
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Episode 60: Li-Young Lee, From Blossoms
May 2nd, 2023 | Season 5 | 19 mins 7 secs
20th century, asian american and pacific islander month, free verse, gratitude, joy, repetition or refrain, summer, wonder
In this episode, we explore the poetry of joy in a world of shade and death, looking to sounds and repetitions while examining how "From Blossoms" speaks back to the poem that immediately precedes it in Lee's great book "Rose."
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Episode 48: Joy Harjo, An American Sunrise
April 28th, 2022 | Season 4 | 21 mins 47 secs
21st century, anger, golden shovel, grief and loss, hope, joy, native american heritage month, poet laureate, social justice and advocacy, spirituality
In this episode, we examine The Golden Shovel form and discuss the idea of "survivance" through the work of Muscogee (Creek) poet Joy Harjo, the 23rd Poet Laureate of the United States.
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Episode 46: Lucille Clifton, spring song
April 13th, 2022 | Season 4 | 17 mins 35 secs
20th century, black history month, christianity, easter, free verse, hope, joy, love, repetition or refrain, spring, wonder
Lucille Clifton (1936-2010) was one of the most powerful poets of the twentieth century. This joyful poem caps a sequence of sixteen poems called "some jesus," which walks through biblical characters (beginning with Adam and Eve) and ends on four poems for Holy Week and Easter.
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Episode 19: Naomi Shihab Nye, Gate A-4
March 9th, 2021 | Season 2 | 18 mins 59 secs
21st century, hope, joy, narrative, social justice and advocacy, spirituality, surprise, wonder
Remember airports? In this wonderful, narrative poem, Nye speaks of the remarkable capacity for community in a world of strangers.
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Episode 18: Jenny Johnson, Dappled Things
March 2nd, 2021 | Season 2 | 27 mins 25 secs
21st century, gratitude, guest on the show, joy, lgbtqia month, nature poetry, thanksgiving, wonder
In this episode, Jenny Johnson discusses the sources of inspiration for her poem "Dappled Things," her love of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the incredible diversity--and fragility--of the natural world.
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Episode 17: Gerard Manley Hopkins, Pied Beauty
February 23rd, 2021 | Season 2 | 14 mins 35 secs
19th century, alliterative verse, gratitude, joy, nature poetry, rhymed verse, sonnet, thanksgiving, wonder
In this extraordinary curtal sonnet (a shortened sonnet, curtailed), Hopkins packs immense power. He uses the shortened form to heighten the emotion, drawing himself up short in the end with nothing else that can be said other than "Praise him." This week, we walk through these short lines and unfold some of the ways that Hopkins works.
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Episode 11: Alberto Ríos, When Giving Is All We Have
November 17th, 2020 | Season 1 | 15 mins 46 secs
21st century, free verse, friendship, gratitude, hispanic heritage month, joy, repetition or refrain, thanksgiving
In this episode, we read and discuss a poem about giving by Alberto Ríos, the inaugural state poet laureate of Arizona.