NPR Tiny Desk Contest winner Gaelynn Lea makes music that is often described as “haunting” and “heartbreaking.” At her live shows, however, Lea cracks jokes in between songs. “A lot of people, when they meet me, say, ‘Oh, I thought you’d be more depressed,” says Lea. In this episode, Lea reads a favorite poem by E. E. Cummings and discusses the importance of acknowledging the duality of light and darkness in the world.

Later on, we check the Haiku Hotline for your poems about youth. Our guest curator is Lauren K Carlson. Transcriptions of this week’s featured listener poems are available here.

"53" by E. E. Cummings appears in the collection 100 Selected Poems from Grove Press. The music in this interview is from Gaelynn Lea's album, The Songs We Sing Along the Way.

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Gaelynn Lea Reads E. E. Cummings

Interesting People Reading Poetry is a short, sound-rich podcast where artists and luminaries read a favorite poem and share what it means to them. Created by Andy & Brendan Stermer.

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In this IPRP Poetry Playlist, U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón reads three selections from the anthology You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, out now from Milkweed Editions. The collection, edited and introduced by Limón, offers "fifty poems reflecting on our relationship to the natural world by our most celebrated contemporary writers." Click here to learn more about the anthology, including upcoming events and how to share your own "You Are Here" nature poem.




https://open.spotify.com/episode/21B1WXPUDJ9WNDH4LMROeD




TRACKLIST



1. “Reasons to Live” by Ruth Awad



2. "Lullaby for the Grieving" by Ashley M. Jones



3. “Twenty Minutes in the Backyard" by Alberto Ríos



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Poetry Playlist: You Are Here

In this episode, Roy Foster reads "Sailing to Byzantium" by William Butler Yeats. Foster is the Emeritus Professor of Irish History at the University of Oxford and the author of many books, including his classic, two-volume biography of Yeats, published in 1997 and 2003. In a review of the first volume published in the New York Review of Books, the Irish novelist John Banville wrote: “W.B. Yeats: A Life is a great and important work, a triumph of scholarship, thought, and empathy such as one would hardly have thought possible in this age of disillusion. It is an achievement wholly of a scale with its heroic subject.”




https://open.spotify.com/episode/2EPxyqHWa7nQJB5SKB1BDj




“Sailing to Byzantium” by William Butler Yeats was first published in 1927 and included in his magnificent collection, The Tower, published in 1928. To learn more about Yeats' life and work, look no further than Roy Foster's W.B Yeats: A Life, Vol. I: The Apprentice Mage and Vol. II: The Arch-Poet.



We feature one short listener poem at the end of every episode. To submit, call the Haiku Hotline at 612-440-0643 and read your poem after the beep. For the occasional prompt, follow us on Instagram and Facebook.



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Historian Roy Foster Reads William Butler Yeats

This IPRP Poetry Playlist features three selections from Brendan's debut chapbook, Forgotten Frequencies, out now from North Dakota State University Press. The books were printed in a limited edition at The Braddock News Letterpress Museum in Braddock, ND and assembled by hand by students in the publishing program at North Dakota State University in Fargo. Purchase a copy of Forgotten Frequencies here.




https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Brb9k6kD6TMxl5YKT4VZ5




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Poetry Playlist: Forgotten Frequencies

In this episode, musician and writer Dessa reads an excerpt from “Natural Enemies of the Conch” by Alan Dugan. Dessa first gained prominence as a rapper with the Twin Cities hip hop collective Doomtree, but has since worked across many genres and creative disciplines. She has collaborated with the Minnesota Orchestra, published a memoir and poetry collections, and even hosted a BBC science podcast. Her fantastic new album, Bury the Lede, is an embrace of dance floor-ready pop music. 




https://open.spotify.com/episode/364PtYtwMXPD85nnksKTN1




Alan Dugan was an American poet born in New York City in 1923. "Natural Enemies of the Conch” appears in Poems Seven: New and Complete Poetry, published by Seven Stories Press.



Keep up with Dessa on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and at dessawander.com. 



We feature one short listener poem at the end of every episode. To submit, call the Haiku Hotline at 612-440-0643 and read your poem after the beep. 



Subscribe on RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

Rapper Dessa Reads Alan Dugan

Think of the storm roaming the sky uneasilylike a dog looking for a place to sleep in, listen to it growling. 



–ELIZABETH BISHOP



For each IPRP Poetry Playlist, we curate a selection of three poems, loosely thematically related, presented with musical score, but without any commentary or historical context. We encourage you to approach these short episodes with the same relaxed attitude you might take toward a playlist on a burnt CD, given to you by a friend, which you casually pop in on a long road trip. Don't worry about perfect comprehension, and steer clear of academic analysis. Just turn up the volume, roll down your windows, and enjoy the ride. 




https://open.spotify.com/episode/0XtYuu60adGil55h2PhFFw




TRACKLIST



1. "Little Exercise" by Elizabeth Bishop appears in Poems, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.



2. "Love For Other Things" by Tom Hennen appears in Darkness Sticks to Everything, published by Copper Canyon Press.



3. "The Lady Speaks" by William Carlos Williams appears in The Collected Poems: Volume II, 1939-1962, published by New Directions.



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Gaelynn Lea Reads E. E. Cummings

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