It's easy to remember the voices of relatives we were close to. Joyce Sutphen is an American poet and currently a Professor of English at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter Minnesota. She has published four poetry collections, the first Straight Out of View , won the Barnard Women’s Poets Prize, and a subsequent collection won the Minnesota Book Award. She was named Minnesota’s Poet Laureate in 2011 and has received a McKnight Artist Fellowship and a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship....
Dec 20, 2019•3 min•Ep. 44
The most beautiful places in the world can still have issues. Nicholas Christopher is the author of nine books of poems, most recently, Crossing the Equator: New & Selected Poems and On Jupiter Place; seven novels, including A Trip to the Stars and Veronica; and a book about film noir, Somewhere in the Night. He has just completed a new novel and is nearing completion on a new book of poems, The Flame Tree. He lives in New York City....
Dec 19, 2019•6 min•Ep. 43
What would the body and the soul have to say to each other if they met? Sharon Bryan is the author of four books of poems, most recently Flying Blind (Sarabande Books,) and Sharp Stars (BOA Editions Ltd.), which was the recipient of the Isabella Gardner Award from BOA Editions. She is also the editor of Where We Stand: Women Poets on Literary Tradition (W. W. Norton & Company) , and coeditor, of Planet on the Table: Poets on the Reading Life (Sarabande Books) . She has received two National ...
Dec 18, 2019•5 min•Ep. 42
Hats can do more than keep heads warm. Mark Irwin is the author of nine collections of poetry, his most recent is, A Passion According to Green (2017.)His poems have appeared in numerous literary journals. He has received four Pushcart Prizes, Fellowships from the: National Endowment for the Arts, The Colorado and Ohio Art Council, Fulbright Foundation, and Lilly and Wurlitzer Foundations, as well as a James Wright Poetry Award and two Colorado Book Awards. He is an associate professor of Englis...
Dec 17, 2019•4 min•Ep. 41
A morning walk gets interrupted by a natural cycle of nature. Sharon Foley’s poems have received honors and awards from Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, Wisconsin Writers Association and The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets and have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Her first collection What is Endured was published by Finishing Line Press 2017. She lives in Milwaukee.
Dec 16, 2019•5 min•Ep. 40
The most surprising things can happen on the subway. David Lee Garrison’s poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, and two poems from his book Sweeping the Cemetery were read by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac . “Bach in the DC Metro” was featured by United States Poet Laureate Ted Kooser on his website and read on the BBC in London. Garrison won the Paul Laurence Dunbar Poetry Prize in 2009 and was named Ohio Poet of the Year in 2014. He is a retired Wright State Unive...
Dec 13, 2019•4 min•Ep. 39
Parenting a child though life can be summarized with that first bicycle ride. Linda Pastan has published 15 books of poetry throughout her distinguished career the two most recent titles are Insomnia and Traveling Light . She served as Poet Laureate of Maryland from 1991 to1995 some of her many awards include a Pushcart Prize, Dylan Thomas Award, the Bess Hokin Prize, the Di Castagnola Award, the Maurice English award the Charity Randall Citation and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. She was a recipi...
Dec 12, 2019•3 min•Ep. 38
Memories are often attached to the landscapes they take place in. Dana Gioia is an American Poet and writer, critic, as well as a businessman with an MBA from Stanford Business School. He has published five books of poetry and three volumes of literary criticism as well as opera libretti and over two dozen literary anthologies. He has served as a commentator on American literature for BBC Radio and as a classical music critic for San Francisco magazine. He became the California State Poet Laurea...
Dec 11, 2019•5 min•Ep. 37
Imagine if you could see your entire life from beginning to end. Sharon Bryan is the author of four books of poems, most recently Flying Blind (Sarabande Books,) and Sharp Stars (BOA Editions Ltd.), which was the recipient of the Isabella Gardner Award from BOA Editions. She is also the editor of Where We Stand: Women Poets on Literary Tradition (W. W. Norton & Company) , and coeditor, of Planet on the Table: Poets on the Reading Life (Sarabande Books) . She has received two National Endowme...
Dec 10, 2019•4 min•Ep. 36
Getting the old truck started in January can be an art. Baron Wormser earned his BA from Johns Hopkins and did graduate work at the University of California-Irvine and the University of Maine. He has published numerous collections of poetry as well as a memoir and two books on poetry. He served as Poet Laureate of Maine from 2000 to 2006 and spent many years visiting hundreds of schools and libraries throughout Maine teaching and reading. He has received fellowships from Bread Loaf, the National...
Dec 09, 2019•6 min•Ep. 35
We need to take care of the earth to pass it on to the next generation. Michael Hettich is the author of twelve poetry books and as many chapbooks, his most recent collection is titled, To Start an Orchard . He earned a Ph.D. in English and American Literature from University of Miami, an MA in Creative Writing and Literature from University of Denver, and a BA in English from Hobart College. He has been published in numerous journals and anthologies including Ploughshares , Poetry East and Orio...
Dec 06, 2019•4 min•Ep. 33
The people who do the hard work deserve our utmost admiration. Marge Piercy is a poet and novelist born in Detroit. She was educated at the University of Michigan and Northwestern and is the recipient of four honorary doctorates. She has published numerous books of poetry as well as seventeen novels and is a recipient of the Arthur C Clarke Award. More information can be found at Margepiercey.com.
Dec 05, 2019•4 min•Ep. 33
Sometimes relationships takes you upstream, downstream, across the seas and maybe the globe. Karen Chase is the author of two collections of poetry, her first Kazimierz Square , was short-listed for Best Indie Poetry Book of 2000. Her poems, stories, and essays have appeared in many magazines including the Gettysburg Review , The New Yorker and Southwest Review . She was the Visiting Writer at the FDR Homestead, a Fellow at The MacDowell Colony, and at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Cente...
Dec 04, 2019•4 min•Ep. 32
Sometimes boyhood memories of playing along the old railroad tracks are the best. Robert Kinsley has authored two collections of poems: Endangered Species and Field Stones both from Orchises Press. He was born and raised on a dairy farm in northern Ohio. He teaches at Ohio University and has been Associate Editor of The Ohio Review for the last 18 years. He lives with his wife and son in Athens, Ohio.
Dec 03, 2019•4 min•Ep. 31
Sometimes people we have known our entire lives can seem like strangers, while others we just meet, can seem like we've known forever. Richard Jones has published more than a dozen collections of poetry. The Blessing: New and Selected Poems , (Copper Canyon Press, 2000, in which “Certain People” first appeared) won the Midland Authors Award and Country of Air won the Posner award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers. His most recent collection is Stranger on Earth. He has been the editor of th...
Dec 02, 2019•3 min•Ep. 30
Sometimes you need a little time alone with nature. Sharon Foley’s poems have received honors and awards from Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, Wisconsin Writers Association and The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets and have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Her first collection What is Endured was published by Finishing Line Press 2017. She lives in Milwaukee.
Nov 29, 2019•3 min•Ep. 29
Remember friends and relatives here and not here while working in the kitchen. Jeanne Marie Beaumont holds an MFA in Writing from Columbia University and is the author of four books of poetry. Her first, Placebo Effects , was selected by William Matthews as a winner in the National Poetry Series and published by W.W. Norton in 1997. Her poems have been included in more than three dozen anthologies and textbooks. She won the 2009 Dana Award for Poetry, and also The Greensboro Review literary awar...
Nov 28, 2019•5 min•Ep. 28
The hayloft can be a special place, especially for a child. Sharon Foley's poems have received honors and awards from Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, Wisconsin Writers Association, and Wisconsin Fellowship of poets and have appeared in multiple journals and anthologies. What is Endured , is her first collection, published by Finishing Line Press.
Nov 27, 2019•3 min•Ep. 27
Undivided attention can be the best kind of attention given a child. Robert Bly is a poet, editor, and translator and has authored more than 30 books of poetry. He attended Harvard University and received an M.A. from the University of Iowa. His many awards include a National Book Award for Poetry, a Guggenheim, Rockefeller and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships as well as the Robert Frost Medal from the Poetry Society of America. He lives in western Minnesota. Permission to read given ...
Nov 26, 2019•4 min•Ep. 26
The place we are from is carried with us, no matter where we go. Robert Kinsley has authored two collections of poems: Endangered Species and Field Stones both from Orchises Press. He was born and raised on a dairy farm in northern Ohio. He teaches at Ohio University and has been Associate Editor of The Ohio Review for the last 18 years. He lives with his wife and son in Athens, Ohio.
Nov 25, 2019•5 min•Ep. 25
Everything we cherish is ultimately transient, even the Susquehanna. Liz Rosenberg is an American poet, novelist, and children’s book author. She has several collections of poetry published including The Fire Music which was a winner of the Agnes Lynch Starret Prize, her most recent collection is titled Demon Love. She has also edited a number of prize-winning anthologies of poetry for young readers. Her children’s book reviews appear monthly in The Boston Globe. She is a professor of English at...
Nov 22, 2019•3 min•Ep. 23
The rain offers a kind of privacy enjoyed by those who seek it. Robert Morgan was born in Hendersonville North Carolina and is a poet, novelist and short story writer. He has been awarded a Guggenheim fellowship and a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship as well as awarded the James G Hanes Poetry prize by the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He is currently a Kappa Alpha Professor of English at Cornell.
Nov 21, 2019•5 min•Ep. 23
Mark Irwin is the author of nine collections of poetry, his most recent is, A Passion According to Green (2017.)His poems have appeared in numerous literary journals. He has received four Pushcart Prizes, Fellowships from the: National Endowment for the Arts, The Colorado and Ohio Art Council, Fulbright Foundation, and Lilly and Wurlitzer Foundations, as well as a James Wright Poetry Award and two Colorado Book Awards. He is an associate professor of English at the University of Southern Califor...
Nov 20, 2019•5 min•Ep. 22
Who are you knitting for? The answer might surprise you. Sharon Foley's poems have received recognition and awards from the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, the Wisconsin Regional Writer's Association as well as the Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts and Letters literary magazine. Her first book of poetry What is Endured was published by Finishing Line Press. She lives in Wisconsin
Nov 19, 2019•4 min•Ep. 21
To be sent a heart of gratitude is one of the wishes on this birthday. Barbara Crooker is a poetry editor for Italian Americana , and author of nine full-length books of poetry; The Book of Kells (Cascade Books, 2018) won the Best Poetry Book 2018 Award from Poetry by the Sea and Some Glad Morning is forthcoming in 2019 in the Pitt Poetry Series. Her awards include the WB Yeats Society of New York Award, the Thomas Merton Poetry of the Sacred Award, and three Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Cre...
Nov 18, 2019•4 min•Ep. 20
The work of farming is all consuming, but occasionally there is time to relax on the front porch. Bob Arnold has published numerous collections of poetry and is the editor and Publisher of one of the longest running small presses in the country Longhouse, which publishes remarkable poetry and literature. He lives in Vermont and is a stone builder and landscaper, having built many stone houses.
Nov 15, 2019•4 min•Ep. 19
Even though we always wish for improvements, our bodies have brought us to where we are. Joyce Sutphen is an American poet and currently a Professor of English at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter Minnesota. She has published four poetry collections, the first Straight Out of View, won the Barnard Women’s Poets Prize, and a subsequent collection won the Minnesota Book Award. She was named Minnesota’s Poet Laureate in 2011 and has received a McKnight Artist Fellowship and a Minnesota State...
Nov 14, 2019•4 min•Ep. 18
Life leaves a roadmap of scars, good ones and bad ones. Richard Jones has published more than a dozen collections of poetry. The Blessing: New and Selected Poems , published by Copper Canyon Press, (in which the poem Scars first appeared) won the Midland Authors Award and Country of Air won the Posner award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers. His most recent collection is Stranger on Earth. He has been the editor of the esteemed Poetry East for nearly forty years. He teaches at DePaul Univer...
Nov 13, 2019•5 min•Ep. 17
Of all the people spotted at the mall, maybe World War II Vets are the best. Robert Hedin was born in Red Wing Minnesota and is the author, translator and editor of twenty-four books of poetry and prose including his most recent At the Great Door of Morning: Selected Poems and Translations published by Copper Canyon Press. He has taught at various universities and was the Poet in Residence for twelve years at Wake Forest University. His many awards include the William Stafford Award from the Was...
Nov 12, 2019•4 min•Ep. 16
Sometimes all you really need is a sunrise and a lake. Sharon Foley’s poems have received recognition and awards from the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, the Wisconsin Regional Writers Association as well as the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letter’s literary magazine. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Her first collection of poems What is Endured was published by Finishing Line Press, and her second collection is entitled Drunk With Illumination . She lives ...
Nov 11, 2019•3 min•Ep. 15
