The tiny creatures living beneath us deserve praise too. Dorianne Laux’s fifth collection, The Book of Men , was awarded The Paterson Prize. Her fourth book of poems, Facts About the Moon won The Oregon Book Award and was short-listed for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. Laux is also the author of Awake ; What We Carry , a finalist for the National Book Critic’s Circle Award; Smoke ; as well as a fine small press edition, The Book of Women . She is the co-author of the celebrated text The Poet'...
Feb 03, 2020•5 min•Ep. 75
A town comprised of copper miners leaves a lasting impression. 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 S...
Jan 31, 2020•4 min•Ep. 74
We may never know the fortunes we leave behind. Charlie Smith is the author of seven novels and seven books of poetry including Red Roads , which was chosen for the National Poetry Series and received the Great Lakes New Poets Award. His many awards include the Aga Khan Prize, the Levinson prize, the J. Howard and Barbara M.J. Wood prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He lives in New York City and Key West.
Jan 30, 2020•6 min•Ep. 73
Sometimes personal hardship may lead to blessings. Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, Ph.D., the 2009-13 Kansas Poet Laureate is the author of 23 books, including Miriam's Well , a novel; Everyday Magic: A Field Guide to the Mundane and Miraculous, and Following the Curve, poetry. Her previous work includes The Divorce Girl, a novel; Needle in the Bone, a non-fiction book on the Holocaust; The Sky Begins At Your Feet, a bioregional memoir on cancer and community; and six poetry collections, including the a...
Jan 29, 2020•6 min•Ep. 71
Witnessing a meteor shower can leave you speechless Twyla M. Hansen served a five-year term as Nebraska State Poet from 2013 to 2018, is a co-director of the website Poetry from the Plains: A Nebraska Perspective , and has conducted readings and creative writing workshops through Humanities Nebraska since 1993. Her newest book of poetry, Rock • Tree • Bird (The Backwaters Press 2017), won both the 2018 WILLA Literary Award for Poetry from Women Writing the West and the 2018 Nebraska Book Award f...
Jan 28, 2020•6 min•Ep. 71
What would your self-portrait look like today? Adam Zagajewski is a Polish poet, novelist, translator and essayist. He has published fourteen books of poetry, eight of them in English translation and numerous essays and prose. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship, won the 2004 Neustadt International Prize for Literature considered a forerunner to the Nobel Prize in Literature, won the 2016 Griffin Poetry Prize Lifetime Recognition Award and the 2017 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature. He i...
Jan 27, 2020•6 min•Ep. 70
Hands that are graceful and kind make all the difference. Steve Kronen's collections are Homage to Mistress Oppenheimer (Eyewear), Splendor (BOA), and Empirical Evidence (University of Georgia Press). His work has appeared widely in the US and the UK. His many awards include a NEA and three Florida Individual Artist fellowships, the Cecil Hemley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, the James Boatwright Poetry Prize from Shenandoah magazine, and fellowships from Bread Loaf, and the ...
Jan 24, 2020•5 min•Ep. 69
Who knows where a little hot sauce might take you. Jim Lewis is the author of a full-length poetry book a clear day in October , and a chapbook, every evening is December . He is a nurse practitioner as well as part time photographer and artist and lives in California. A second collection of poems is soon to be published by Kelsay Books.
Jan 23, 2020•5 min•Ep. 68
Dandelions always seem to find a way to return. Michael Skau’s book of poems, Me and God was published through Wayne State College Press and two chapbooks of poems through Word Tech Editions. His poems have appeared in numerous periodicals and journals and he was awarded the 2013 William Kloefkorn Award for Excellence in Poetry. He has published articles on Jack Kerouac, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Richard Brautigan, Burroughs, and Corso, as well as books on Ferlinghetti and Corso. He is an emeritus ...
Jan 22, 2020•4 min•Ep. 67
What stretch of road is the thin line of what you know? Matt Mason is the Nebraska State Poet and Executive Director of the Nebraska Writers Collective. He runs poetry programming for the State Department, working in Nepal, Romania, Botswana and Belarus. Mason is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize for his poem “Notes For My Daughter Against Chasing Storms” and his work can be found in numerous magazines and anthologies, including Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry . The author of Things We Don’...
Jan 21, 2020•8 min•Ep. 66
If we allow our lives to unfold naturally without any sense of planning, are we savoring or squandering our lives? Grace Bauer’s poems, essays, and stories have appeared in numerous anthologies and journals. Her most recent book of poems is MEAN/TIME , (University of New Mexico Press, 2017) and a co-edited anthology is, Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse ( Lost Horse Press). Other books include: The Women At The Well, Nowhere All At Once, Beholding Eye, and Retreats...
Jan 20, 2020•10 min•Ep. 65
How can we stay in perfect balance? Adam Zagajewski is a Polish poet, novelist, translator and essayist. He has published fourteen books of poetry, eight of them in English translation and numerous essays and prose. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship, won the 2004 Neustadt International Prize for Literature considered a forerunner to the Nobel Prize in Literature, won the 2016 Griffin Poetry Prize Lifetime Recognition Award and the 2017 Princess of Asturias Award for Literature. He is considere...
Jan 17, 2020•5 min•Ep. 64
What would it feel like to offer an ex-employee their job back? Bob Hicok is the author of nine books of poetry, his most recent is Hold (Copper Canyon Press 2018.) His work has received three Pushcart Prize nominations and his book The Legend of Light received a Felix Pollak Prize and was chosen as an American Library Association’s Booklist, Notable Book of the Year. Elegy Owed was shortlisted as a National Book Critics Circle Award. He has received two National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship...
Jan 16, 2020•6 min•Ep. 63
If you aren't careful, you might seriously injure yourself in the grocery store. Hal Sirowitz is an internationally known poet and the author of five books of poetry. His work has been translated into thirteen languages and published in magazines and anthologies. He received the Nebraska Book Award for Poetry, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship. He is also the former Poet Laureate of Queens, New York. Hal has appeared on MTV’s Spoken W...
Jan 15, 2020•4 min•Ep. 62
Books are the best teachers of all. Michael Skau’s poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Me and God was published by Wayne State College Press and two chapbooks by Word Tech Editions. He was awarded the 2013 William Kloefkorn Award for Excellence in Poetry. He has published articles on Jack Kerouac, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Richard Brautigan, Burroughs, and Corso, as well as books on Ferlinghetti and Corso. He is an emeritus professor in the Department of English at the Univers...
Jan 14, 2020•6 min•Ep. 61
There's nothing like an open highway, car windows down, and some great music! 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...
Jan 13, 2020•5 min•Ep. 60
Sometimes you don't need a lot to feel wealthy Bruce Dethlefsen is an American poet and poetry teacher who has published several chapbooks and full length collections. Something Near the Dance Floor (Marsh River Editions, 2003) won the Posner Book-length Poetry Award Honorable Mention from the Council for Wisconsin Writers. Breather (Fireweed Press, 2009), received an Outstanding Achievement Award in Poetry from the Wisconsin Library Association. His work has also been nominated for the Pushcart...
Jan 10, 2020•4 min•Ep. 59
A new way to consider the silence following the hubbub of the holidays. Catherine Abbey Hodges is the author of In a Rind of Light , forthcoming from Stephen F. Austin State University Press in February 2020. Her previous full-length collections are Raft of Days (Gunpowder Press 2017) and Instead of Sadness (Gunpowder Press 2015), the latter selected by Dan Gerber as winner of the Barry Spacks Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared widely and been featured on The Writer’s Almanac and Verse Daily ...
Jan 09, 2020•5 min•Ep. 58
What actually makes you lucky? Greg Kosmicki is a poet and retired social worker and is the author of four books and eight chapbooks of poetry and his poems have appeared in numerous prestigious magazines and journals. His most recent collection of selected poems, Leaving Things Unfinished: Forty-some Years of Poems, is forthcoming in 2020 from MWPH in Fairwater, WI, Tom Montag editor. He received artist’s fellowships from the Nebraska Arts council in 2000 and 2006 and two of his poems were feat...
Jan 08, 2020•6 min•Ep. 57
You never know what kind of trouble unwashed sheets can bring. Hal Sirowitz is an internationally known poet and the author of five books of poetry. His work has been translated into thirteen languages and published in many anthologies and magazines. He received the Nebraska Book Award for Poetry, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, and a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship. He is also the former Poet Laureate of Queens, New York. Hal has appeared on MTV’s Spoken Word Unplugged...
Jan 07, 2020•4 min•Ep. 56
if you misbehave, your mother might just have to sell you to the hot dog man! Bruce Dethlefsen is an American poet and poetry teacher who has published several chapbooks and full length collections. Something Near the Dance Floor (Marsh River Editions, 2003) won the Posner Book-length Poetry Award Honorable Mention from the Council for Wisconsin Writers. Breather (Fireweed Press, 2009), received an Outstanding Achievement Award in Poetry from the Wisconsin Library Association. His work has also ...
Jan 06, 2020•6 min•Ep. 55
A found turquoise ring stirs up many memories. Jim Lewis is the author of a full-length poetry book a clear day in October , and a chapbook, every evening is December . He is a nurse practitioner as well as part time photographer and artist and lives in California. A second collection of poems is soon to be published by Kelsay Books.
Jan 03, 2020•4 min•Ep. 54
Nature warns us of what is yet to come. Daniel Anderson is the author of three collections of poetry his most recent is Night Guard at the Wilberforce Hotel and is the editor of Howard Nemerov’s Selected Poems . His many awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts as well as a Bogliasco fellowship. He has received a Pushcart Prize and the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize. Anderson frequently serves as a faculty member at the Sewanee ...
Jan 02, 2020•5 min•Ep. 53
What would we do without our phones? Edward Field is a WWII vet in the 8th Air Force and shortly after his service began writing poetry in earnest. He has published numerous volumes of poetry, one which received the Lamont Poetry Prize and another the Lambda Award. He edited the anthology A Geography of Poets with Gerald Locklin and Charles Setler. He could play a mean cello, and won an Academy Award for the documentary film To Be Alive for which he wrote the narration. He lives in the Westbeth ...
Dec 31, 2019•4 min•Ep. 51
A lovely afternoon transforms into an actuarial accounting of time left on the planet. Daniel Anderson is the author of three collections of poetry his most recent is Night Guard at the Wilberforce Hotel and he is also the editor of Howard Nemerov’s Selected Poems. His many awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts as well as a Bogliasco fellowship. He has received a Pushcart Prize and the Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize. Anderson...
Dec 30, 2019•7 min•Ep. 50
The beauty of horses is captured in this poem Lee Robinson is a fiction writer and poet who practiced law for over 20 years in Charleston, South Carolina. Her poems have been featured on Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac. Her novel, Lawyer for the Dog was chosen by the San Antonio Express-News as one of the 25 best books of 2015 and the sequel Lawyer for the Cat is now available. Lee is a three-time winner of the S.C. Arts Commission’s Fiction Prize for short stories and she lives on a ranch i...
Dec 27, 2019•4 min•Ep. 49
Cooking flapjacks with your father is the best. 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 26, 2019•4 min•Ep. 48
Ring out false pride and want, ring in the love of truth and right. Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was a British poet. He was the Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu." He is the ninth most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations....
Dec 25, 2019•4 min•Ep. 47
Snowy nights provide an intimacy even for the mundane. 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 by the author....
Dec 24, 2019•4 min•Ep. 46
A lot can be realized while scrambling an egg. C G Hanzlicek received his M.F.A. from the Writer’s Workshop at the University of Iowa and is the author of seven books of poetry. His collection Stars was the winner of a Devins award and his translation work has won him the Robert Payne Award from the Columbia University Translation Center. He teaches at California State University, Fresno. “Egg”30 lines from The Cave: Selected and New Poems by Charles Hanzlicek, Copyright 2001. Aired by permissio...
Dec 23, 2019•5 min•Ep. 45
