Loveliest of Trees, the Cherry Now....
[nggallery id=34]On a sunny Sunday at the tail-end of National Poetry Month, WNYC visited the Brooklyn Botanic Garden where people lounged on the grass in the shade of the 76 flowering cherry trees...
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The Economy in Haiku
What if you could explain economics and finance in the form of a poem? Jess Walter writes about exactly that in “The Financial Lives of the Poets," a novel that centers on a journalist who gives up...
View ArticleLovely Bones: Celebrating Anne Sexton at the Cornelia Street Café
The poet Anne Sexton took her own life in 1974, but had she lived, this year would have marked her 83rd birthday. Reason enough, thought the actor Paul Hecht, to organize an elegant tribute to her at...
View ArticleA People's Poem for the Inaguration: Poets Respond
"Say 'nation.' In the wake of quarrels. Say 'hope.'"That original first line from poet Kwame Dawes, read on the program earlier this week, kicked off our crowd-sourced inaugural poetry project....
View Article#1416: I Dream of Fairlanes
This week on Car Talk, the Auto-Psychiatry booth is open, as Dennis tries to figure out why he dreamed about being offered a 1966 Ford Fairlane. Is a Fairlane memory buried in his past, or to...
View ArticleThis Is Where: Deep in The Woods of East Texas
It's National Poetry Month and our friends at public radio WLRN in Miami, in conjunction with O, Miami poetry festival have launched a poetry project they're calling "This Is Where."We've asked you to...
View Article100 Flowers
When Douglas Hofstadter was 16, he read a poem. Just an innocent little poem, a few short lines, nothing special. But the poem burrowed deep into his brain, and many years later, he set out to...
View ArticleHear Muhammad Ali's Incredible 43-Second Pre-Fight Poem
Right before his 1974 fight with George Foreman, Ali warned that he could "hospitalize a brick" and "make medicine sick" in one of the most exciting 43-second poems you'll ever hear.
View ArticleHappy National Poetry Month! Here's Assignment #2...
April is National Poetry Month! Throughout the month, we're hosting a series of conversations and on-air classes with local poets Tracey K. Smith, Sharon Olds, Vijay Seshadri, and more.This week,...
View ArticleApril Poetry Lessons: Gregory Pardlo
We're celebrating National Poetry Month by bringing four recent Pulitzer Prize winners who teach in the area on the show to give "master classes" and weekly assignments.Have you done your homework for...
View ArticleBrian Lehrer Weekend: James Brown’s Legacy, A Poetry Assignment, A History of...
A few of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them.James Brown’s Legacy (First) | A Poetry Assignment (Starts at 13:50) | A History of Big Banks (Starts at 29:40)If you don't...
View ArticleHappy National Poetry Month! Here's Assignment #3...
April is National Poetry Month! Throughout the month, we're hosting a series of conversations and on-air classes with local poets Tracey K. Smith, Gregory Pardlo, Vijay Seshadri, and more.Here's your...
View ArticleA Poetry Lesson with Sharon Olds
Sharon Olds, award-winning poet who teaches in the Graduate Creative Writing Program at New York University and author of Stag's Leap: Poems (Knopf, 2012), offers an assignment and insight into writing...
View ArticleBrian Lehrer Weekend: Tubman on the $20, Liang’s Downgraded Conviction,...
A few of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them.Tubman on the $20 (First) | Liang’s Downgraded Conviction (Starts at 32:16) | Sharon Olds’ Poetry (Starts at 50:18)If you don't...
View ArticleHappy National Poetry Month! Here's Assignment #4...
April is National Poetry Month! Throughout the month, we're hosting a series of conversations and on-air classes with local poets Sharon Olds, Gregory Pardlo, Vijay Seshadri, and more.Here's your...
View ArticleApril Poetry Lessons: Tracy K. Smith
Throughout April, we've had four recent Pulitzer Prize winners who teach in the area offer "master classes" and weekly assignments in honor of National Poetry Month.Today, Brooklyn resident Tracy K....
View ArticleThe Prank Your Body Plays On Life
Our friend Max Ritvo passed away August 23, 2016. We learned so much from our conversations with him, and we hope that this interview gives you a sense of the beauty — and humor — he saw in the world....
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The all-American essence of Kansas, Camaros and ‘Jennifer’
A girl walks past a house painted in the colors of the U.S. flag in Moneygall, Ireland. Photo by REUTERS/Cathal McNaughtonThe Jennifer CenturyAmerica! Give to me your 200 years of names borrowed from...
View ArticleA Flurry of Snow Day Poems
This late-winter storm has brought every kind of snowflake today: flurries, big wet chunks, icy rain drops.So we asked listeners to send us all kinds of snowetry — that is, snow day poetry — and tweet...
View ArticleYour Original Poems, Inspired by the Bronx
April is National Poetry Month. To honor the occasion, we have a borough-by-borough poetry challenge. Here's how it works: every week, we'll name a borough and you send us your best, original,...
View ArticleYour Original Poems, Inspired by Brooklyn
To commemorate National Poetry Month, we have a borough-by-borough poetry challenge: Every week, we'll name a borough and you send us your best, original, tweet-length poems inspired by that...
View ArticleYour Original Poems, Inspired by Staten Island
It's National Poetry Month, so we have a borough-by-borough poetry challenge: Every week, we'll name a borough and you send us your best, original, tweet-length poems inspired by that borough.Week One...
View ArticleYour Original Poems, Inspired by Manhattan
We're nearing the end of National Poetry Month and our poetry challenge, in which we asked you to send in your best, original, tweet-length poems inspired by each of the boroughs.Week One was the...
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This poet explores the high-flying realms of space — but also the earthly...
The Milky Way is seen in the night sky around telescopes in May 2015. Credit: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah DalshWhen Adrian Matejka and his family moved to Indianapolis in the 1980s, he says he was not a very...
View ArticleYour Original Poems, Inspired by Queens
National Poetry Month inspired many of our listeners to take our #NYcityverse poetry challenge, in which we asked you to send in your best, original, tweet-length poems inspired by each of the...
View ArticleYour #NYcityverse Poems About the Five Boroughs
April was National Poetry Month, and WNYC challenged listeners to write tweet-length, original poems about the five boroughs.Here, in no particular order, are some of our favorites. Listen above to...
View ArticleRewriting Emma Lazarus' "The New Colossus"
NPR religion correspondent and the author of A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story (Simon & Schuster, 2015) Tom Gjelten is joined by Russian immigrant and poet Gala Mukomolova,...
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Mapping Seattle, poem by poem
The skyline of Seattle as seen from Gas Works Park on Lake Union. Photo by Lorna BaldwinSeattle has a new way of mapping itself — through the so-called “Poetic Grid,” an online map of the city from the...
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Navigating Seattle’s ever-evolving streets through poetry
Watch Video | Listen to the AudioJUDY WOODRUFF: But first to a story of poetry and place, and a new way to look at the life of an ever-evolving city.Jeffrey Brown reports from Seattle.JEFFREY BROWN:...
View ArticleWrite Us a Poem About Your Commute
April is National Poetry Month, and WNYC is bringing you a series of week-long poetry assignments to keep you occupied all month long.Your first assignment, due by Friday, April 13th, is: write an...
View ArticlePoetry Challenge: Showing Your Bodega Some Poetry-Month Love
It's Week Two of WNYC's poetry challenges, in honor of National Poetry Month. The prompt: Send us your best original poem about a bodega.Read some listener submissions below, and get ready to submit...
View ArticlePoetry Challenge: Spring Inspiration
As National Poetry Month comes to an end, listeners submitted their poems for WNYC's last prompt of the month: Send us your best original poem about spring.Read some listener submissions below, and...
View ArticleAn American Sonnet by Terrance Hayes
Right after the 2016 election, Terrance Hayes began writing a series of poems that all shared the title “American Sonnet for My Past and Future Assassin.” The poems use a traditional form to describe...
View ArticleBrenda Shaughnessy
Paper cut on eyeball.Brenda Shaughnessy is a poet. Her most recent book is The Octopus Museum.Join the 10 Things That Scare Me conversation, and tell us your fears here.And follow 10 Things That Scare...
View ArticleVijay Seshadri Reads Sylvia Plath
Vijay Seshadri joins Kevin Young to read “The Moon and the Yew Tree,” by Sylvia Plath, and his own poem “Cliffhanging.” Seshadri is a poet whose work has been honored with the James Laughlin Award and...
View ArticleApril Poetry Challenge: Let's Write Through This Moment
A month ago, if someone said, “The news feels all-consuming right now!” they could have been referring to any number of stories. But right now, people all over the world are consumed with...
View ArticleYour Poetry About What A Month It's Been, Plus A New Prompt
WNYC is inviting listeners to take part in our National Poetry Month Challenge. Hear one poet read their entry in response to our first prompt: "What a Difference a Month Makes."You can read Mark...
View ArticlePoetry Challenge: Answer A Question You Want to Be Asked
We’ve been inviting people to write and share their own poems in honor of National Poetry Month. And we’re learning that for some of you, isolation is stirring long-dormant creative impulses.Last week...
View ArticleFrom Poetry Unbound: Ada Limón — “Wonder Woman”
We’re happy to share the first episode of the new season of Poetry Unbound with host Pádraig Ó Tuama. This poem by Ada Limón tells the story of a person living with invisible chronic pain who finds...
View Article[Unedited] Hanif Abdurraqib with Pádraig Ó Tuama
Hanif Abdurraqib’s writing is filled with lyricism, rhythm, people and precision. In his essays and poetry, he introduces readers to a soundscape of Black performance and Black joy: we hear hip-hop and...
View ArticleHanif Abdurraqib — Moments of Shared Witnessing
Hanif Abdurraqib’s writing is filled with lyricism, rhythm, people and precision. In his essays and poetry, he introduces readers to a soundscape of Black performance and Black joy: we hear hip-hop and...
View ArticleTracy K. Smith Reads 'The Best American Poetry 2021'
Tracy K. Smith, Pulitzer Prize winning poet, former Poet Laureate of the United States from 2017 to 2019, author of Such Color: New and Selected Poems(Graywolf, 2021) and editor of The Best American...
View Article[Unedited] Jane Hirshfield with Krista Tippett
The esteemed writer Jane Hirshfield has been a Zen monk and a visiting artist among neuroscientists. She has said this: “It’s my nature to question, to look at the opposite side. I believe that the...
View ArticleJane Hirshfield – The Fullness of Things
The esteemed writer Jane Hirshfield has been a Zen monk and a visiting artist among neuroscientists. She has said this: “It’s my nature to question, to look at the opposite side. I believe that the...
View ArticleBONUS: An Invitation from Pádraig and Krista
What do poetry, songs, and prayer have in common? While preparing for the next season of Poetry Unbound, host Pádraig Ó Tuama sat down with Krista Tippett to wonder at this mystery: that poems land in...
View ArticleYouth Poet Isabella Ramirez
April is National Poetry Month and The Takeaway is talking with young poets across the country. Isabella Ramirez is Urban Word’s 2022 National Youth Poet Laureate South Regional Finalist. She joined...
View ArticleYouth Poet Alyssa Gaines
April is National Poetry Month and The Takeaway is talking with young poets across the country. Alyssa Gaines is Urban Word’s 2022 National Youth Poet Laureate Midwest Regional Finalist. She joined the...
View ArticleA Listening Ritual for this Fall: Poetry Unbound
Three years ago, Krista texted Pádraig Ó Tuama with a simple question: what if he were to start a poetry podcast that listened as much as it shared? Not long after, Poetry Unbound was born, and it...
View ArticleEllen Bass Loves Repetition
For thirty years, the poet Ellen Bass has taken the same walk almost every day, on West Cliff Drive, a road along the ocean in Santa Cruz, California. Friends and family have teased her for being stuck...
View ArticleSandra Cisneros on Sex, Aging, and the Paranormal
Sandra Cisneros is one of America’s most celebrated coming of age writers. Her book The House on Mango Street is a staple in American classrooms and has been translated into more than 20 languages. Her...
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