Dec 26
Martin Herskovitz, "Son of the Shoah: Poems from a Second-Generation Holocaust Survivor" (McFarland, 2025)
As a third generation Holocaust survivor, this was an important conversation with a second generation survivor. Marty has been conducting workshops on writing memory for quite a while and that's where we met - in his workshops with Jewish Ethiopians in Israel. Son of the Shoah: P ... Show More
33m 18s
Dec 21
Paul Vermeersch, "NMLCT: Poems" (ECW Press, 2025)
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with Paul Vermeersch about his new collection of poetry, NMLCT (ECW Press, 2025). Fables and fairy tales collide with virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and monstrous myths in a world where no one knows what to believe. In hi ... Show More
55m 19s
Dec 19
Gian Piero Persiani, "Poets, Patrons, and the Public: Poetry as Cultural Phenomenon in Courtly Japan" (Brill, 2025)
Waka poetry was all the rage in tenth-century, courtly Japan. Every educated person composed it, emperors and consorts sponsored it, and societal interest in it was at an all-time high. Poets, Patrons, and the Public: Poetry as Cultural Phenomenon in Courtly Japan (Brill, 2025) o ... Show More
33m 47s
Apr 2025
Re-release: How to enrich your everyday life with poetry (w/ Sarah Kay)
<p>Roses are red, violets are blue, has poetry ever been intimidating for you? For many people, this art form can feel unapproachable, but poet and educator Sarah Kay, suggests that people who don’t like poetry just maybe haven’t found a poem that really speaks to them. Sarah pro ... Show More
31m 28s
Aug 2024
1180: The Gardener 85 by Rabindranath Tagore
<p>Today’s poem is The Gardener 85 by Rabindranath Tagore.</p><br/><p>The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Poetry has a way of collapsing time, and by working the senses, having us experience an era. In the blues rhythms of Langston Hughes’ po ... Show More
6m 17s
Dec 2024
Robert Hayden — Those Winter Sundays
What sacrifices were made by your parents when you were a child? How did you think about them as they were happening? And how do you think about them now? In his poem “Those Winter Sundays,” Robert Hayden holds space for a weighted childhood memory and the regret, love, and pain ... Show More
12m 18s
Mar 2025
How to enjoy poetry — without being a poet (w/ Naisha Randhar)
<p>In honor of National Poetry Month, Chris is speaking with Naisha Randhar. Naisha is the Youth Poet Laureate of Dallas, the author of Roses of Arma, and the youngest guest Chris has ever interviewed — she’s a high school sophomore. Chris and Naisha talk about the inspiring work ... Show More
39m 54s
Dec 2024
Richard Langston — Hill walk
In Richard Langston’s poem “Hill walk,” he proffers a handful of things that move us over the course of a day — words said or read, notes played, the sight of halting steps taken by a sibling. We marvel at the sound of an unfamiliar bird call, but there’s a startling mystery to t ... Show More
12m 18s
About twenty years ago, I heard William Stafford read his poetry for about twenty minutes. For a young aspiring writer like I was then, he was mesmerizing, a mix of poetic energy and grandfatherly wisdom, with a high-spirited charm. I think it was the first poetry reading that I attended in which I realized that poetry didn’t have to be solemn and ponderous ... Show More
<p>Bruce Smith joins Kevin Young to read “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/10/08/open-letter-to-my-ancestors"><strong>Open Letter To My Ancestors</strong></a><strong>,</strong>” by Mary Ruefle, and his own poem “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/09/ ... Show More
