Poems for Company

"Some Horses, Some Oxen": Four poems are featured on this show, three about horses and one about oxen.  All of the horse poems tell us as much about the speaker as they do about the horses, and the final poem details a most curious Christmas folk belief.  What are all these animals thinking?  The poems are read in this order: Walt Whitman, from Song of Myself, section 32 (first published in 1855).  Maxine Kumin, "Jack," from Jack and Other Poems (W. W. Norton and Company, 2005), used by kind permission of the Maxine Kumin Literary Trust.  Robert Wrigley, "Horse Heaven," from The True Account of Myself as a Bird (Penguin, 2022), used by kind permission of the author.  Thomas Hardy, "The Oxen" (first published in 1915).  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (available at Sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with kind permission of Philip Aaberg.   

"Responding to Loss": All three poems in this episode reflect on the loss of a person, when loss is final.  Perhaps one or more of these poems speak to feelings you have experienced but could not define quite like these poets do.  Are poems and songs useful for facing one's own demise or for dealing with the loss of one close to us?  You might think about that while listening to these poems.  Tony Hoagland, "In the Waiting Room with Leonard Cohen," from Priest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God (Graywolf Press, 2018).  Maxine Kumin, "Oblivion," from Where I Live: New and Selected Poems, 1990-2010 (W. W. Norton and Company), used by permission of the Maxine Kumin Literary Trust.  Kevin Young, "Charity," from Book of Hours (Knopf, 2014).  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (available at Sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with kind permission of Philip Aaberg.    

"Civilians in the First World War": All four poems on today's episode focus on civilians in the First World War, particularly women: how were they affected?  Jessie Pope, "War Girls."  Siegfried Sassoon, "Glory of Women."  May Wedderburn Cannan, "Rouen."  E. E. Cummings, "my sweet old etcetera."  There are many fine anthologies that present poetry from this era.  I'll recommend two distinct versions of The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry.  The first, published in 1979, is edited and with an introduction by Jon Silkin.  The second, published in 2006, is edited and with an introduction by George Walter.  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with kind permission of Philip Aaberg.

"Advice": Have you ever urged anyone to procreate?  If so, what motivated you to do that?  Today's episode presents poems that offer direct advice, not only about when to have children and why, but also about what to eat, how to interact with others, and additional concerns.  Shakespeare, Sonnet # 3.  Catherine Tufariello, "Useful Advice," from Keeping My Name (Texas Tech UP, 2004).  A passage from Book 15 of Metamorphoses by Ovid, translated and notes by Charles Martin (Norton, 2004), and read with kind permission of the translator.  Rudyard Kipling, "If."  Elizabeth Lincoln Otis, "An 'If' for Girls."  Naomi Shihab Nye, "To Manage," from Voices in the Air (Harper Collins, 2018), and read with kind permission of the author.  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with kind permission of Philip Aaberg.

Ancient Chinese Poetry: This show features the work of two poets.  Do they express concerns many of us think about in the 21st century?  Do they suggest how to adjust certain of our attitudes?  All the poems are from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, translated by Arthur Waley (Knopf, 1919).  (Many poems by these same authors may be found in a variety of translations.)  T'ao Ch'ien (362-427): "Returning to the Fields," "Moving House," "In the quiet of the morning I heard a knock at my door," "Reading the Book of Hills and Seas."  Po-Chu-I (772-846): "The Letter," "Being Visited by a Friend During Illness," "A Dream of Mountaineering."  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com).  

"Inanimate Objects": Have you inherited an inanimate object that carries emotional weight?  Have you bestowed a name on your bicycle or your car?  The poems featured in this episode respond in a variety of ways to inanimate objects.  Leigh Stein, "What Happens If You Click It," from What To Miss When (NY: Soft Skull Press, 2021).  Richard Polt, "The Typewriter Manifesto," from The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist's Companion for the 21st Century (Woodstock, VT: The Countryman Press, 2015).  Robert Wrigley, "Box," from Box (Penguin Books, 2017), read with kind permission of the author.  Stephen Dunn, "The Sacred," from The Not Yet Fallen World: New and Selected Poems (W.W. Norton, 2022).  Sharon Olds, "Adolescence," from The Wellspring (NY: Knopf, 1996), read with kind permission of the author.  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com).

"Posing Questions": "Who hangs a birdhouse from a sapling?"  How would you answer that question?  One poem featured on today's episode places that question in a startling context.  Questions shape all of the poems on today's episode.  Some are addressed; others are left for us to sort out.  Today's episode features these poems: Christina Rossetti, "Up-Hill."  Phillis Levin, "Unsolicited Survey," from Mercury (Penguin Books, 2001), read with kind permission of the author.  Terrance Hayes, "I'm not sure how to hold my face when I dance," from American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin  (Penguin Random House, 2018).  Langston Hughes, "Harlem," from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, Arnold Rampersad, ed. and David Roessel, Associate ed. (Vintage, a Division of Random House, Inc., 1994).  Carrie Etter, "A Birthmother's Catechism" ("How did you let him go?"), from Imagined Sons (Seren [www.serenbooks.com], 2014, rpt. 2019), read with kind permission of the author.  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com).

"Poems About Writing": When you were a student, did you find joy in the writing tasks required of you?  Did self-disclosure make you uncomfortable, or did you welcome the opportunity to express your individuality?  Poems in this episode may take you back to the classroom, with reflections from some students and instructors.  Today's show features these poems: Langston Hughes, "Theme for English B," from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, Arnold Rampersad, ed. and David Roessel, Associate ed. (Vintage, a Division of Random House, Inc., 1994).  Naomi Shihab Nye, "Please Describe How You Became a Writer," from Everything Comes Next: Collected and New Poems (Greenwillow Books, 2020), read with kind permission of the author.  Naomi Shihab Nye, "Mountains," from Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners (Greenwillow Books, 2018), read with kind permission of the author.  Robert Wrigley, "Careers," from Anatomy of Melancholy and Other Poems (Penguin, 2013), read with kind permission of the author.  William Matthews, "A Poetry Reading at West Point," from Search Party: Collected Poems, Sebastian Matthews and Stanley Plumly, eds. (Houghton Mifflin (2004), read with kind permission of the William Matthews estate.  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com).