This is Episode 91 of Poems for the Speed of Life.

Today's poem is "Neither Now Nor Never" by Kaveh Akbar.

Kaveh Akbar is an Iranian-American poet. Born in Tehran, he has lived in the US since he was two years old.

Still just 34, he teaches at a number of colleges and universities, including the University of Iowa, Randolph College Virginia and Warren Wilson College North Carolina. Since 2020 he has been Poetry Editor of The Nation magazine, a position held in the past by poets such as WB Yeats, Anne Sexton and Langston Hughes.

He has written and spoken about his challenges with addiction, and has said that writing poetry has often been instrumental in helping him stay alive. 

This poem is about heaven and our relationship with it. Is it a place? A concept? Who is heaven for? And what exactly is to be found there?

And as always on this podcast, these introductions are intended as a first jumping off point, not a final judgment. If this poem or any poem here says something more or something different to you, allow it to speak.

***

Subscribe to or follow the show for free wherever you listen to podcasts.

To leave the show a review:

Music Credit:

Once Upon a Time by Alex-Productions | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://onsound.eu/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  | Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com