The Poet and The Poem

Louise Bogan was appointed the fourth Poet Laureate to the Library of Congress in 1945, and was the first woman to hold this title. Throughout her life she wrote poetry, fiction, and criticism, and became the regular poetry reviewer for The New Yorker.

Jericho Brown grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana, and worked as a speechwriter for the mayor of New Orleans before earning his PhD in literature and creative writing from the University of Houston. He also holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of New Orleans and graduated with a BA from Dillard University in 1998. Brown is the author of The Tradition (Copper Canyon Press, 2019), winne...

...not the letter of the law (writing poetry) but the spirit...

Danuta E. Kosk-Kosicka is the author of two collections: Face Half-Illuminated (Apprentice House, 2015) and Oblige the Light (CityLit Press, 2015), winner of the fifth Clarinda Harriss Poetry Prize. She is also the translator for four books by Lidia Kosk. Recently her work has appeared in Notre Dame Review, Spillway, Subtropics, Tar River Poetry, The Comstock Review, Tupelo Quarterly, and elsewher...

Jody Bolz is the author of A Lesson in Narrative Time (Gihon Books, 2004), the novella-in-verse Shadow Play (Turning Point, 2013), and a new collection, The Near and Far, also from Turning Point. Her poems have appeared in such literary journals as The American Scholar, Indiana Review, North American Review, Ploughshares, Poetry East, Poetry Northwest, and Southern Poetry Review - and in many poet...

Andrew McConnell Stott is the winner of the 14th National Marfield Prize for Writing In The Arts with his book, What Blest Genius?

Josephine Jacobsen was a Canadian-born American poet, short story writer, essayist, and critic. She was appointed the twenty-first Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1971. In 1997, she received the Poetry Society of America’s highest award, the Robert Frost Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Poetry.

Grace Cavalieri presents 20th Century Poets with minute commentaries. This includes Hayden reading his Immortal poem Those Winter Sundays. Robert Hayden was an American poet, essayist, and educator. He served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1976 to 1978, a role today known as US Poet Laureate. He was the first African-American writer to hold the office. His poems have becom...

What are our responsibilities as writers? What keeps us going? What is self esteem?

How do we access poetry? How do we harvest memory?

Robert Pinsky was named US Poet Laureate 1997-2000. He's a poet, essayist, critic, dramatist, and teacher. He's the acclaimed Dante translator.

Robert Earl Price holds the American Film Institute's William Wyler award for screenwriting, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Poetry and a Cultural Olympics commission for theater. He was a 2012 recipient of a Maryland Individual Artist Award. His play Blue Monk was produced in Johannesburg, South Africa. His eleven full-length plays include an adaptation of Claude Brown's Man Chil...

For over four decades, Robert Earl Price has amassed writing credits in fiction, drama and poetry. His many awards include The TCG/NEA Playwright's Residency, The American Film Institute's William Wyler award for screenwriting, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Poetry and a Cultural Olympics commission for theater, 2006 Gen-Gabriel Moore Playwriting award and 2012 recipient of a Mar...

Grace Cavalieri's commentary on Stanley Kunitz, appointed US Poet Laureate 1974 and 2000.

The first in our series is Rita Dove, appointed US Poet Laureate, 1993.

Grace Cavalieri talks about the sensual aspect of the poem.

A Poet Laureate Series

A Poet Laureate Series. Grace Cavalieri discusses THE DRAMATIC POEM in this Poet Laureate Series about Writing. Today's conversation talks about "Character" in the poem, featuring work by poets Kunitz, Lowell, Stroud, Kumin, and Shelton.

George Bilgere has published six collections of poetry, including Imperial (2014);The White Museum(2010), which was awarded the Autumn House Poetry Prize; Haywire (2006), which on the May Swenson Poetry Award; and The Good Kiss(2002), which was selected by Billy Collinsto win the University of Akron Poetry Award. He has won numerous awards, including the Midland Authors Award and a Pushcart Prize....

Meg Eden's work is published or forthcoming in magazines including Prairie Schooner, Poetry Northwest, Crab Orchard Review, RHINO and CV2. She teaches creative writing at Anne Arundel Community College. She is the author of five poetry chapbooks, the novel "Post-High School Reality Quest (2017), and the forthcoming poetry collection Drowning in the Floating World (2020).

Bro. Yao(Hoke S. Glover III) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Language, Literature, and Cultural Studies at Bowie State University. His poetry has been published in Ploughshares, African-American Review, Rattle, and other journals and anthologies. His first book, Inheritance, was published by Willow Books in Summer of 2016. For fifteen years he ran and operated Karibu Books, one of t...

Doritt Carroll is a native of Washington, DC. She received her undergraduate and law degrees from Georgetown University. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Main Street Rag, North American Review, Coal City Review, Eunoia Review, Poet Lore, Rattle, Gargoyle, Nimrod, and Cherry Tree, among others. Her collection GLTTL STP was published by Brickhouse Books in 2013. Her chapbook Sorry You A...

Lauren K. Alleyne is the author of two collections of poetry, Difficult Fruit (Peepal Tree Press 2014), and Honeyfish (New Issues & Peepal Tree, 2019). Her work has appeared in numerous publications including The New York Times, The Atlantic, Ms. Muse, Women?s Studies Quarterly, Interviewing the Caribbean, The Crab Orchard Review, among many others. Recent honors for her work include a 2017 Philli...

Temple Cone is the author of four books of poetry:Guzzle, That Singing, The Broken Meadow (winner of the Old Seventy Creek Poetry Press Series Prize), and No Loneliness (winner of the Future Cycle Press Poetry Book Prize). In addition, he has published seven poetry chapbooks, as well as reference works on Cormac McCarthy, Walt Whitman, and 20th-century American poetry. He holds an MA in creative w...

Garrett J. Brown’s first book of poems, Manna Sifting, won the Liam Rector First Book Prize from Briery Creek Press in 2009, and his chapbook, Cubicles, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2014. His other awards include first place in the Poetry Center of Chicago’s Juried Reading, judged by Jorie Graham; runner-up in the Maryland Emerging Voices competition; and a Creative Writing Fellowship...