Poetry For All

Episode 25: William Carlos Williams, "This is Just to Say"

September 8th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  18 mins 13 secs

20th century, free verse, modernism, surprise, wonder

In this episode, we discuss a simple, iconic, "sorry-not sorry" poem from the early age of American modernism, which has taken on new life in the age of Twitter and the pandemic.

Episode 24: Robert Hayden, Those Winter Sundays

June 14th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  20 mins 49 secs

20th century, aging, black history month, children, father's day, gratitude, love, sonnet, surprise, winter, wonder

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.

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.

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.

Episode 8: Toi Derricotte, "The Minks"

October 20th, 2020  |  Season 1  |  20 mins 18 secs

21st century, black history month, free verse, guest on the show, narrative, surprise, wonder

This week, with special guest Carl Phillips, we take a close look at "The Minks" and consider the art of narrative poetry and the movements of a single-stanza poem.

Episode 1: Seamus Heaney, Digging

August 31st, 2020  |  Season 1  |  14 mins 44 secs

20th century, ars poetica, free verse, laborers, wonder

We begin Poetry for All by teaching and talking about a great poem on poetry itself: Seamus Heaney's "Digging."