The New Yorker: Poetry

Diane Mehta, author of 'Forest with Castanets,' reads Eavan Boland's 'The Lost Art of Letter Writing' & her poem 'Landscape with Double Bow'. Topics include the lost art of letter writing, memory, feminist perspectives, musical imagery, and the balance between lushness & staccato elements in poetry.

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. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

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. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Kate Baer and Ellen Bass discuss the emotional complexity of everyday life in Bass' poem 'The Morning After' and explore themes of enduring love and everyday relationships. They also delve into gender dynamics, erasure poetry evolution, and recommend exploring more poetry on The New Yorker platform.

Robin Coste Lewis discusses her family's history through discovered photographs, inspiring her latest book. Topics include Black intimacy, Louisiana's legacy, cosmic connections, hidden histories in archives, and finding joy amidst grief.

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. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

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. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

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. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Eileen Myles reads 'Without' by Joy Harjo and their poem 'Dissloution'. The discussion explores themes of mortality, connection, presence, and absence in poetry. They reflect on personal connections to the poet, nature imagery, and the concept of being a two-minded creature. The hosts also anticipate new topics, discuss artistic evolution, comfort in creation, the essence of poetry, and engaging the reader in the poetic 'I'.

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. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices