When poet Jane Hirshfield first arrived at Tassajara Monastery nearly fifty years ago, a Zen teacher told her that it was a good idea to have a question to practice with. She’s been asking questions ever since. Both in her Zen practice and in her poetry, Hirshfield is guided by questions that resist easy answers, allowing herself to be transformed through th ... Show More
Aug 11
Christopher R. Rogers, "My City Need Something" (Common Notions, 2026)
Moving between word and image, the call-and-response collaboration between writer Christopher R. Rogers and photographer karim brown improvises a contemporary portrait of present-day Black Philadelphia, replete with the unfinished activism present since the transnational upsurge ... Show More
54m 52s
Jul 30
The Letters of Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson was a letter writer before she was a poet. And it was through letters that she shared prose reflections–alternately humorous, provocative, affectionate, and philosophical–with her extensive community. While her letters often contain poems, and some letters consist ... Show More
55m 18s
Jul 23
Molly Peacock, "The Widow’s Crayon Box" (WW Norton & Co, 2025)
In this NBN episode, host Hollay Ghadery speaks with internationally acclaimed poet and biographer of women’s creativity, Molly Peacock about her collection, The Widow’s Crayon Box (WW Norton & Co, 2025)--a book-length sequence of poems that dares to affirm the vast variety of em ... Show More
36m 51s
Sep 2023
Saying Yes: A Conversation with Tara Brach & Jane Hirshfield
<p>Saying Yes: A Conversation with Tara Brach & Jane Hirshfield - In this rich and full two-part interview, Tara speaks with renowned poet Jane Hirshfield about the interface between poetry and meditation, the centrality of acceptance, and the pathways of remembrance that reveal ... Show More
40m 39s
Mar 2023
The Art of Noticing – and Appreciating – Our Dizzying World
<p>“Poetry is the attempt to understand fully what is real, what is present, what is imaginable, what is feelable, and how can I loosen the grip of what I already know to find some new, changed relationship,” the poet Jane Hirshfield tells me. Through poetry, she says, “I know so ... Show More
1h 20m
Sep 2023
Saying Yes (Part 2): A Conversation with Tara Brach & Jane Hirshfield
<p>Saying Yes (Part 2): A Conversation with Tara Brach & Jane Hirshfield - In this rich and full two-part interview, Tara speaks with renowned poet Jane Hirshfield about the interface between poetry and meditation, the centrality of acceptance, and the pathways of remembrance tha ... Show More
32m 24s