Aaron and James revisit Ai's poem "Twenty Year Marriage." The conversation opens up to ideas about education and the violence of white supremacy.

Show Notes:

Ai was born on Oct. 21, 1947. She died on March 20, 2010. She published Cruelty in 1973. Her second book, Killing Floor (1978) was the Lamont selection from the Academy of American Poets. She won the National Book Award for Vice in 1999. She was awarded fellowships from the NEA and the Guggenheim Foundation.

 Hear Ai read her poem "The Good Shepherd" here.

Read a tribute to Ai here.

You can read Sharon Olds's "The Pope's Penis" here. 

Read "Return to the MFA: A Call for Systemic Change in the Literary Arts" by Namrata Poddar here.

Please support independent bookstores! You can purchase Ai's books as well as books by other poets we mention in the show, at Loyalty Bookstores.