Poems for the People

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 it in the the Best American Poetry 2019 but you can seek out more of her work in her book Having Been an Accomplice (Persea Books) You can find out more about me and my books at www.mischawillett.com Thank you for listening, and if you come across poems that you like or have suggestions that I should feature on the show, feel free to drop me an email via the contact page on my website. 

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. 

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 a reason the Romantics valued him so highly.  He is also known for the painting of his death by Henry Wallis, the Pre-Raphaelite, which hangs, if I remember correctly, in the Tate Britain and which is among the most moving of images in that whole treasure-horde.  More information about the reader can be found at his website: www.mischawillett.com

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 a reason the Romantics valued him so highly.  He is also known for the painting of his death by Henry Wallis, the Pre-Raphaelite, which hangs, if I remember correctly, in the Tate Britain and which is among the most moving of images in that whole treasure-horde.  More information about the reader has be found at his website. 

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

A sonnet from this starburst of talent. 

from "Elegy Owed" Copper Canyon Press, 2014

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.

from the lovely "Sonnets from the Portuguese"

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!

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

Tupelo Press poet drops by the studio after a reading at Richard Hugo House. 

"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 Early Poems

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.

From the 2014 Michael Waters Poetry Prize winner, this meditation on meaning, resurrection, and immigration that playfully bounces between Star Wars and the biblical prophet Samuel.

Byron's beautiful brooding vision of the end of the world, available in any edition of his works. Drop a line on twitter @PoemsforPeople if you'd like to say hello or make recommendations.

Richard Wilbur's "Advice to a Prophet" is his greatest poem. I feel like this must be a repeat of a poem that I've read here before and lost the file because otherwise, how have I not got around to it before now? The recording quality bothers me (sorry about that). I was experimenting with new spaces and tech and I very nearly didn't post it because of that. But better a dome in Florence, they say, than a cathedral in the clouds.

A poem from Stephen Dunn's excellent book "Lines of Defense" (Norton, 2014). You can contact me, make requests/comments, on twitter @poemsforpeople. Opening music is "Juliet's Dream" composed by my friend Jon Steinmeier.

A thanksgiving.

from the lovely book "Sonnets from the Portuguese"