Take this poem

I'm digging this one back up out of the archives, because over the years a few folks have told me that they enjoyed it. No one has admitted this without their cheeks turning at least a little pink. I like this one too! Enjoy.     What do you want? It can be difficult to articulate an answer to that question, and even more difficult to find the courage to tell the truth about it to someone else. Bu...

A poem by David Jones, 20th century Welsh poet.  I've found all his other work unreadable thus far, but I'm not giving up.  Look at some of his paintings, if you can.    Color of Dust interview where I first heard this poem: https://www.podbean.com/media/share/dir-zraw9-25684ab3 Two recitations of this poem for Poetry By Heart: https://www.poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/a-a-a-domine-deus   "...Last se...

Sometimes you're just minding your own business and a poem jumps out from the bushes and surprises you. In this episode I share a poem that did that to me: "My Mother's Body" by Marie Howe.

Keith Hansen returns to the show with two poems by Stephen Dunn (on a very human theme) and some questions to guide your listening. "The Worrier"  "Worry" Enjoy!   

Is a solitary walk in the snow desolate or cheering? These poems offer the answer: yes. "Desert Places" "Dust of Snow" Both by the national treasure, Robert Frost.

I offer you “Little Gidding” by T.S. Eliot. This is far side of the deep end, dear listeners! Come on in. The best part of creating this series was sitting down with others whose lives have been amended by going into that deep. Joining me at the mic for this last quartet is the generous, intuitive reader and friend Colleen Jeffrey. The end is where we start from... We shall not cease from explorat...

I offer you "The Dry Salvages" by T.S. Eliot. This is deep ocean, dear listeners! Come on in.  The best part of creating this series was sitting down with others whose lives have been amended by going into that deep. Joining me at the mic this time is the convivial and keen-minded David Miller. Enjoy!   The bitter apple and the bite in the apple. And the ragged rock in the restless waters, Waves w...

I offer you "East Coker" by T.S. Eliot. This is the deep end, dear listeners! Come on in.  The best part of creating this series was sitting down with others whose lives have been amended by going into that deep. Joining me at the mic this time is the bright, adventuresome, insightful Anna Danese. Enjoy.   I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you Which shall be the darkness of G...

I offer you "Burnt Norton" by T.S. Eliot. This is the deep end, dear listeners. Come on in! The best part of recording this series was sitting down with others whose lives have been amended by going into that deep. Joining me at the mic this time is the articulate, generous, and perceptive teacher and reader Eliot Reasoner. Enjoy.      Footfalls echo in the memory Down the passage which we did not...

I give thanks and make a request. I give a teaser about a momentous thing coming up on TTP. I read "Spring and Fall" by Gerard Manley Hopkins. It's a big 13 minutes!

This one is a gift from Anna Natzke-- my former student, a church friend, and a bright and lovely young writer.   I could not stop smiling when I listened to the file she sent! It's only a few minutes long, but you'll get a good idea of why it was such a joy to have a couple years in the classroom with her. Anna reads and reflects on poems of peace and yearning: "The House Was Quiet and the World...

Summer in our family is a time of many birth days. This poem is beautiful and sore, just like the real thing.  "To My Daughter on Her 21st Birthday" by Ellen Bass  Do let me know where YOU would place the emphasis in that line I puzzle over. 

When Love has you over for dinner, just sit down and hush! And eat.  Today's poem is "Love III" by George Herbert. What a pleasure to read; I had to stop myself at twice.     

Marie Burdett reads five of her wonderful poems for the TTP audience. This just might be the best 8 minutes of your day!  They are: "Hindsight," "The Gravedigger," "The Gardener's Prayer," "Bluebell Valley," and "Mountain Fog." If you want to re-listen, Marie's reading begins at 5:40. .....................................................................................................................

Another one I'm dusting off for young listeners. Enjoy!  Eleanor finally entered the Closet Of Poetry with me and shared a few of her favorites.  All the poems she says in this episode are from memory, which helps explain the adorable botched limerick she busts out with at the end. Get the kids gathered 'round for this one!

I wanted to re-release this old episode for any new young listeners. It's one of my favorites. The nine-year-old interviewed here is now taller than I am. <3   My daughter Vivian shares some of her favorite funny poems from The National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry, which is a favorite around our household. 

How it all began. This is the first and most downloaded recording of TTP.  This pilot episode includes stories of how "Let Evening Come" by Jane Kenyon has been passed around like a gift in my life and how the poem derives its simplicity and rootedness from material nouns that have been in our language from the very beginning. Collected Poems of Jane Kenyon  

As my end-of-school-year poem I bring you "The Writer" by Richard Wilbur 

I have a thing for poems about work.  Poets seem to have a thing for writing about work. I share that thing with you. In Episode 63, Episode 80, and today.    "Digging" by Seamus Heaney "Labor" by Jericho Brown 

A poem that peers into the wrestling of a conflicted human heart.  Holy Sonnet XIV by John Donne. 

Nothing ends more endingly than a "summer" together. "Lost Garden" by Dana Gioia 

Even if that child is just yourself.  "Rain" by Robert Lewis Stevenson "Drippy Weather" by Aileen Fisher "Spring Rain" by Marchette Chute   I first encountered these in Poems to Read to the Very Young edited by Josette Frank, illustrated by Eloise Wilkin   Bonus: "April Rain Song" by Langston Hughes 

I give you a poem I recently received: "Oregon Winter" by Jeanne McGahey. From the collection Winter Poems selected by Barbara Rogasky 

Take This Poem wakes up from a nap long enough to share "Holy Sonnet X" by John Donne. When despair and triumph live side by side in 14 lines, heat ensues, as well as iridescence. 

This one is not just read but also written by Keith Hansen...a reflection on a fraternal tussle that has now come to an end.