A recusant Catholic turned Protestant, a rake turned priest, a scholar, lawyer, politician, soldier, secretary, sermonizer, and of course, a poet— John Donne’s biography contains so many scuttled identities and discrete lives, perhaps its no wonder that his great subjects were mortality and death. His Holy Sonnets, likely composed between 1609 and 1610, and ... Show More
Today
Bacchic Redemption in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975) (Part 2)
Nurse Ratched likes a rigged game, according to R.P. McMurphy. And it’s true that the game he is playing—lawless and hedonistic, but also vital and free-spirited—is unwinnable on her sandlot. As their conflict develops, we seem to be asked to compare the therapeutic value of McMu ... Show More
45m 36s
Nov 17
Bacchic Redemption in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975)
Nurse Ratched likes a rigged game, according to R.P. McMurphy. And it’s true that the game he is playing—lawless and hedonistic, but also vital and free-spirited—is unwinnable on her sandlot. As their conflict develops, we seem to be asked to compare the therapeutic value of McMu ... Show More
41m 35s
May 2024
Constantine P. Cavafy — Poems as Teachers | Ep 3
We ask questions to find out the facts, but what if you can’t trust the answers, the questions, or the person who's asking the questions? In Constantine P. Cavafy’s “Waiting for the Barbarians,” translated by Evan Jones, leaders exercise a sinister kind of violence — they’ve take ... Show More
17m 23s
Feb 2025
Benjamin Zephaniah — To Michael Menson
Benjamin Zephaniah’s urgent, imperative “To Michael Menson” was written when he was a poet in residence at a human rights barrister in England. His poem resonates with his repeated calls for justice for a murdered Black musician — not a justice that is gullible, impotent, or hope ... Show More
12m 52s
May 2019
Episode 6: The .01 Percent
In this episode, Israeli poet Tahel Frosh talks to us about her debut poetry collection Betsa (Avarice, 2014), financial crisis, and the value of culture. We revisit the summer of 2011, when a series of protests spread across Israel sparked by rising housing costs, the increased ... Show More
27m 46s
Jan 2025
Ernesto Cardenal — Give Ear to My Words (Psalm 5)
When dictatorial leaders use talk of peace as a smokescreen to conceal their plans for war and destruction, what are the people to do? Believe in a vision of peace and freedom that is muscular, sturdy, and protective — and pray that it holds, as Ernesto Cardenal does in his poem ... Show More
17m 26s
Oct 6
RQ Network Feed Drop - The Grotto: 1: Buried Alive
This month we are featuring an episode of one of many exciting podcasts on the RQ Network: The Grotto. The Grotto is a liminal horror podcast with original music and a full cast that explores the thin line between grief, pain, mourning, and loss. This is the first episode called ... Show More
27m 40s
Aug 2024
Human Conditions: ‘Hope against Hope’ by Nadezhda Mandelstam
After reciting an unflattering poem about Stalin to a small group of friends, Osip Mandelstam was betrayed to the police and endured five years in exile before dying in transit to the gulag. His wife, Nadezhda, spent the rest of her life dodging arrest, advocating for Osip’s work ... Show More
14m 57s
Jul 2024
John Milton's "When I consider how my light is spent"
<p>In today’s poem, also known as “Sonnet 19,” Milton offers a pious alternative to “raging” against the dying of the light. Happy reading.</p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href= ... Show More
12m 22s