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The New Yorker: Poetry Profile

The New Yorker: Poetry

English, Poems/Stories/Readings/Story telling, 1 season, 103 episodes, 2 days, 1 minute
About
Readings and conversation with The New Yorker's poetry editor, Kevin Young.
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Amy Woolard Reads Charles Wright

Amy Woolard joins Kevin Young to read “Via Negativa,” by Charles Wright, and her own poem “Late Shift.” Woolard, whose debut poetry collection, “Neck of the Woods,” won the 2018 Alice James Award from Alice James Books. She is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, she’s also a civil-rights attorney and the chief program officer for the ACLU of Virginia.
5/15/202437 minutes, 45 seconds
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Special Feature: Major Jackson reads Clint Smith on The Slowdown

We have a special episode to share with you today of the daily poetry podcast, “The Slowdown.” “The Slowdown” offers a poem and a moment of reflection in short episodes, each weekday. In this episode, host Major Jackson, reads “Chaos Theory” by Clint Smith. Major writes… “Occasionally, I try to follow the series of decisions that led me to this present, however triumphant or painful. My life wavers between fate and destiny. But then again, poetry brings me to the belief that some mysterious force is at work, below, that unveils a spiritually deeper meaning to it all.”If you’d like to hear more episodes of “The Slowdown,” you can learn more at slowdownshow.org and listen wherever you get your podcasts.
4/24/20247 minutes, 30 seconds
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José Antonio Rodríguez Reads Naomi Shihab Nye

José Antonio Rodríguez joins Kevin Young to read “[World of the future, we thirsted](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/07/29/world-of-the-future-we-thirsted),” by Naomi Shihab Nye, and his own poem “[Tender](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/22/tender).” Rodríguez is a poet, memoirist, and translator whose honors include a Bob Bush Memorial Award from the Texas Institute of Letters and a Discovery Award from the Writers’ League of Texas. He teaches in the M.F.A. program at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley.
4/17/202429 minutes, 3 seconds
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Ada Limón Reads Carrie Fountain

Ada Limón joins Kevin Young to read “You Belong to The World,” by Carrie Fountain, and her own poem “Hell or High Water.” Limón is the current United States Poet Laureate and the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. She’s the author of six books—including “The Carrying,” which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry—and the editor of the forthcoming anthology “You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World.
3/20/202444 minutes, 1 second
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Donika Kelly Reads Mary Oliver

Donika Kelly joins Kevin Young to read “One Hundred White-Sided Dolphins on a Summer Day,” by Mary Oliver, and her own poem “Sixteen Center.” Kelly is the author of two poetry collections, and the recipient of an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, a Cave Canem Poetry Prize, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and a Kate Tufts Discovery Award. A founding member of the collective Poets at the End of the World, she teaches at the University of Iowa.
2/21/202442 minutes, 35 seconds
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Richie Hofmann Reads Henri Cole

Richie Hofmann joins Kevin Young to read “Twilight,” by Henri Cole, and his own poem “French Novel” Hofmann is the author of two collections of poetry and the recipient of a Ruth Lilly Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation and a Wallace Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University
1/24/202441 minutes, 39 seconds
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Bianca Stone Reads Franz Wright

Bianca Stone joins Kevin Young to read “Learning to Read,” by Franz Wright, and her own poem “What’s Poetry Like?” Stone has published several books of poetry and poetry comics, including, most recently, “What Is Otherwise Infinite.” She runs the Ruth Stone House in Vermont, hosts the podcast “Ode & Psyche,” and serves as Editor at Large for Iterant Magazine.
11/22/202343 minutes, 7 seconds
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Evie Shockley Reads Rita Dove

Evie Shockley joins Kevin Young to read “Hattie McDaniel Arrives at the Coconut Grove,” by Rita Dove, and her own poem “the blessings.” Shockley is the author of six poetry collections and the Zora Neale Hurston Distinguished Professor of English at Rutgers University. Her honors include the 2023 Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, a Lannan Literary Award, the Stephen Henderson Award, and, twice, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Poetry.
10/18/202339 minutes, 40 seconds
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Dorothea Lasky Reads Louise Bogan

Dorothea Lasky joins Kevin Young to read “Three Songs,” by Louise Bogan, and her own poem “The Green Lake.” Lasky is the author of several books of poetry and prose, including her forthcoming collection “The Shining.” She’s the co-creator, with Alex Dimitrov, of Astro Poets, and she teaches poetry at Columbia University.
9/20/202337 minutes, 18 seconds
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Diane Mehta Reads Eavan Boland

Diane Mehta joins Kevin Young to read “The Lost Art of Letter Writing,” by Eavan Boland, and her own poem “Landscape with Double Bow.” Mehta is the author of the poetry collection “Forest with Castanets” and the forthcoming “Tiny Extravaganzas,” and the recipient of the Peter Heinegg Literary Award, as well as of grants and fellowships from the Cafe Royal Cultural Foundation, Civitella Ranieri, and Yaddo.
8/16/202337 minutes, 41 seconds
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Adrienne Su Reads Maxine Kumin

Adrienne Su joins Kevin Young to read “The Longing to Be Saved,” by Maxine Kumin, and her own poem “The Days.” Su is a professor and Poet-in-Residence at Dickinson College, whose work has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pushcart Prize, and the Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund.
7/26/202339 minutes, 54 seconds
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David Baker Reads Stanley Plumly

David Baker joins Kevin Young to read “In Passing,” by Stanley Plumly, and his own poem “Six Notes.” Baker has received honors and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Theodore Roethke Memorial Foundation. He served as poetry editor of the Kenyon Review for more than twenty-five years, and he teaches at Denison University, in Ohio.
6/21/202337 minutes, 49 seconds
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Kate Baer Reads Ellen Bass

Kate Baer joins Kevin Young to read “The Morning After,” by Ellen Bass, and her own poem “Mixup.” Baer is the New York Times bestselling author of three poetry collections, including, most recently “And Yet.”
5/17/202329 minutes, 35 seconds
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Tributaries: A Conversation with Robin Coste Lewis

When the poet Robin Coste Lewis discovered a trove of photographs under her late grandmother’s bed, she recognized them not only as a document of her family’s history during the Great Migration, but also as a testament to Black intimacy and ingenuity across generations. From studio portraits to snapshots, tintypes to Polaroids, these pictures provide the foundation of Robin’s latest book, “To the Realization of Perfect Helplessness,” excerpts from which were published on newyorker.com. Robin Coste Lewis formerly served as poet laureate of Los Angeles, and her debut collection, “Voyage of the Sable Venus,” won the 2015 National Book Award for poetry.
4/19/202344 minutes, 49 seconds
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Sandra Cisneros Reads José Antonio Rodríguez

Sandra Cisneros joins Kevin Young to read “Shelter,” by José Antonio Rodríguez, and her own poem “Tea Dance, Provincetown, 1982.” Cisneros is the recipient of a 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, a National Medal of Arts, the Ford Foundation’s Art of Change Fellowship, and the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature.
9/30/202236 minutes, 12 seconds
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Diane Seuss Reads Jane Huffman

Diane Seuss joins Kevin Young to read “Ode,” by Jane Huffman, and her own poem “Gertrude Stein.” Seuss is the winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the same year’s National Book Critics Circle Award for her collection “frank: sonnets.” Her honors also include a Guggenheim Fellowship and the 2021 John Updike Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
8/31/202236 minutes, 9 seconds
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Saeed Jones Reads Deborah Digges

Saeed Jones joins Kevin Young to read “The Wind Blows Through the Doors of My Heart,” by Deborah Digges, and his own poem “A Spell to Banish Grief.” Jones’s work has received the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction, the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry, and a Stonewall Book Award.
6/22/202239 minutes, 19 seconds
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Eileen Myles Reads Joy Harjo

Eileen Myles joins Kevin Young to read “Without,” by Joy Harjo, and their own poem “Dissloution.” Myles has published more than twenty books of poetry and prose. Their honors include the Publishing Triangle’s 2020 Bill Whitehead Lifetime Achievement Award, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, multiple Lambda Literary Awards, and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
5/25/202228 minutes, 48 seconds
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Christian Wiman Reads Patrizia Cavalli

Christian Wiman joins Kevin Young to discuss “Far from Kingdoms” and “Outside, In Fact, There Wasn't Any Change,” by Patrizia Cavalli, translated by Judith Baumel, and his own poem “Eating Grapes Downward.” Wiman is a poet, essayist, editor, and translator, whose honors include the 2016 Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry, and the 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Conference on Christianity and Literature.
4/6/202237 minutes, 19 seconds
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Amanda Gorman Reads Tracy K. Smith

Amanda Gorman joins Kevin Young to read “Declaration,” by Tracy K. Smith, and her own poem “Ship’s Manifest.” Gorman served as the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate, received a 2020 Poets & Writers Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, and, in 2021, became the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history.
12/22/202134 minutes, 26 seconds
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Aria Aber Reads Frank Bidart

Aria Aber joins Kevin Young to read “Half Light,” by Frank Bidart, and her own poem “Dirt and Light.” Aber is a Whiting Award recipient, a current Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, and the author of “Hard Damage,” which won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry.
11/24/202134 minutes, 22 seconds
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Forrest Gander Reads Ada Limón

Forrest Gander joins Kevin Young to read “Privacy,” by Ada Limón, and his own poem “Post-Fire Forest.” Gander is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the winner of a Pulitzer Prize for his collection “Be With.”
10/20/202131 minutes, 22 seconds
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“To Claim What Has Tried to Claim Me”: A Roundtable on Asian-American Poetics

In a special episode of the Poetry Podcast, Kimiko Hahn, Monica Youn, Paul Tran, and Megan Fernandes join Kevin Young to read their work, and to discuss Asian-American poetics and the role of poetry in our tumultuous times. Kimiko Hahn, a distinguished professor at Queens College, City University of New York, has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America. She has published ten books of poems, including, most recently, “Foreign Bodies.” Monica Youn, a former lawyer and a member of the Racial Imaginary Institute, teaches at Princeton. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, she will publish a new book of poems, “From From,” in 2023. Paul Tran, a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, has received a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, and a 92Y Discovery/Boston Review Poetry Prize. Their debut poetry collection, “All the Flowers Kneeling,” will be published in 2022. Megan Fernandes is an assistant professor of English and writer-in-residence at Lafayette College. A finalist for the Kundiman Book Prize and the Saturnalia Book Prize, her most recent poetry collection is “Good Boys.”
5/5/20211 hour, 4 minutes, 23 seconds
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Toi Derricotte Reads Tracy K. Smith

Toi Derricotte joins Kevin Young to read “We Feel Now a Largeness Coming On,” by Tracy K. Smith, and her own poem “I give in to an old desire.” Derricotte is a poet, memoirist, and co-founder, with Cornelius Eady, of the literary organization Cave Canem. Her honors include the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry and the Paterson Poetry Prize for Sustained Literary Achievement; in 2020, she received the Poetry Society of America’s Frost Medal, for distinguished lifetime achievement in poetry.
3/17/202136 minutes, 1 second
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Margaret Atwood Reads Saeed Jones

Margaret Atwood joins Kevin Young to read “A Stranger,” by Saeed Jones, and her own poem “Flatline.” Atwood, a prolific poet and novelist, is known for brilliant books such as “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Blind Assassin.” Her many distinctions include the Los Angeles Times Innovator’s Award, the Franz Kafka Prize, the pen Center U.S.A.’s lifetime-achievement award, and not one but two Booker Prizes, most recently for “The Testaments.” “Dearly,” her first collection of poetry in more than a decade, came out in November.
12/16/202029 minutes, 15 seconds
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Arthur Sze Reads Robert Hass

Arthur Sze joins Kevin Young to read “The Problem of Describing Trees,” by Robert Hass, and his own poem “Vectors.” Sze has received the Landon Literary Award, the Jackson Poetry Prize and, in 2019, the National Book Award in Poetry.
11/18/202032 minutes, 39 seconds
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Joy Harjo Reads Sandra Cisneros

Joy Harjo joins Kevin Young to read “Still-Life with Potatoes, Pearls, Raw Meat, Rhinestones, Lard, and Horse Hooves,” by Sandra Cisneros, and her own poem “Running.” Harjo is the current Poet Laureate of the United States, as well as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Her many honors include the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and the Wallace Stevens Award.
9/16/202034 minutes, 39 seconds
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Radical Imagination: Tracy K. Smith, Marilyn Nelson, and Terrance Hayes on Poetry in Our Times

In a special episode of the Poetry Podcast, Tracy K. Smith, Marilyn Nelson, and Terrance Hayes join Kevin Young to read their work, and to discuss its relationship to protest and liberation. Tracy K. Smith served two terms as a U.S. poet laureate, and has won an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and a Pulitzer prize. Her latest collection is “Wade in the Water.” Marilyn Nelson writes poetry for adults, young adults, and children. Her honors include a Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, an N. S. K. Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature, and a Frost Medal from the Poetry Society of America. Her new books, “Papa’s Free Day Party” and “Lubaya’s Quiet Roar,” are forthcoming. Terrance Hayes, a former MacArthur fellow, has won a Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism, a Hurston/Wright Award for Poetry, and a National Book Award in Poetry. His most recent publications include “To Float In The Space Between: Drawings and Essays in Conversation with Etheridge Knight” and “American Sonnets for My Past And Future Assassin.”
7/24/202045 minutes, 35 seconds
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Clarence Major Reads Billy Collins

Clarence Major joins Kevin Young to read “Downpour,” by Billy Collins, and his own poem “Hair.” Major’s recent honors include a PEN Oakland Reginald Lockett Lifetime Achievement Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award in the fine arts from the Congressional Black Caucus foundation. 
6/24/202026 minutes, 57 seconds
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Elisa Gonzalez Reads Czeslaw Milosz

Elisa Gonzalez joins Kevin Young to read “Gathering Apricots,” by Czeslaw Milosz, translated by Robert Hass, and her own poem “Failed Essay on Privilege.” Gonzalez was recently a Fulbright scholar in Poland, and her work has received support from the Norman Mailer Foundation and the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.
4/29/202037 minutes, 45 seconds
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Ben Purkert Reads Jorie Graham

Ben Purkert joins Kevin Young to read “Notes on the Reality of the Self,” by Jorie Graham, and his own poem “News.” Purkert began contributing poetry to The New Yorker in 2012, and his début poetry collection, “For the Love of Endings,” was published in 2018. 
3/25/202035 minutes, 58 seconds
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Kwame Dawes Reads Derek Walcott

Kwame Dawes joins Kevin Young to read “The Season of Phantasmal Peace,” by Derek Walcott, and his own poem “Before Winter.” Dawes is the author of over twenty books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. His many honors include a 2019 Windham Campbell Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Barnes and Noble Writers for Writers Award, and the Ford Prize for Poetry.
2/26/202035 minutes, 25 seconds
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Ellen Bass Reads Frank X. Gaspar

Ellen Bass joins Kevin Young to read “Quahogs,” by Frank X. Gaspar, and her own poem “Because.” A chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Bass has received the Lambda Literary Award for poetry, the Pablo Neruda Prize for poetry, and fellowships from the California Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. 
1/22/202034 minutes, 51 seconds
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Mary Jo Bang Discusses Purgatorio

Mary Jo Bang joins Kevin Young to to discuss her translation of Dante’s Purgatorio, excerpts of which are featured on newyorker.com. Bang is a poet who has received the National Book Critics Circle Award, a Hodder Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Berlin Prize Fellowship. Her latest book is “A Doll for Throwing.”
12/23/201937 minutes, 28 seconds
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Shane McCrae Discusses “Jim Limber in Heaven”

Shane McCrae joins Kevin Young to to discuss his poetry sequence “Jim Limber in Heaven,” featured on newyorker.com. McCrae is a poet whose whose work has received such honors as a Whiting Award, an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and a Lannan Literary Award. He was also a finalist for the National Book Award.
11/22/201934 minutes, 58 seconds
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Vijay Seshadri Reads Sylvia Plath

Vijay Seshadri joins Kevin Young to read “The Moon and the Yew Tree,” by Sylvia Plath, and his own poem “Cliffhanging.” Seshadri is a poet whose work has been honored with the James Laughlin Award and the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. His latest book is “3 Sections,” and he recently became the poetry editor of The Paris Review.
10/31/201936 minutes, 54 seconds
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Eliza Griswold discusses "First Person"

Eliza Griswold joins Kevin Young to discuss her poetry sequence "First Person," featured on newyorker.com. Griswold is a poet and journalist who has contributed to The New Yorker since 2003. She is the author of, most recently, "Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America," which won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction. Her new poetry collection, "If Men, Then," will be published in 2020. 
9/19/201933 minutes, 35 seconds
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Ariel Francisco Reads James Wright

Ariel Francisco joins Kevin Young to read "By a Lake in Minnesota," by James Wright, and his own poem "Along the East River and in the Bronx Young Men Were Singing." Francisco is a poet and translator who published his debut poetry collection, "All My Heroes Are Broke," in 2017. His new book, "A Sinking Ship is Still a Ship," is forthcoming in 2020.
8/28/201930 minutes, 26 seconds
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Campbell McGrath Reads Czeslaw Milosz

Campbell McGrath joins Kevin Young to discuss “Realism” by Czeslaw Milosz, and his own poem, “The Human Heart.” McGrath has published several poetry collections and received fellowships from the Library of Congress, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation. His latest book is "Nouns & Verbs: New and Selected Poems."
7/17/201936 minutes, 5 seconds
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Natasha Trethewey Reads Charles Wright

Natasha Trethewey joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Charles Wright's poem "Toadstools," and her own poem "Repentance." Trethewey, a former United States Poet Laureate, is a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her most recent poetry collection is "Monument."
6/19/201937 minutes, 48 seconds
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Safiya Sinclair Reads Natalie Diaz

Safiya Sinclair joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Natalie Diaz's poem "From the Desire Field" and her own poem "Gospel of the Misunderstood." Sinclair is the author of the poetry collection "Cannibal" and the forthcoming memoir "How to Say Babylon."
5/22/201932 minutes, 39 seconds
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Rachel Eliza Griffiths Reads W.S. Merwin

Rachel Eliza Griffiths joins Kevin Young to discuss "Rain Light" by W.S. Merwin, and her own poem "Heart of Darkness." Griffiths is a poet and artist who has received fellowships from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Cave Canem Foundation, and Yaddo, among others. Her latest book is "Lighting the Shadow."
4/17/201929 minutes, 30 seconds
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Peter Balakian Reads Theodore Roethke

Peter Balakian joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Theodore Roethke's poem "In a Dark Time" and his own poem "Eggplant." Balakian's latest book is "Ozone Journal," which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.  
3/20/201931 minutes, 42 seconds
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Craig Morgan Teicher Reads Forrest Gander

Craig Morgan Teicher joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Forrest Gander’s poem “Son” and his own poem, also titled “Son.” Teicher is a poet and critic whose collection "The Trembling Answers" received the 2018 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets.  His latest book is "We Begin in Gladness: How Poets Progress."
2/20/201929 minutes, 1 second
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Deborah Landau Reads Anne Sexton

Deborah Landau joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Anne Sexton's poem "Little Girl, My Stringbean, My Lovely Woman" and her own poem "Solitaire." Landau's poetry collections include “The Uses of the Body” and “The Last Usable Hour,” both Lannan Literary Selections; the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Robert Dana Anhinga Prize for Poetry, she directs the creative writing program at New York University.
11/30/201825 minutes, 30 seconds
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Kaveh Akbar Reads Ellen Bryant Voigt

Kaveh Akbar joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Ellen Bryant Voigt’s poem "Groundhog" and his own poem "What Use is Knowing Anything If No One Is Around". Akbar is the author of the poetry collection “Calling a Wolf a Wolf,” as well as the recipient of a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, and the 2018 Levis Reading Prize.
10/17/201829 minutes, 7 seconds
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Nick Flynn Reads Zoë Hitzig

Nick Flynn joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Zoë Hitzig’s poem “Objectivity as Blanket" and his own poem “The King of Fire.” Flynn's latest poetry collection is “My Feelings"; he will publish two new books, "Stay" and "I Will Destroy You," in 2019. Flynn has received the Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, as well as awards and fellowships from PEN, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Library of Congress.
9/19/201833 minutes, 58 seconds
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Catherine Barnett Reads Wislawa Szymborska

Catherine Barnett joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Wislawa Szymborska's poem "Maybe All This" (translated, from the Polish, by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Barańczak) and her own poem "Son in August." Barnett is the author of the poetry collections "Into Perfect Spheres Such Holes Are Pierced," "The Game of Boxes," and "Human Hours," out in September.
8/21/201828 minutes, 27 seconds
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Nicole Sealey Reads Ellen Bass

Nicole Sealey joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Ellen Bass' poem "Indigo" and her own poem “A Violence." Sealey is the executive director at the Cave Canem Foundation and the author of the poetry collection "Ordinary Beast."
7/27/201827 minutes, 12 seconds
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Tiana Clark Reads Natasha Trethewey

Tiana Clark joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Natasha Trethewey's poem "Repentance," and her own poem, "Nashville." Tiana Clark is the author of the chapbook "Equilibrium," which won the 2016 Frost Place Chapbook Prize. Her first full-length book of poems, "I Can't Talk About the Trees Without the Blood," winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize, will be published in September. Natasha Trethewey won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for her collection "Native Guard," and was the United States Poet Laureate from 2012 to 2014. Her most recent book is "Thrall."
6/20/201829 minutes, 45 seconds
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Ada Limón and Natalie Diaz Discuss “Envelopes of Air”

Ada Limón and Natalie Diaz join Kevin Young to discuss their collaborative poetry project, “Envelopes of Air,” a series of eight poems written in correspondence between the two poets, currently featured on newyorker.com. Below, Limón and Diaz reflect on the project’s origins, context, and process. “The original context for the poems was quite simple really: to write poem-letters to each other. We wanted to collaborate somehow and I was originally scared Natalie was going to ask me to draw or something. But instead, we began these poem-letters. Natalie and I both travel a lot, with my home base being in Lexington, Kentucky, most of the time, and hers in Tempe, Arizona. We soon realized that the poems were giving us a new, intimate way of thinking on the page—a reader that knows you, a reader with some shared history, a poet reader, a woman reader, a brown-woman reader. In terms of symbolism, both green and red play important roles in the work (the red of the desert and the green of the Bluegrass and spring). You can see those colors moving through the poems, winding around the words. Also, when we talk about Kimmerer and sweetgrass, it’s in reference to the book “Braiding Sweetgrass." (That has proven to be important to both of us.) I have planted sweetgrass in my raised beds. (It’s come back and is thriving this year!) Also, I might add, that we both talk about our inner selves—our own anxiety, insomnia, health concerns—things we might not always share in other poems, because we are truly writing to one another, someone we trust, someone that we can recognize ourselves in, mirror and be seen. She has become an essential person for me to write to, for me to listen to. Of course, there’s more and I could go on, but I also don't want to say too much. I think the main thing is: these are real letters, and real poems, at the same time.” -Ada Limón “What is interesting about the poems as well is that we never had any context outside of the poems. They were their own space, a third space, maybe, of Ada’s and my friendship. We met sometimes in person, crossing paths at events, and we never discussed the poem-letters. They were that intimate time and space for us, of a poem, of a letter, of a room that was a new room for us to inhabit, individually, as we moved toward or away from ourselves and one another, and together, as we became a new space for each other to fill with words. These poems are in some ways very different than anything I’ve ever written—I’ve written about dark and bright emotionalities before, but this is a new, more vulnerable, more open field of myself that I found through my correspondence with Ada. We borrow one another’s phrases and language at times, we incorporate friends and lovers, we thread through what we are reading and what is happening in our lives and our worlds, like any letter would. Ada is one of the most important audiences I have written for, because I love her, she is my friend, and I also admire her as a poet and thinker and person. In some ways, I have risked more of myself in these poems than in other poems I have written. She has become one of the beloveds I write toward, as are my family, my friends, my lovers, my peoples and communities.” -Natalie Diaz
5/23/201829 minutes, 28 seconds
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Marie Howe Reads Lucie Brock-Broido

Marie Howe joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Lucie Brock-Broido's poem "The American Security Against Foreign Enemies Act" and her own poem "The Star Market."
3/21/201838 minutes
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Meena Alexander Reads Gerald Stern

Meena Alexander joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Gerald Stern’s poem “Adonis," and her own poem “Kochi by the Sea.”
2/21/201823 minutes, 6 seconds
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Terrance Hayes reads Matthew Dickman

Terrance Hayes joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Matthew Dickman's poem "Fire" and his own poem “New York Poem."
1/17/20180
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David Lehman Reads John Ashbery

David Lehman joins Kevin Young to read and discuss John Ashbery's Poem "Worsening Situation," and his own poem "Stages on Life's Way."
12/20/201728 minutes, 45 seconds
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Tracy K. Smith Reads Matthew Dickman

Tracy K. Smith joins Kevin Young to read and discuss Matthew Dickman’s poem “Minimum Wage," and her own poem “Declaration.” 
11/15/201723 minutes, 6 seconds
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Charles Simic Reads Sharon Olds

Charles Simic joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Sharon Olds’ poem “Her Birthday as Ashes in Seawater,” and his own poem “The Infinite.”
10/18/201723 minutes, 14 seconds
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Danielle Chapman Reads Zbigniew Herbert

Danielle Chapman joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Zbigniew Herbert's poem "Mr. Cogito Laments the Pettiness of Dreams," and her own poem "The Tavern Parlor."
9/20/201725 minutes, 40 seconds
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Stephen Mitchell Reads Richard WIlbur

Stephen Mitchell joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Richard Wilbur's poem "Two Voices in a Meadow," and his own translation of "The Death of Argos," from Homer’s Odyssey.
8/16/201729 minutes, 21 seconds
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Erica Jong Reads John Updike

Erica Jong joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss John Updike's poem "The City Outside," and her own poem "Dear Keats."
7/19/201723 minutes, 58 seconds
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Lia Purpura Reads Carl Phillips

Lia Purpura joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Carl Phillip's poem "White Dog," and her own poem "First Leaf."
6/21/201727 minutes, 18 seconds
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Tom Sleigh Reads Seamus Heaney

Tom Sleigh joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Seamus Heaney’s poem “In the Attic” and his own poem “The Fox.”
5/20/201731 minutes, 17 seconds
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Andrew Motion Reads Alice Oswald

Andrew Motion joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Alice Oswald’s poem “Evening Poem” and his own poem “Waders.”
4/19/201740 minutes, 28 seconds
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Mary Karr Reads Terrance Hayes

Mary Karr joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Terrance Hayes’s poem “Ars Poetica with Bacon” and her own poem “Face Down.”
3/15/201724 minutes, 29 seconds
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Kevin Young Reads John Berryman

Kevin Young joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss John Berryman’s poem “A Sympathy, A Welcome” and his own poem “Oblivion.”
2/15/201722 minutes, 40 seconds
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Brenda Shaughnessy Reads C.D. Wright

Brenda Shaughnessy joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss C.D. Wright's poem, “Like a Prisoner of Soft Words,” and her own poem “I Have a Time Machine."
1/18/201720 minutes, 45 seconds
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How Do You Fact-Check a Poem?

Parker Henry joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss fact checking poetry for The New Yorker.
12/21/201623 minutes, 18 seconds
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Jonathan Galassi Reads Frederick Seidel

Jonathan Galassi joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Frederick Seidel’s “Poem by the Bridge at Ten-Shin,” and his own poem “Lunch Poem for F.S.”
11/16/201628 minutes, 29 seconds
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Amit Majmudar Reads Christopher Reid

Amit Majmudar joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Christopher Reid’s “The Confusions,” and his own poem “Invocation.”
10/19/201621 minutes, 53 seconds
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Eileen Myles Reads James Schuyler

Eileen Myles joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss James Schuyler’s “White Boat, Blue Boat,” and her own poem “Dissolution.”
9/21/201624 minutes, 26 seconds
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Joyce Carol Oates Reads John Updike

Joyce Carol Oates joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss John Updike's “A Lightened Life,” and her own poem “This Is the Season.”
8/17/201624 minutes, 6 seconds
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Billy Collins Reads Eamon Grennan

Billy Collins joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Eamon Grennan’s “Sea Dog,” and his own poem “Table Talk.”
7/20/201628 minutes, 4 seconds
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Jana Prikryl Reads Anne Carson

Jana Prikryl joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Anne Carson’s “Stanzas, Sexes, Seductions,” and her own poem “Thirty Thousand Islands.”
6/15/201626 minutes, 26 seconds
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Nick Laird Reads Elizabeth Bishop

Nick Laird joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Elizabeth Bishop's “The Moose,” and his own poem “Feel Free.”
5/18/201631 minutes, 28 seconds
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Monica Youn Reads Afaa Michael Weaver

Monica Youn joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Afaa Michael Weaver's "Passing Through Indian Territory," and her own poem “Goldacre.”
4/20/201620 minutes, 29 seconds
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Andrea Cohen Reads Philip Levine

Andrea Cohen joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Philip Levine's "The Mercy," and her own poem “Major to Minor.”
3/16/201614 minutes, 33 seconds
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Stephen Dunn Reads Donald Justice

Stephen Dunn joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Donald Justice's "There is a gold light in certain old paintings," and his own poem “History.”
2/17/201621 minutes, 45 seconds
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J. D. McClatchy Reads James Merrill

J. D. McClatchy joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss James Merrill's "164 East 72nd Street," and his own poem “CaĞaloĞlu.”
1/20/201628 minutes, 55 seconds
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Ellen Bass Reads Adam Zagajewski

Ellen Bass joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Adam Zagajewski’s “Try to Praise the Mutilated World,” and her own poem “Reincarnation.”
12/16/201517 minutes, 39 seconds
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Meghan O'Rourke Reads John Ashbery

Meghan O'Rourke joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss John Ashbery's "Tapestry,” and her own poem “Apartment Living."
11/18/201526 minutes, 31 seconds
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Calvin Trillin Reads Ogden Nash

Calvin Trillin joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Ogden Nash's "Autres Bêtes, Autres Mœurs” and his own poem "Oh, Y2K, Yes Y2K, How Come It Has to End This Way?"
10/21/201519 minutes, 30 seconds
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Rosanna Warren Reads Ellen Bryant Voigt

Rosanna Warren joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Ellen Bryant Voigt’s “Bear,” and her own poem “Man in Stream.”
9/16/201520 minutes, 44 seconds
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Sophie Cabot Black Reads Donald Hall

Sophie Cabot Black joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Donald Hall’s “The Ship Pounding,” and her own poem “Chemotherapy.”
8/19/201519 minutes, 18 seconds
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Matthea Harvey Reads W. S. Merwin

Matthea Harvey joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss W. S. Merwin’s “Vixen,” and her own poem “Everything Must Go.”
7/15/201516 minutes, 25 seconds
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Michael Robbins Reads John Ashbery

Michael Robbins joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss “Myrtle,” by John Ashbery, and his own poem “Country Music.”
6/18/201519 minutes, 20 seconds
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Ada Limón Reads Jennifer L. Knox

Ada Limón joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Jennifer L. Knox’s “Pimp My Ride” and her own poem “State Bird.”
5/20/201515 minutes, 51 seconds
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Robert Pinsky Reads Elizabeth Bishop

Robert Pinsky joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Elizabeth Bishop’s “At the Fishhouses” and a poem of his own.
4/16/201523 minutes, 4 seconds
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Major Jackson Reads Derek Walcott

Major Jackson joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Derek Walcott’s “In Italy” and a poem of his own.
3/19/201518 minutes, 14 seconds
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Rowan Ricardo Phillips Reads Nick Laird

Rowan Ricardo Philips joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Nick Laird’s “Feel Free” and a poem of his own.
3/10/201517 minutes, 27 seconds
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Timothy Donnelly Reads Yusef Komunyakaa

Timothy Donnelly joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Yusef Komunyakaa’s “Fortress” and a poem of his own.
1/21/201516 minutes, 50 seconds
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Stephen Burt Reads Liz Waldner

Stephen Burt joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Liz Waldner’s “Sad Verso of the Sunny _______.”
12/16/201417 minutes, 14 seconds
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Maureen McLane Reads Liz Waldner

Maureen McLane joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Liz Waldner’s “The Sovereignty and the Goodness of God, Together with the Faithfulness of His Promises Displayed.”
11/20/201416 minutes, 41 seconds
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James Richardson Reads W. S. Merwin

James Richardson joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss W. S. Merwin’s “A Single Autumn.”
10/16/201416 minutes, 59 seconds
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Rae Armantrout Reads Susan Wheeler

Rae Armantrout joins Paul Muldoon to read and discuss Susan Wheeler’s “The Split.”
9/18/201417 minutes, 20 seconds
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Lucie Brock-Broido reads Franz Wright

Lucie Brock-Broido reads and discusses with host Paul Muldoon a poem by Franz Wright and poem of her own.
8/20/201415 minutes, 42 seconds
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Jennifer Michael Hecht Reads Lucie Brock-Broido

Jennifer Michael Hecht reads Lucie Brock-Broido.
7/23/201417 minutes, 19 seconds
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Yusef Komunyakaa Reads Marilyn Hacker

Yusef Komunyakaa reads a poem by Marilyn Hacker, as well as one of his own poems, and has a discussion with the New Yorker poetry editor, Paul Muldoon.
6/24/201411 minutes, 44 seconds
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Anna McDonald Reads Kathleen Graber

Anna McDonald reads a poem by Kathleen Graber, as well as one of her own poems, and has a discussion with the New Yorker poetry editor, Paul Muldoon.
5/22/201414 minutes, 38 seconds
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Michael Dickman Reads Ellen Bryant Voigt

Michael Dickman reads Ellen Bryant Voigt and his own work, and has a discussion with the New Yorker poetry editor, Paul Muldoon.
4/17/201411 minutes, 29 seconds
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Sharon Olds Reads Rodney Jones

Sharon Olds reads Rodney Jones and her own work, and has a discussion with the New Yorker poetry editor, Paul Muldoon.
3/20/201411 minutes, 21 seconds
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John Ashbery Reads Charles Simic

John Ashbery reads Charles Simic and his own work, and has a discussion with the New Yorker poetry editor, Paul Muldoon.
2/21/201410 minutes, 54 seconds
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Tracy K. Smith Reads Kevin Young

Tracy K. Smith reads a poem by Kevin Young and her own work, and has a discussion with the New Yorker poetry editor, Paul Muldoon.
1/25/201416 minutes, 9 seconds
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Philip Levine Reads Ellen Bass

Philip Levine reads a poem by Ellen Bass and his own work, and has a discussion with the New Yorker poetry editor, Paul Muldoon.
12/19/201319 minutes, 23 seconds