Take this poem

Happy New Year! I'm re-gifting this poem. 

Thank you for bringing it to my attention, Anna! 

"The Risk of Birth, Christmas 1973" by Madeline L'Engle 

Keith Hansen brings us poems by two Polish poets who lived upfront with human suffering and political upheaval. What will their poetic "stare" find to praise?

 

Adam Zagajewski's "Try to Praise the Mutilated World" and "Boogie-Woogie"

Czeslaw Milosz's "The Blacksmith Shop" 

 

I haven't finished part one to my satisfaction, but I'll serve you part two anyway. Rather like having dessert first, which I hear is possible if you're feeling unruly. 

"In Memoriam A. H. H. OBIIT MDCCCXXXIII:54" 

"In Memoriam A. H. H. OBIIT MDCCCXXXIII:55"

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson 

100 Episodes! We've been through a lot together. 

To celebrate, I compiled some audio mail I've received into another poetry reading episode. If you enjoy it, send me a poem why dontcha! 

Pamela reads "Crooked" by G.K. Chesterton

Carrie reads "She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron

Melinda reads "Doors opening, closing on us" by Marge Piercy 

 

Thank you to all who have listened and contributed to this poetry endeavor! 

 

Does this poem stir around in your heart and mind a little bit? 

Keith Hansen brings "Poem" by North Dakota poet and screenwriter Thomas McGrath. 

The other Giudice takes the mic again! <3 <3 <3

"A Romance" by Stephen Dunn

"The Country of Marriage" by Wendell Berry 

Another Lawrence poem! Unfortunately, there's no fruit-throwing in this one. But there is ecstatic inspiration, a creepy knock on the door, and angels. So that's pretty good. 

"Song of a Man Who Has Come Through" by D.H. Lawrence 

 

The "Word on Fire" podcast episode that I mention:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wof-392-poetry-beauty-and-the-shock-of-grace-w/id1065019039?i=1000618329473

I bring you "Peach" by D.H. Lawrence. This guy gets it. 

A super special guest--Ben Giudice--brings us two poems that run headlong into the human task of reconciling bad and good, despair and hope. 

"As the World Population Surpasses 8 Billion, I Purposely Misremember a Line from Anne Carson's Sappho and Hear in Its Utterance the Song of the Humpback Whale" by Dante Di Stephano

"Good Bones" by Maggie Smith 

Two minds--divided by millennia--come together in the spaces between words...

Or, if that sounds too cosmic and far-fetched, you can call it by its other name: "reading a poem in the kitchen".