Read Me a Poem

This week, we have a special bonus interview with host Amanda Holmes, in conversation with Stephanie Bastek, the show’s producer and the host of The American Scholar’s Smarty Pants podcast. For the past year and a half, Holmes has recited poems ranging from English classics by W. B. Yeats and Maya Angelou to works in translation by Kamala Das and Wislawa Szymborska to mournful sonnets by Rupert Brooke and lighthearted romps by Kenneth Patchen and Laura Riding. Holmes’s gift lies in treating each poem with equal attention, whether it’s by a new poet she’s just encountered or a canonical master. These days, with listener requests flooding in during the pandemic, the show’s tagline seems truer than ever: we all need more poetry in our lives.Go beyond the episode:Subscribe to Smarty Pants: Spotify • iTunes • Feedburner • Stitcher • Google Play • AcastRead Amanda Holmes’s book reviews and feature column at the Washington Independent Review of BooksPoems mentioned:Robert Browning, “The Pied Piper of Hamelin”Jane Hirshfield, “For What Binds Us”W. H. Auden’s “Funeral Blues”Rabindranath Tagore, “Dungeon” and an excerpt from GitanjaliWalt Whitman, “O Captain! My Captain!”Emily Dickinson,“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain”Kamala Das, “Summer in Calcutta”Toru Dutt, “Our Casuarina Tree”Leonardo Sinisgalli, “Elderly Tears”Rainer Maria Rilke, “Archaic Torso of Apollo” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amanda Holmes reads José Rizal’s poem, “Land That I Love: Farewell,” translated by Nick Joaquín. Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amanda Holmes reads A. A. Milne’s poem, “Halfway Down.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman. This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amanda Holmes reads Helen Dunmore’s poem, “Convolvulus.” Have a suggestion for a poem? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amanda Holmes reads W. B. Yeats’s poem, “Sailing to Byzantium.” Have a suggestion for a poem? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amanda Holmes reads Maya Angelou’s poem, “Caged Bird.” Have a suggestion for a poem? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amanda Holmes reads Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poem, “Eros Turannos.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amanda Holmes reads Kamala Das’s poem, “Summer in Calcutta.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amanda Holmes reads Philip Larkin’s poem, “The Trees.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Amanda Holmes reads Pablo Neruda’s poem, “If You Forget Me,” translated by Donald S. Walsh. Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.