Be True: Life in Literature

John reads a passage from his chapbook-length poem Terminal D. He also discusses the global warming of air travel, Extinction Rebellion, and civil disobedience in Henry David Thoreau’s backyard. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-Edit...

In this special episode, John discusses the fight to save the humanities, his experiences as a traveling salesman of humanism, and what George Lucas, John Lithgow, and Yo-Yo Ma all have in common. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johntessitore.substack.com

John reads a passage from Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He also discusses the tricks of conscience, the fight for human dignity and decency, and a masterful speech by Conan O’Brien. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-Ed...

John reads his poem “Testimony,” recently published in the journal Canary—a poem that says everything he wants to say right now about spring, and nature, and awe, and humility. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-Editor Across the Pond...

John reads his poem “The First March” from his collection The Americans. He also discusses the challenges of protest and the devaluation of language in an age of slogans, algorithms, AI, and big data. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as C...

John reads "In Memoriam, July 19, 1914," a poem by Anna Akhmatova. He also discusses the absurdities of war, witnesses to history, people as commodities, and writers who stay and fight. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-Editor Across...

John reads from his poem/pamphlet “From Eyes Stricken.” He also discusses writing in a trance, American literature in crisis, the poems of Czeslaw Milosz, and feeling like it’s now or never. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-Editor A...

John reads his poem “Iscariot” from his chapbook Apocrypha. He also discusses the importance of being honest, the slow creep of corruption, and tosses in a little Velvet Underground for good measure. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co...

In this special episode, John discusses his experiences as a writer of nonfiction, our national reckoning with history, the tragedies of the American story, and the extraordinary life of Muhammad Ali. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as C...

John reads his poem “We Purchased a Pile of Dirt.” He also discusses the ecology of the economy, the economy of ecology, the truth about scarcity, raised-bed gardening, and fighting fools with joy. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-E...

John reads his poem "Intertestamental" from his chapbook Apocrypha. He discusses our present need for spiritual renewal, the benefits of writing our own scripture, and Walt Whitman's American Bible. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-...

John reads a passage of “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau. He also discusses what it means to be self-reliant, how to get clean in a corrupt society, and why we can only get clean together. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co...

John reads his poem “What Have We Learned.” He discusses the new age of anxiety, his skepticism about advice poems, and our duty to find our own feet first, and fast, before we can help anyone else. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-...

John reads his poem “Our Fathers” from his chapbook On Self-Expression After the Revolution. He also discusses generational conflict, Baby Boomer lunacy, and the therapeutic virtues of a “gut poem.” John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-...

John reads his poem "Why I Say 'I Love You.'" He also discusses literary inspirations, offers some "pure, sincere, unironic" meditations on love and poetry, and identifies the ultimate poetic coda. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-E...

John reads his poem “We were typical boys” from his chapbook All the Lonely American Roads. He also discusses childhood history lessons, competing worldviews, and our big dilemma in the year ahead. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-E...

John reads his poem “Levi” from his forthcoming chapbook Apocrypha. He also discusses Biblical weirdness, the license to create, the radical potential of forgiveness, and stories that shape culture. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit johntessitore.substack.com

John reads his poem “Sunday After Church” from his collection Sometimes I Still Pray. He also discusses “old neighborhood” characters, blues man John Lee Hooker, and what makes a poem a poem. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-Editor...

John reads from his novella Jigsaw Men. He also discusses the falseness of seriousness and the importance of humor in writing about big themes and addressing big issues, like environmental collapse. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-...

John reads his poem “Mazda Marimba” from his chapbook Parchment: A Prayer Quintet. He also discusses art on the margins; world-changing ambition; and the transient, hobo tradition of American culture. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as C...

John reads his poem “Containment.” He discusses the struggle inherent in personal relationships, the danger of (American) attachments, how the personal turns political, and the ethics of bark mulch. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-...

John reads his poem “Vagabond Shoes.” He also discusses the New York of Frank Sinatra and Walt Whitman, the big dreams of the American past, and what poems can tell us about the changes to come. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-Edit...

John reads a section of his poem “For a minute there, it seemed like something was happening.” He discusses the importance of “useless” poems, the poverty of corporate values, and the Beatitudes. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-Edi...

John reads a poem from his chapbook All the Lonely American Roads. He also discusses impractical pursuits (like writing), the trouble with “bias,” and the only way to separate fact from fiction. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-Edit...

John reads a section of his chapbook-length poem Terminal D. He also discusses the practicalities of a creative life, the joys of literary independence, and the never-ending effort to break even. John Tessitore has been a journalist and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston and directed national policy studies on education and civil justice. He serves as Co-Edi...