Charles Bukowski - Bluebird Written: Bluebird was written in the 1990s, published as part of Bukowski’s 1992 poetry collection The Last Night of the Earth Poems. This was one of the last collections Bukowski released before his death in 1994. The poem reflects a more contemplative side of Bukowski’s work as he faced the later years of his life, exploring themes of mortality, introspection, and the complexities of human emotion. Theme: The theme of Bluebird by Charles Bukowski revolves around vul...
Nov 09, 2024•2 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Derek Walcott - Love After Love Theme: The theme of "Love After Love" by Derek Walcott is self-rediscovery and self-love after a period of loss or heartbreak. The poem is a gentle and reassuring meditation on the importance of reconnecting with oneself, emphasizing the need for self-acceptance and the idea that true love for oneself can be found within. Walcott writes about a future moment when you will meet "yourself arriving at your own door," symbolizing a reunion with the parts of yourself t...
Nov 04, 2024•1 min•Ep. 34
A simple poem of a chilly April evening when wonder passed by. Enjoy! Support the show
Apr 23, 2024•4 min•Ep. 33
David M. Romano - When/If Tomorrow Starts Without Me Theme: David Romano's poignant poem, "When Tomorrow Starts Without Me," encapsulates the theme of coping with loss and finding solace in the belief of an afterlife. Through its heartfelt verses, the poem urges us to cherish life's fleeting moments and to appreciate the loved ones who enrich our journey. It reminds us to live with integrity and to embrace each day with love and gratitude, for tomorrow is never promised. As we navigate the compl...
Mar 30, 2024•3 min•Season 1Ep. 32
A heartfelt Sunday morning poem emerged from the depths of my being, inspired by the lessons I've gleaned and the challenges I've faced. Its purpose is to rekindle the flickering flame within, to celebrate the boundless love and genuine essence of life's grace. I offer this intimate poem with the hope that it resonates with your spirit, illuminating your path and filling your heart with inspiration and profound grace. In the tapestry of existence, it is not solely about the interplay between goo...
Jul 16, 2023•4 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi - Because I Cannot Sleep Written: cca. 1207-1273 Poem: Because I cannot sleepI make music at night.I am troubled by the onewhose face has the color of spring flowers.I have neither sleep nor patience,neither a good reputation nor disgrace.A thousand robes of wisdom are gone.All my good manners have moved a thousand miles away.The heart and the mind are left angry with each other.The stars and the moon are envious of each other.Because of this alienation the physical un...
Jan 29, 2023•2 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Berton Braley - Opportunity Written: circa 1917 Theme: No matter where you live, or where you have been born whether that is into a wealthy family or to dirt poor parents, opportunities are available. The sad truth is that those who believe what their family roots did or did not give them have little to nothing to do with what lies ahead. Many of you have heard about the "cycle of poverty" but that cycle can be broken. How? The real opportunity lies within. That's right. The genuine possibility ...
Jan 22, 2023•1 min•Season 1Ep. 29
W.S. Merwin - Thanks Published: 2005 in Migration: New and Selected Poems Theme & Story: Reads as an expression of gratitude for the bounty of his life. Merwin voices his thanks in an effusive manner that stays consistent whether bowing from bridges, addressing the water or remembering wars. It begins with the simple word “Listen” and goes on to describe a variety of beautiful moments: with the night falling we are saying thank you we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings we a...
Jan 15, 2023•2 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Dragos Radu - Do Not Close Your Eyes Written: 27th December 2022, Bucharest Theme & Story: This poem was inspired by a sentiment of longing and emptiness for one person in my life whom I got to know for only the first 6 years of my life, my grandfather. Since I was a child, I have been looking up to him; he was a pilot, so, at that time, I desired to become one too. Thanks to him, I know how to play chess and ride a bike. When I was 5 years old, and he was teaching me chess, I used to steal ...
Jan 08, 2023•1 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Sara Teasdale - A Winter Bluejay Written/Published: 1915 in Rivers to the Sea Theme: The poem begins by placing the couple in a snow-covered landscape, walking through the “whisper[ing]” snow, enjoying a quiet moment. Their shadows are “danc[ing]” behind them, creating a beautiful pattern of light. It is clear that this moment is not one that comes often. They continue on their walk and come upon skaters on a frozen lake who gracefully, without fault, weave around one another. Their grace and ef...
Dec 18, 2022•1 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Anonymous St Swithun's Parishioner - The Messiah Source: It was published in a parish newsletter of St Swithun's church. Story: Most of us are familiar with the words and music of the great Oratorio but Bill Jones of Golcar, a little village in the West Riding of Yorkshire, had never been to a performance and he tried to persuade a friend to go with him to the Huddersfield Town Hall to hear the famous Choral Society, but his friend refused. “Nay” he said “that sort ‘o music’s nowt in my line. I ...
Dec 11, 2022•5 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Lord Byron - Childe Harold's Pilgrimage [There is a pleasure in the pathless woods] Written/Published: 3rd March 1812 Theme: In these lines of ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,’ the poet engages with themes of change, the sea, and power. The latter is used to reference the power of the sea as well as humankind’s lack of power in the face of the indomitable ocean. It has raged the same since the dawn of creation, and no human force can control or tame it. This is something that brings the speaker grea...
Dec 04, 2022•2 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Mark Strand - Lines For Winter Written/Published: 1979, Selected Poems Theme: "The echo of “as it gets cold” implies the language could be seen as appealing to readers for separate stages of understanding, not just the physical “cold” of winter, but also the coldness that comes with loss of emotion and possibly death, or at least accompanying the sober recognition of one’s own mortality. Surely, images of winter or night frequently signal acknowledgement of one’s mortality and the “gray” in line...
Nov 27, 2022•1 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Edgar Allan Poe - The City in the Sea Published: 1831 Theme: The poem takes the reader through Death’s city. He rules this place from a throne and towers over it “gigantically”. The city is lit by nothing but the light from the sea. By following its progression a reader can see the towers, palaces, friezes, and spires that fill the city-scape. Towards the end of the poem, a change comes over the usually very still ocean. It starts to move, as does the city itself. The city sinks, slowly, down in...
Nov 20, 2022•3 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Lord Byron - All Is Vanity, Saith the Preacher Written/Published in: Hebrew Melodies nr. 21 1815 Theme: Lord Byron’s poem is inspired by the Book of Qohelet. He transfers Qohelet’s feeling of life into a psalm, thereby condensing the Biblical material in his own way. He makes Qohelet, whom he conventionally identifies with King Solomon, look back at the happy times in his life. He interprets the Preacher’s resignation and depression by introducing the serpent from Genesis 3; this aspect helps to...
Nov 13, 2022•1 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Robert Frost - The Road Not Taken Published: 1915 Theme : "Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” is often interpreted as an anthem of individualism and nonconformity, seemingly encouraging readers to take the road less traveled. This interpretation has long been propagated through countless song lyrics, newspaper columns, and graduation speeches. But as Frost liked to warn his listeners , “You have to be careful of that one; it’s a tricky poem—very tricky.” In actuality, the two roads divergi...
Nov 06, 2022•1 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Don McLean - Crossroads (Song) Written/Released: 1971 Album: American Pie Theme & Story: "I think this line is the essence of the pop ballad; the sense of regret, the wish to turn back time, the fear of the road lying ahead. Textually, the song is about a man who returns to a long lost love and begs for salvation. But that’s far too linear interpretation. I read the entire second verse in a far more spiritual way. Hope and salvation lie with anything that will join you on the inevitable jour...
Oct 30, 2022•2 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Kabir Das - Songs of Kabir (songs 6 and 9) Written: 1398 - 1518 Published: One Hundred Poems of Kabir 1915 Translated: Rabindranath Tagore Theme: The songs of Kabir by Tagore represent both the philosophies of Hinduism and Sufism. It is a seamless, luminous setting of Kabir 's beloved prayer, offering praise to a holy spirit, universal and personal, both in this world and beyond. ( Brainly.in, 2022 ) Songs: Song 6 I.83 candā jhalkai yahi ghat māhīn The moon shines in my body, but my blind eyes c...
Oct 23, 2022•2 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Charles Bukowski - Roll The Dice Written: ca. 1970-1990 Published in: What Matters Most Is How Well You Walk Through the Fire (1999) Theme: “Roll the Dice” by Charles Bukowski is one of the most motivational poems in American History. During the 1950-60s people were headed on the path of being different. Whether that meant listening to different music or growing long hair, each poem is telling the people that if you are going to do something go all the way, or else there is no point in doing it....
Oct 16, 2022•2 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Maya Angelou - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Published: 1969, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Themes: "Strong themes are present throughout "Caged Bird." Racist oppression, freedom against captivity, and joy versus grief are examples of themes. Through the picture of the two birds, one free and one imprisoned, Angelou weaves together all of these concepts in "Caged Bird." The caged bird is an extended metaphor for the Black community in America and across the world. Angelou references the oppr...
Oct 09, 2022•2 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Dragos Radu - The War Written: 2022 Summary & Story: Sometimes, we are all fighting a war. A war can -internally speaking- seem, at times, catastrophically never-ending. The warrior portrays an image where each of us has found ourselves at a point where an inevitable change must happen. A point where one has to be reborn and rise from the ashes. The warrior reflects that point. The horse, or the mind, a dear companion, follows in the dark. Through the tears, he tries to evade this change, ye...
Oct 02, 2022•4 min•Season 1Ep. 15
T.S. Eliot - Burnt Norton Pt. 2 Written in: Published in 1943 in the 4 Quartets of T.S. Eliot. ( source: poemanalysis.com, 2022 ) Theme: The main theme of ‘Burnt Norton is the nature of time, its relation to salvation, and the contrast between the experience of the modern man and spirituality. The lyrical voice meditates on life and the need to subscribe to the universal order. The poem’s structure and form are similar to T. S. Eliot’s The Wasteland, as several fragments of poetry are put togeth...
Sep 25, 2022•3 min•Season 1Ep. 14
T.S. Eliot - Burnt Norton Pt. 1 Written in: Burnt Norton is the first poem of the 4 Quartets of T.S. Eliot. This quartet was published in 1936 and in 1943 appeared together with the other 3 quartets. ( source: poemanalysis.com, 2022 ) Theme: The main theme of ‘Burnt Norton is the nature of time, its relation to salvation, and the contrast between the experience of the modern man and spirituality. The lyrical voice meditates on life and the need to subscribe to the universal order. The poem’s str...
Sep 18, 2022•3 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Dragos Radu - Home Written: 2022 Summary & Story: Throughout my life, I had many moments where I missed my home. Not home in the sense of a birthplace, people or things that I've been closely acquainted with during my life, but home within, the altar within each of us. The place that always calls us back to ourselves, to inquire, to be curious. The place that is most meaningful to us as only by knowing it and not merely acknowledging it, can we get to know ourselves. This is a poem about tha...
Sep 11, 2022•3 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Dylan Thomas - Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night Written in: 1947 Published in: 1951 in the journal Botteghe Oscure ( wikipedia , 2022) Theme & Story: "In the first stanza of "Do Not Go Gentle", the speaker encourages their father not to "go gentle into that good night" but rather to "rage, rage against the dying of the light." Then, in the subsequent stanzas, they proceed to list all manner of men, using terms such as "wise", "good", "wild", and "grave" as descriptors, who, in their own...
Sep 04, 2022•2 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Kahlil Gibran - On Freedom Written in: The Prophet (Knopf, 1923) Summary & Story: Almustafa (character from The Prophet) answers an orator who asks him to speak of freedom. Because people worship freedom, the prophet says, they have become like a slave to freedom. They praise what is really "a yoke and a handcuff." The desire for freedom is so great that seeking it "becomes a harness to [them]." People wish to free themselves from care, want, and grief. But true freedom comes from accepting ...
Aug 28, 2022•3 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Mary Frye / Clare Harner / Unknown Author - Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep Possibly written in: ca. 1932/1934 (Mary Frye / Clare Harner) Note: The author of the poem has not been determined. Therefore, the poem may well belong to Mary Frye, Clare Harner, or other unknown author. The two possible authors are the only ones who claimed the poem to be written by them. Poem: Do not stand By my grave, and weep. I am not there, I do not sleep—I am the thousand winds that blow I am the diamond glints...
Aug 21, 2022•43 sec•Season 1Ep. 9
Rudyard Kipling - If Written: ca. 1895 in ‘Brother Square-Toes’—Rewards and Fairies Theme and Story: In his autobiography Something of Myself (1937), Kipling claimed that the phrase "If—" had its beginnings in the unsuccessful Jameson raid of 1895–1896, which was when British colonial statesman Leander Starr Jameson led an attack against the South African (Boer) Republic during the New Year weekend. Jameson wanted to trigger his fellow British citizens in the Transvaal to rebel against the Boer ...
Aug 13, 2022•2 min•Season 1Ep. 8
William Ernest Henley - Invictus Written in: 1875 Originally published: 1888 in the author's first volume of poetry, Book of Verses, in the section Life and Death (Echoes). Theme and Story Invictus is a poem by William Ernest Henley that translates from Latin as "unconquerable" or "undefeated." This poem is about maintaining one's dignity despite life's indignities and having courage in the face of death. Henley had to have his left leg amputated when he was 16 years old due to complications fro...
Aug 06, 2022•51 sec•Season 1Ep. 7
T.S. Eliot - Ash Wednesday (part six) Originally published: 1930 Theme: The poem was written by Eliot as a result of his conversion to Anglicanism in 1927. Poem: Although I do not hope to turn againAlthough I do not hopeAlthough I do not hope to turnWavering between the profit and the lossIn this brief transit where the dreams crossThe dreamcrossed twilight between birth and dying(Bless me father) though I do not wish to wish these thingsFrom the wide window towards the granite shoreThe white sa...
Aug 06, 2022•2 min•Season 1Ep. 6
