Lucky Words

Howdy! Another audio-first production, this time a sonnet by the fabulous 20th century poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. This one was recorded on a hike up Provo Canyon (yes, again—hey, it’s just up the street and, frankly, it’s a pretty great canyon) shortly before we finally (!) got some snow. What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why, I have forgotten, and what arms have lain Under my head...

Yes, yes it’s very late (again!). I apologize. ON PEACE When Elisabeth finally (finally!) got pregnant, she had to deal with the discomforts of carrying a baby all the while her husband was struck mute. She said that her “reproach” was taken away, but it is hard to imagine that it was a very pleasant time. Meanwhile, her young unmarried cousin, Mary, was also pregnant. More unpleasantness. Mary wa...

So Advent started last Sunday. I had intended to get this out before then, but then things happened, and I didn’t get it out there. My apologies. About Advent Advent is the season leading up to Christmas, starting the fourth Sunday before. Christmas, the twelve days of it, begins on Christmas Day. Right now, we are in the middle of Advent. For many Christians, they celebrate every Sunday of Advent...

I recorded this while sitting on the shady bank of the Provo River, shoes off and feet in the water. It was over 90º outside, and my spot was one of the best places I can imagine along the entire Wasatch Front today. Text of poem This is the second sonnet in Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Renascence and Other Poems , published in 1917. Time does not bring relief; you all have lied Who told me time woul...

Recorded on a lovely afternoon in early June 2025, up on Cascade mountain, a couple thousand feet above my house. In the recording, I promised a photo. Here it is: The recording might be a bit quiet, and I apologize about that. If it’s annoying to you, just send me a note so that I’ll be motivated to find a better solution next time. Text of poems Sonnet 4 Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend...

Recorded on site and in one take on the banks of the Provo River, May 2025. Today’s poem is by Susan Marsh who is in her own words a “writer, poet, artist” based in Wyoming. That career description is one I aspire to, though, of course I’d choose Utah. The poem was published in 2022. Text of poem “One Patch of Quilt” by Susan Marsh We know about the way they treat the chickens But on a budget, buy...

In the spirit of getting more prescriptive, this is the first of an intermittent and irregular series about how and why of poetry. Today: the portability of poetry, illustrated with a classic by Carl Sandburg, “Why Did the Children Put Beans in Their Ears?” ## Text of poem “Why Did the Children Put Beans in Their Ears?” by Carl Sandburg "Why did the children put beans in their ears when the one th...

Recorded live on the La Virkin Creek Trail in Kolob Canyon, Zion National Park, May 2025. You’ll hear the wind noise pretty prominently at times, and I’m sorry if it annoys you. Not sorry enough to do anything about it, because I personally find it kind of charming. There are a bunch of photos you can see if you visit the website (luckywords.net) that don’t show up in podcast notes. ## Text of poe...

Text of poem Look in thy glass and tell the face thou viewest, Now is the time that face should form another, Whose fresh repair if now thou not renewest, Thou dost beguile the world, unbless some mother. For where is she so fair whose uneared womb Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry? Or who is he so fond will be the tomb Of his self-love, to stop posterity? Thou art thy mother’s glass, and she...

Recorded on site next to the river, up Provo Canyon in the second week of April 2025. As I was talking, the sun came from behind the mountain on the east and I went from slightly chilly to filled with glorious light. It was a good day. Text of Poem Here is is: “Calmly We Walk through This April’s Day” by Delmore Schwartz Calmly we walk through this April’s day, Metropolitan poetry here and there,...

This was recorded two weeks ago, on a day that I woke up and it was dumping snow. I went up Rock Canyon, which was just gorgeous. Now, just twelve days later, it’s warm and delightful. Sorry about the sound quality, too. I was not planning to record, and this was just me and my phone. Text of poem William Shakespeare’s sonnet 2, “When forty winters shall besiege thy brow” When forty winters shall...

Text of poem “Spring” by Edna St. Vincent Millay To what purpose, April, do you return again? Beauty is not enough. You can no longer quiet me with the redness Of little leaves opening stickily. I know what I know. The sun is hot on my neck as I observe The spikes of crocus. The smell of the earth is good. It is apparent that there is no death. But what does that signify? Not only under the ground...

For the past few years, I’ve recorded a series of podcasts every April for National Poetry Month. It’s 2025, and I’m doing it again. Woohoo! The original goal was to do a new poem every day: 30 poems over the course of the month. That is always too much work: finding the poems, doing some research, recording (on site outdoors!), editing, and posting. A daily podcast, even just a little ten minute...

It’s April again, which means it’s National Poetry Month! The podcast is back, again. My ambitions are much more modest this year, and also moving in different directions. The excitement, for me at least is that I’m going to be adding in video to the mix. I’ve been learning a lot, and the curve is steep. But it’s been rewarding to become acquainted with an entirely new set of skills. For today, ho...

Recorded live on location at... my backyard. It was a lovely morning, and so I decided to read a poem. I didn't mention it in the recording because, well because I didn't think about it. I was thinking about Ryan's great poem. And so I recorded a nice short podcast about it. I love this poem. It's one that I've copied out, longhand, in my own notebook that I'm carrying around right now. It's nice...

Recorded on West Mountain, just west of Spanish Fork, Utah. It was blustery and cold, but kind of weirdly beautiful regardless. Beautiful in its desolate ugliness, I guess. The painting I mentioned is indeed by Francisco Goya, but I got the name of the painting wrong. It is "Saturn Eating His Children" which you can see and read about [here]( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_Devouring_His_Son...

Recorded by the shore of Utah Lake on a windy but pleasant day, though not as pleasant as what Wordsworth described what with his green bower and all. My favorite part of this recording is the sounds of the killdeer, which I wish were louder, but of course every time I got close they decided to fly away. #### TEXT OF POEM "Lines Written in Early Spring" by William Wordsworth I heard a thousand ble...

Recorded on the Watchman Overlook in Zion National Park. There are always too may people at Zion, but I found a spot where I could have some quiet privacy and record a poem. Unfortunately, technology was conspiring against me, and so this sounds kinda lousy. Sorry. Also, I referred to the trail as "The Watchman" but what I meant was the Watchman _Overlook_: a much less ambitious undertaking. This...

Recorded in a tiny little canyon that I never learned the name for, but it was peaceful and quiet. Everyone should have a peaceful, quiet little place to read a poem every now and again. As I mention in the commentary, this is interesting because it's simultaneously modern -- I mean, it's talking about an event in the 20th century! -- but also has something older about it. All of Thomas Hardy does...

Recorded sitting next to some trickling water just outside the mouth of Hellhole Canyon, in Ivins, Utah. In part, my analysis was a chance for me to talk a little about my process in reading a poem—the messy stuff that gets cut out in my editing. Because not only do I typically record things in a single take and live on a hike, I also don't use any notes or any script. I have, of course, read and...

A reading and short analysis of Jim Harrison's poem, recorded live in [Hellhole canyon]( https://hikestgeorge.com/hiking-trails/hellhole-canyon/ ), outside St. George, Utah. #### TEXT OF POEM "I Believe" by Jim Harrison, from his book [_In Search of Small Gods_]( https://www.amazon.com/Search-Small-Gods-Jim-Harrison/dp/1556593198 ) I believe in steep drop-offs, the thunderstorm across the lake in...

Three poems (more than two!) poems by E. E. Cummings recorded on the shore of the Virgin River in northern Arizona, at the edge of the Mojave Desert. I was sitting on a big, jutting chunk of red sandstone, surrounded by Joshua trees and cacti. These three poems are of varying levels of difficulty, but for today, the only one that gets the double treatment is "sweet spring is your." One thing I did...

Recorded on site at the tiny, old cemetery in Charleston, Utah. Some of my ancestors are buried there, which makes it relevant for me at least, on this particular day. You can find some interesting commentary about what Kipling might have been thinking about while composing this poem on [the Kipling Society page about this poem]( https://www.kiplingsociety.co.uk/readers-guide/rg_nativity1.htm ). I...

Recorded live and on site right outside Utah Lake State Park, which means that there are also airplanes flying and birds chirping and other people walking. I have edited out the other people walking, but the rest of it is all here. [Mark Gibbons]( https://gibbonspoetry.com/ ) is the Montana Poet Laureate for 2021-2023, and I hope he doesn't mind that I used this poem... #### TEXT OF POEM "My Life...

Five or six years ago, I read this poem here on Lucky Words. This is a new recording—recorded, edited, and uploaded on Good Friday 2023—looking at the best Good Friday poem ever written. Who am I kidding? Every poem by John Donne is the best ever written. I hope that you have (or had) a lovely Easter, filled with family, chocolate, poetry, and Jesus Christ. #### TEXT OF POEM Let man's soul be a sp...