These two poems are favorites of mine (aren't they all?), and I love the way the comment on each other. I discussed mostly how Wendell Berry's poem seems to be deeply antisocial but, upon some reflection, really isn't. But there's a lot more to say than just this. Check the show notes or the website for some more thought-provoking questions.

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Recorded in my secret grading-fishing spot (hint: it's south of Provo) because it's beautiful and secluded and quiet and I can change out of my pants and into my waders by the side of the road and never worry about anyone driving by and seeing me pantsless.

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Recorded on a quiet, little used trail while I sat down to eat something and rest a while. Actually, even though the trail had very few human tracks, and though I thought I was leaving the trail to a place of untouched solitude, I found a bunch of garbage within a single pace of where I sat. There's nothing that says "I'm in the authentic backcountry" like sunbleached beer cans and balls of aluminum foil and brittle plastic wrappers.

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Recorded at night, while camping in southern Utah, under a clear, dark sky of a million million stars. I love camping, but I love it more when I've got Kate with me.

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Recorded a couple of days ago after finishing a couple of slot canyons called Ding and Dang. They're outside Goblin Valley. They're not difficult, I think rated just 2BII, but having a handicapped twenty-something man in our party made it into a much more intense adventure. It was, in fact, one of the greatest things I feel I have ever done outside. What a great day. And so I'm going to read a great poem, too.

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Recorded while on the outskirts of the San Rafael Swell, where I could not find anywhere that was completely out of the wind. But even if it isn't a great place to record, it is one of my favorite places, and I am so grateful to live close enough that I get to visit a couple of times a year.

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I have inherited my sense of direction from my mother, who has learned that, when in doubt, she should go exactly the opposite of what feels like the right direction. I get lost all the time, and absolutely depend on the topo map app on my phone. I recorded this while trying to find my way to the right trail, which eventually required a little off-trail bushwhacking.

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I had something of a haiku moment: sitting by the side of a trail and watching the grass bend in the wind. I felt like maybe I should learn some more haiku, but then I decided that the feeling of needing more is probably antithetical to what I was feeling at the time.

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It's the day after the last day of classes for the semester, and so I chose this poem about offices and businesses. I think it's funny that my students think that they are the only ones who are glad at the end of a term. Recorded on the Little Baldy trail, which my children will probably think is a funny and appropriate name considering the state of my scalp.

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Recorded in the rain, but under a pavilion. You can hear both the river and the car traffic near me. This is such a great poem, however, that I didn't want to wait, but I did skip a critical part of the analysis: that's what I get for doing it in one take and without notes. Check the website for details about what I skipped.

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