Episodes

Tuesday Dec 07, 2021
Episode 54: Less Fretting, More Feasting
Tuesday Dec 07, 2021
Tuesday Dec 07, 2021
When Love has you over for dinner, just sit down and hush! And eat.
Today's poem is "Love III" by George Herbert. What a pleasure to read; I had to stop myself at twice.

Tuesday Nov 30, 2021
Episode 53: Advent Darkness and Light
Tuesday Nov 30, 2021
Tuesday Nov 30, 2021
Cozy up by the tortoise stove for two poems to kick off our advent season! Keith Hansen shares John Betjemen's "Advent 1955" and "Christmas".

Tuesday Nov 23, 2021
Episode 52: ”Perhaps the World Ends Here”
Tuesday Nov 23, 2021
Tuesday Nov 23, 2021
Happy Thanksgiving! This week's poem honors the world of the table and the table of the world.
It's "Perhaps the World Ends Here" by Joy Harjo.

Tuesday Nov 16, 2021
Episode 51: ”In Westminster Abbey”
Tuesday Nov 16, 2021
Tuesday Nov 16, 2021
Keith Hansen is back, this time with a poem by John Betjeman: "In Westminster Abbey". It has a spirited rhyme scheme & meter, and a good dash of satire & snark. Enjoy!

Tuesday Nov 09, 2021
Episode 50: There‘s a Poem About That
Tuesday Nov 09, 2021
Tuesday Nov 09, 2021
This episode includes a poem about preferring pencils to pens, a poem about two people who never meet, and a poem about writing a poem.
There's nothing too small or obscure to be pondered in poetry... and in the jeweler's glass of the poem small things aren't so small after all.
"The Pencil" by AE Stallings https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/03/pencil/513860/
"On The Way to Work" by Stephen Dunn
https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate=2004%252F06%252F24.html
"Who" by Jane Kenyon

Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
Episode 49: Three by Jane Kenyon
Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
It's as simple as it sounds. I read three small but substantial poems by Jane Kenyon.

Tuesday Oct 26, 2021
Episode 48: ”Klipsan Stallions”
Tuesday Oct 26, 2021
Tuesday Oct 26, 2021
Linda Bierds writes poems thick with beautiful language, historical drama, and an uncanny sense of discovery. In today's poem, "Klipsan Stallions," she applies her genius to a true story of a shipwreck and the horses who swam out to save sailors' lives.

Tuesday Oct 19, 2021
Episode 47: Larry Woiwode‘s ”Venerable Elm” and ”Horses”
Tuesday Oct 19, 2021
Tuesday Oct 19, 2021
Keith Hansen brings us two poems by North Dakota's poet laureate Larry Woiwode. It's hard to top trees and horses among nature's beauties...this will be ten minutes well spent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Woiwode

Tuesday Oct 12, 2021
Episode 46: But I Am Done With Apple Picking Now
Tuesday Oct 12, 2021
Tuesday Oct 12, 2021
"After Apple Picking" by Robert Frost is a dreamy, drowsy autumn poem that retains its fresh mysteriousness through many readings and many, many years.
You can find the poem here if you'd like to read it for yourself:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44259/after-apple-picking

Tuesday Oct 05, 2021
Episode 45: God, Truck, Nature: Interview With Dave Mehler
Tuesday Oct 05, 2021
Tuesday Oct 05, 2021
Another conversation with local poet Dave Mehler, another record set for longest episode!
This time I have a chance to pelt Dave with questions about reading & writing, to hear his story of being a truck driver poet, and to hear him read from his book Roadworthy. Grab some whittling or knitting and enjoy: this is a sweeping episode that includes some good poems and leisurely conversation.
I edited this one all by myself, so if the volume levels are eclectic don't blame Ben.
Check out Dave's book here: