John records his first visit to the Greek capital and watches from abroad as the United States loses its soul. He also reads passages of The Libation Bearers, by Aeschylus, and communes with Socrates.

John Tessitore is a writer, poet, and liberal arts advocate. His poems have appeared in a variety of journals, he has published several chapbooks and a novella. He has been a journalist, biographer, and editor, taught history and literature at colleges around Boston, managed national policy studies on education and civil justice, and directs a national language-education association. He serves as Co-Editor Across the Pond for The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press.

In each episode of Be True—available on most major podcast platforms—he reads and discusses “the writing he loves and the writing he does.”

www.johntessitore.com Substack: @johntessitore YouTube: @johntessitore6366Instagram: @jtessitorewriter1 TikTok: @jtessitorewriterFacebook: JohnTessitore, Writer Threads: @jtessitorewriterBlueSky: @jtessitore.bsky.social

John reads a passage from Atomic Backfires, a new book he helped edit. He discusses childish nuclear politics, war in Iran, good intentions and unintended consequences, and the importance of research.

Atomic Backfires: When Nuclear Policies Fail, is available, open-access, at https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-edited-volume/6076/Atomic-BackfiresWhen-Nuclear-Policies-Fail. It is also available in hard copy at https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262051859/atomic-backfires/.

John Tessitore is a writer, poet, and liberal arts advocate. His poems have appeared in a variety of journals, he has published several chapbooks and a novella. He has been a journalist, biographer, and editor, taught history and literature at colleges around Boston, managed national policy studies on education and civil justice, and directs a national language-education association. He serves as Co-Editor Across the Pond for The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press.

In each episode of Be True—available on most major podcast platforms—he reads and discusses “the writing he loves and the writing he does.”

www.johntessitore.comSubstack: @johntessitore YouTube: @johntessitore6366Instagram: @jtessitorewriter1 TikTok: @jtessitorewriterFacebook: JohnTessitore, Writer Threads: @jtessitorewriterBlueSky: @jtessitore.bsky.social

John reads the opening of his brand new novella, Thy Brother’s Blood. He also discusses the virtues of resistance, surprising fiction, the challenges of being human, and why it’s good to be uncertain.

John Tessitore is a writer, poet, and liberal arts advocate. His poems have appeared in a variety of journals, he has published several chapbooks and a novella. He has been a journalist and biographer, taught history and literature at colleges around Boston, managed national policy studies on education and civil justice, and directs a national language-education association. He serves as Co-Editor Across the Pond for The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press.

In each episode of Be True—available on most major podcast platforms—he reads and discusses “the writing he loves and the writing he does.”

www.johntessitore.comSubstack: @johntessitore YouTube: @johntessitore6366Instagram: @jtessitorewriter1 TikTok: @jtessitorewriterFacebook: JohnTessitore, Writer Threads: @jtessitorewriterBlueSky: @jtessitore.bsky.social

John reads excerpts of his poem “Prophesy II,” from his chapbook Apocrypha. He also discusses poetry in a time of war, the mysticism of the writing process, his literary Catholicism, and David Bowie.

John Tessitore is a writer, poet, and liberal arts advocate. His poems have appeared in a variety of journals, he has published several chapbooks and a novella. He has been a journalist and biographer, taught history and literature at colleges around Boston, managed national policy studies on education and civil justice, and directs a national language-education association. He serves as Co-Editor Across the Pond for The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press.

In each episode of Be True—available on most major podcast platforms—he reads and discusses “the writing he loves and the writing he does.”

www.johntessitore.comSubstack: @johntessitore YouTube: @johntessitore6366Instagram: @jtessitorewriter1 TikTok: @jtessitorewriterFacebook: JohnTessitore, Writer Threads: @jtessitorewriterBlueSky: @jtessitore.bsky.social

John discusses his recent visit to Capitol Hill with a group of high school students, the new challenges of being young in the U.S. (and the world) in 2026, and how kids are treated as expendables.

John Tessitore is a writer, poet, and liberal arts advocate. His poems have appeared in a variety of journals, and he has published several chapbooks and a novella. He has been a journalist and biographer, taught history and literature at colleges around Boston, managed national policy studies on education and civil justice, and directs a national language-education association. He serves as Co-Editor Across the Pond for The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press.

In each episode of Be True—available on most major podcast platforms—he reads and discusses “the writing he loves and the writing he does.”

www.johntessitore.com Substack: @johntessitore YouTube: @johntessitore6366Instagram: @jtessitorewriter1 TikTok: @jtessitorewriterFacebook: JohnTessitore, Writer Threads: @jtessitorewriterBlueSky: @jtessitore.bsky.social

John reads Walt Whitman’s poem, “Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field One Night,” a battlefield vignette about the true costs of war, a tragic poem for a dangerous time.

John Tessitore is a writer, poet, and liberal arts advocate. His poems have appeared in a variety of journals, and he has published several chapbooks and a novella. He has been a journalist and biographer, taught history and literature at colleges around Boston, managed national policy studies on education and civil justice, and directs a national language-education association. He serves as Co-Editor Across the Pond for The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press.

In each episode of Be True—available on most major podcast platforms—he reads and discusses “the writing he loves and the writing he does.”

www.johntessitore.comSubstack: @johntessitore YouTube: @johntessitore6366Instagram: @jtessitorewriter1 TikTok: @jtessitorewriterFacebook: JohnTessitore, Writer Threads: @jtessitorewriterBlueSky: @jtessitore.bsky.social

John reads “Emotions,” a poem by the 12th century Chinese poet Li Qingzhao. He discusses global burnout, the desire for a sense of peace (however temporary), and echoes of Wordsworth and Dickinson.

John Tessitore is a writer, poet, and liberal arts advocate. His poems have appeared in a variety of journals, and he has published several chapbooks and a novella. He has been a journalist and biographer, taught history and literature at colleges around Boston, managed national policy studies on education and civil justice, and directs a national language-education association. He serves as Co-Editor Across the Pond for The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press.

In each episode of Be True—available on most major podcast platforms—he reads and discusses “the writing he loves and the writing he does.”

www.johntessitore.com Substack: @johntessitore YouTube: @johntessitore6366Instagram: @jtessitorewriter1 TikTok: @jtessitorewriterFacebook: JohnTessitore, Writer Threads: @jtessitorewriterBlueSky: @jtessitore.bsky.social

John reads a monologue from Henrik Ibsen’s play “An Enemy of the People.” He discusses partisan corruption, the end of right and truth, and rereading Ibsen as Minneapolis became a battleground.

John Tessitore is a writer, poet, and liberal arts advocate. His poems have appeared in a variety of journals, and he has published several chapbooks and a novella. He has been a journalist and biographer, taught history and literature at colleges around Boston, managed national policy studies on education and civil justice, and directs a national language-education association. He serves as Co-Editor Across the Pond for The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press.

In each episode of Be True—available on most major podcast platforms—he reads and discusses “the writing he loves and the writing he does.”

www.johntessitore.com Substack: @johntessitore YouTube: @johntessitore6366Instagram: @jtessitorewriter1 TikTok: @jtessitorewriterFacebook: JohnTessitore, Writer Threads: @jtessitorewriterBlueSky: @jtessitore.bsky.social

John reads the lyrics to the Cuban folk song “Guantanamera.” He discusses its composition, the distinguished history of political refugees in the U.S., and why the poet José Marti was a bad bunny.

John Tessitore is a writer, poet, and liberal arts advocate. His poems have appeared in a variety of journals, and he has published several chapbooks and a novella. He has been a journalist and biographer, taught history and literature at colleges around Boston, managed national policy studies on education and civil justice, and directs a national language-education association. He serves as Co-Editor Across the Pond for The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press.

In each episode of Be True—available on most major podcast platforms—he reads and discusses “the writing he loves and the writing he does.”

www.johntessitore.com Substack: @johntessitore YouTube: @johntessitore6366Instagram: @jtessitorewriter1 Facebook: JohnTessitore, Writer Threads: @jtessitorewriterBlueSky: @jtessitore.bsky.social

In this short episode, John discusses the always-embattled freedom of the press, as enshrined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and the colonial-era trial of John Peter Zenger.

John Tessitore has been a journalist, editor, and biographer. He has taught history and literature at colleges around Boston, managed national policy studies on education and civil justice, and directs a language-education association. He serves as Co-Editor Across the Pond for The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press. His poems have appeared in a variety of books and journals. In each episode of Be True, he reads and discusses one of his published poems, or a poem he loves.

www.johntessitore.com

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