Kahlil Gibran: "Youth and Age"

Recorded by Douglas Kearney for Poem-a-Day, a series produced by the Academy of American Poets. Published on July 10, 2025. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.poets.org 

Recorded by Chet’la Sebree for Poem-a-Day, a series produced by the Academy of American Poets. Published on July 9, 2025. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.poets.org 

Recorded by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram for Poem-a-Day, a series produced by the Academy of American Poets. Published on July 8, 2025. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.poets.org 

Forrest Gander joins Kevin Young to read “Privacy,” by Ada Limón, and his own poem “Post-Fire Forest.” Gander is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the winner of a Pulitzer Prize for his collection “Be With.” 

Today’s poem is from “Requiem 1935-1940” by Anna Akhmatova, translated by Stanley Kunitz and Max Hayward. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “What is the role of poetry during war? Does it have a function? Then and now, poets and readers of p ... Show More

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 of ... Show More

“You would’ve made a lousy nun.” The narrator of Diannely Antigua’s “Another Poem about God, but Really It’s about Me” overhears these words, and they jolt her into contrasting her life experience with the limited archetypes offered by her church — good daughter, good sister, hol ... Show More

Today’s poem is The Gardener 85 by Rabindranath Tagore. 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’ poetry, I hear e ... Show More

In Mosab Abu Toha’s “Ibrahim Abu Lughod and brother in Yaffa,” two barefoot siblings on a beach sketch out a map of their former home in the sand and argue about what went where. Their longing for return to a place of hospitality, family, memory, friends, and even strangers is al ... Show More

Anna and Annie discuss the winners of the Goldsmiths Prize, the Baillie Gifford Prize and the National Book Awards. Our book of the week is The Magician by multi-award winning author Colm Tóibín. His latest novel, based on the life of Thomas Mann, is a New York Times Notable Book ... Show More

Ada Limón joins Kevin Young to read “You Belong to The World,” by Carrie Fountain, and her own poem “Hell or High Water.” Limón is the current United States Poet Laureate and the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. She’s the author of six books—including “The Carrying,” ... Show More

When you look at people who are younger than you — particularly teenagers — does your mind ever take you back to yourself at their age? Taylor Johnson’s poem “Pennsylvania Ave. SE” performs this feat of time travel, going from a glimpse of two boys on bicycles to a haunting sense ... Show More

Today’s poem is Dry Spell by Lisa Sewell. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Like so much of what our teachers share as advice about our writing, today’s poem can also be applied to our life off the page.” Celebrate the power of poems with a ... Show More