Blanche Taylor Dickinson: "Things Said W...

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 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

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 Kinsale Drake’s poem “Put on that KTNN,” she writes about driving to a hometown as a familiar station crackles to life on the car radio. From this corner of America, she creates her own country music — of Navajo voices alongside Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn, of drumbeats and g ... 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

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

Today’s poem is Grading Rubric by Antonio de Jesús López. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Today’s brilliant poem speaks to the ordeal of enduring racial abuse and microaggressions in educational institutions. It slyly appropriates an acad ... 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 from "Elegy for the Times" by Adonis, translated by Robyn Creswell. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “For stateless people, writing poems, taking pictures, composing songs is precarious, but making art happens, nonetheless. ... Show More

Today’s poem is Two Shadows by Maurice Manning. The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. We’re taking a break this week, so we’re sharing some of our favorite episodes from the archive. We’ll be back with new episodes on January 6, 2025. This episode was originally released on D ... Show More