Poems for the People

Poems for the People episodes:

• 04.23.2020

  "Like a Cat" by "Laura Cronk" read by Mischa Willett

  I love this little love poem by Laura Cronk. It somehow serves as criticism of and appreciation for cats, as well as of the beloved, and of the differences between people generally. Who among us hasn't known figures like these?  I found...

  
• 04.21.2020

  "Lot's Wife" by "Anna Akhmatova" read by Mischa Willett

  To learn more about Anna Akhmatova, you should read Clive James' essays, which are extremely convincing about her stature. This poem of hers was translated by one of my favorite poets of all time, Richard Wilbur. 

  
• 04.18.2020

  "The Resignation" by "Thomas Chatterton" read by Mischa Willett

  Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770) wrote tons of moving and intelligent verse all before he was 20 years old. His life-story and scandal is worth investigating for sure, but move past it and actually read some of his Rowley poems. There is...

  
• 04.07.2020

  “Forty” by “Lee Rossi” read by Mischa Willett

  A Lenten poem tracing the 40’s with humor, wit, and good faith from the lovely “Darwin’s Garden” from MoonTide Press.

  
• 03.18.2020

  "The Great Infirmities" by Charles Simic read by Mischa Willett

  "Perilous to be on the street, among the congregations of the afflicted" If ever there was a time for poems by the metaphysical physician Charles Simic, it's now, as #coronavirus has us all indoors or avoiding on another.    -from Charles Simic Selected...

  
• 03.03.2020

  "Broken Hierarchies" by "Geoffrey Hill" read by Mischa Willett

  Available in his Collected Poems: Broken Hierarchies Oxford University Press, 2014

  
• 03.03.2020

  "What Lips my Lips Have Kissed" by "Edna St. Vincent Millay" read by Mischa Willett

  A sonnet from this starburst of talent. 

  
• 02.29.2020

  Guest Reader: "Lauren Camp" reading poems from "One Hundred Hungers"

  Tupelo Press poet drops by the studio after a reading at Richard Hugo House.  More information about the reader can be found at his website: www.mischawillett.com

  
• 02.27.2020

  "Calling Him Back from Layoff" by "Bob Hicock" read by Mischa Willett

  from "Elegy Owed" Copper Canyon Press, 2014

  
• 02.19.2020

  "When Our Two Souls Stand Up" by "Elizabeth Barrett Browning" read by Mischa Willett

  from the lovely "Sonnets from the Portuguese"

  
• 02.18.2020

  "In a Power Outage" by "Jennifer Maier" read by Mischa Willett

  From Jennifer Maier's "Dark Alphabet" on Southern Illinois University Press, a book I recommend without reservation. Those long, interruptive clauses, the doubling, the gratitude!

  
• 02.11.2020

  "Right Whale Luminary" by "Jeremiah Webster" read by Mischa Willett

  A poem about the bravery necessary to the artistic endeavor via c19 whaling practices. Featured in Jeremiah Webster's new book "After So Many Fires," available on Anchor and Plume Press.