Wake to Words and Brew Some Coffee

Most every Sunday, I read good poems by other people while we all drink coffee. Easily find a past Sunday of poetry here; listen to any episode by clicking on the date.

2024

Today's poems are by Rosabetty Muñoz, tr. by Claudia Nuñez de Ibieta (from Poetry, Oct. 2024/225:1) 

  • Doña Sebastiana I
  • Alao
  • Tranqui

Poems:

  • Rental Property by Ann Tweedy (from her book A Registry for Survival)
  • The Old Flame by Robert Lowell (from his book For the Union Dead)
  • Supplanting by Wendell Berry (from his book The Peace of Wild Things)

Poems:
  • Rumination by Phoebe Giannisi, tr. Brian Sweden (from Poetry, 224:4 July/August 2024)
  • Failing and Flying by Jack Gilbert (from Collected Poems)

Poems:

  • The Noisiness of Sleep by Ada Limón (from her book Bright Dead Things)
  • Poem with a Missing Pilot by C.D. Wright (from her book Shallcross)
  • Making Church Glass Ours by Tina Mozelle Braziel (from her book Glass Cabin, cowritten with James Braziel)
Poems:
  • Gravity
  • Chemise by Kay Ryan (from her book Say Uncle)
  • Slowness by Polly Buckingham (from her book River People)
  • portrait of the rain by Jan Wagner, trans. by David Keplinger (appears in Poetry, Volume 221: Number 1)

Poems:
  • The Sun by Anne Sexton (from her collection Live or Die)
  • Moon Song for my mother by Caroline Harper New (from her collection A History of Half-Birds)
  • What Remains Grows Ravenous by Ada Limón (from her collection Bright Dead Things)

Poems:
  • "Whatever Gets The Hay Down to the Ponies" by Maya Jewell Zeller (from her book Out Takes/Glove Box)
  • The Riveter by Ada Limón (from her book Bright Dead Things)

Poems:
  • Sweethearts by C.L. O'Dell (from Poetry, March 2024 issue)
  • Stunt Double by Tomás Q. Morín (from Poetry, March 2024 issue)
Poems:

Poems:
  • Ubi sunt? by Laura Kasischke (from her book Where Now - New and Selected Poems)
  • Address to the Angels by Maxine Kumin (from her Selected Poems 1960-1990)
  • Sitting in a Small Screenhouse on a Summer Morning by James Wright (from his Collected Poems-1990)

Poems:

  • Make Me No Lazy Love by Norma Farber (from Poetry, January 1958)
  • Our City is Guarded by Automatic Rockets by William Stafford (from Poetry, January 1958)
  • Little Owl Who Lives in the Orchard by Mary Oliver (from her book House of Light)
Poems:
  • On the Floor by Humberto Ak'abal, trans. by Michael Bazzett from the Spanish (appears in Poetry, Jan/Feb 2024)
  • Mask by Regan Huff (appears in Poetry Jan/Feb 2024)
  • The Retrieval System by Maxine Kumin (from her Selected Poems 1960-1990)
  • Progress Report by Maxine Kumin (from her Selected Poems 1960-1990)
Poems:
  • Address to the Angels (from her Selected Poems 1960-1990)
  • My Father's Neckties by Maxine Kumin (from her Selected Poems 1960-1990)
  • The Farmer and the Sea by Wendell Berry (from his book The Peace of Wild Things)
  • Awake at Night by Wendell Berry (from his book The Peace of Wild Things)

2023

Poems:
  • The Pawnbroker by Maxine Kumin (from her Selected Poems 1960-1990)
  • The Wild Geese by W.S. Merwin (from his book Garden Time)

Poems:
  • The Plan by Wendell Berry (from his book The Peace of Wild Things)
  • Hiking with the Old Acorn Lady by J.W. Rivers (1988)
  • Mason Jars by the Window by Alberto Rios (1988)
  • Last Hike Before Leaving Montana by Patricia Traxler (from her book Naming the Fires, 2015)
  • Grace by Wendell Berry (1967)
  • The Hike by Neil Weiss (1955)
  • The Burial of the Old by Wendell Berry (1967)
Poems:
  • The Blackboard by W.S. Merwin (from his book Garden Time)
  • This Compost by Walt Whitman (from Complete Poetry and Selected Prose, edited by James E. Miller, Jr.)
Poems:
  • He Writes by Kateryna Kalytko, trans. by Oksana Lutayshyna and Olena Jennings
  • [Less than a day before the beginning of war] by Kateryna Kalytko, trans. by Katie Farris and Ilya Kaminsky 
  • 1918 by Ostap Slyvynksy, trans. by Anton Tenser and Tatiana Filimonova


Poems:
  • Everybody Lying on their Stomachs, Head Toward the Candle, Reading, Sleeping, Drawing by Gary Snyder (from his book No Nature)
  • Love’s Map by Donald Justice (from his book The Summer Anniversaries)
  • The Other House by W.S. Merwin (from his book Garden Time)
Poems:
  • November by Maggie Dietz
  • Winter by Marie Ponsot
  • November by Billy Collins

Poems, both by Anne Carson and from her book Plainwater:

  • On The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Deyman 
  • On Orchids


Poems:
  • Storm King by Linda L. Beeman (from her book Wallace, Idaho)
  • Excerpts from Chris La Tray's book One Sentence Journal
  • How to Corner the Market on Horse Cadavers by Lindsay Sletten (from Poetry/October 2021)
  • The Bird her punctual music brings by Emily Dickinson (from Final Harvest, edited by Thomas H. Johnson)
  • Self in 1958 by Anne Sexton (from The Complete Poems)
  • Witchgrass by Louise Glück
  • Celestial Music by Louise Glück (from The Best of the Best American Poetry 1988-1997, edited by Harold Bloom/series editor David Lehman)

Poems by Jack Gilbert (from his Collected Poems)
  • A Stubborn Ode
  • Scheming in the Snow

Poems:

  • Night Letter by Diane Thiel (from her book Resistance Fantasies)
  • Under Stars by Tess Gallagher (from her book Under Stars)
  • Ghosts by Jack Gilbert (from his book The Great Fires)

Poem: The Maiden Without Hands by Anne Sexton (from her book Transformations)

Poems:

Poems:
  • What is This Air Changing, This Warm Aura, These Threads of Air Vibrating Rows of People by Ariel Yelen (from Poetry/March 2022)
  • Contentment by Rüştü Onur, trans by Hüseyin Alhas and Ulaş Özgün (from Poetry/March 2022)
  • A Great Nowhere by Öykü Tekten (from Poetry/April 2022)
  • Tablets VI by Dunya Mikhail (from Poetry/April 2022)
Poems by Tony Hoagland from his book Donkey Gospel:
  • Memory as a Hearing Aid
  • Arrows
Prose: 
Opening of The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers

Prose:
"A Game of Telephone" by Erin Pringle, from her story collection Unexpected Weather Events

Poems:

  • Waking at Night
  • Cherishing What Isn’t 
(Both by Jack Gilbert from his Collected Poems)

Poems:
  • Space & Time by Ann Tweedy (from her book A Registry of Survival)
  • Two Laments by Daniel Halpern (from his book Traveling on Credit)
  • Choice by Susan Bright (from her book Atomic Basket)
  • Immortality by AI (from her book Sin)

Poems read:

  • Summer Sky by W.S. Merwin (from his book Garden Time)
  • The Wings of Daylight by W.S. Merwin (from his book Garden Time)
  • Man at a Window by Jack Gilbert (from The Great Fires)
  • Not Most by Tina Mozelle Braziel (from Known by Salt)
  • XII. by Wendell Berry (of Sabbath Poems 2015, collected in his book A Small Porch)

Poems:
  • 3 A.M. Kitchen: My Father Talking by Tess Gallagher (from her book, Under Stars)
  • Exile by Carolyn Forché (from her book, In the Lateness of the World)
  • II. To The National Security Agency
  • III. (both by Wendell Berry, from his book A Small Porch)
  • Death Town
  • Luck Town (both by Anne Carson, from The Best of the Best American Poetry 1988-1987)
  • When You Clean Your Weapon by Borys Humenyuk, trans. by Oksana Maksymuchuk and Max Rosochinsky (from In the Hour of War: Poetry from Ukraine)
  • [Take Immortality, God, but give] by Dmitry Bliznyk, trans. by Ilya Kaminsky (from In the Hour of War: Poetry from Ukraine)
  • Eating Dinner Alone at the 163rd Street Mall by Ariel Francisco (from the anthology LatiNEXT: Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4)
  • In the Reunion of My Selves by Aline Mello (from the anthology LatiNEXT: Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4)
  • Work Shirt by Tina Mozelle Braziel (from her book Known by Salt)

Poems:

  • Poem Starved for Music 
  • Poem with a Girl Almost Fifteen

Both by C.D. Wright from her book Shallcross

  • Listen! by Wendell Berry (from his book The Peace of Wild Things)
  • Gift Horses by Jack Gilbert (from his book The Great Fires)
  • Second Language by Jericho Brown (from his book The Tradition)
  • Old Man at Home Alone in the Morning by W.S. Merwin (from his book Garden Time)

  • The Rival by Sylvia Plath (from her book Ariel)
  • Malines by Paul Verlaine (from his book Songs without Words, trans. Donald Revell)
  • Turtle by Robert Lowell (from his Collected Poems)
Poems:
  • Coming Home from the Post Office by Philip Levine (from his book What Work Is)
  • Claims by Tina Mozelle Braziel (from her book Known by Salt)
  • Misery and Splendor by Robert Hass (from his book Human Wishes)
  • Riddle by Laura Kasischke (from her book Space, in Chains
Poems:
  • As if Darkness Can Mend It All by Maya Jewell Zeller (from her book Rust Fish)
  • Once Later by W.S. Merwin (from his book Garden Time)
  • The River People by Polly Buckingham (from her book The River People)
  • Place Setting by Ann Tweedy (in Lavender Review 2012)
Poems:
  • The Miraculous by Kim Addonizio (from her book Now We're Getting Somewhere)
  • Happiness Report by Kim Addonizio (from her book Now We're Getting Somewhere)
  • Lament by Bert Meyers (from Poetry, January 2023 221:4)
  • Homecoming by Bert Meyers (from Poetry, January 2023 221:4)
Poems:

  • Spring by Mary Oliver (from her book House of Light)
  • Skunk Cabbage by Rennie McQuilkin (found in the book Nature for the Very Young: A Handbook of Indoor & Outdoor Activities)
  • For the Future by Wendell Berry (from his book The Peace of Wild Things)
  • From Time to Time by W.S. Merwin (from his book Garden Time)

Poem read: The Lost Land by Eavan Boland

Poems read: 

  • Flight by Linda L. Beeman (from her book Wallace, Idaho)
  • The Poet at Seven by Donald Justice (from his book The Summer Anniversaries)
  • All the Dead Dears by Sylvia Plath (from The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath, edited by Ted Hughes)
  • The Blue Flannel Suit by Ted Hughes (from his book Birthday Letters)

Poems read:

  • Sabbath Poem VII. In time a man disappears by Wendell Berry (from his book Leavings)
  • Landscape with Little Figures by Donald Justice (from his book The Summer Anniversaries)
  • On the Death of Friends in Childhood by Donald Justice (from his book The Summer Anniversaries)
  • Stranger by Night by Edward Hirsch (from The Best American Poetry 2019, eds. Major Jackson and David Lehman)

Poems read:
  • Just Once by Anne Sexton (from her book Love Poems)
  • VII. by Wendell Berry (a 2006 Sabbath poem from his book Leavings)
  • Shaping by Mahmud Al-Braikan, trans. by Haider Al-Kabi (from Atlanta Review, Iraq, Spring/Summer 2007)
Poems:

By Emily Dickinson:

  • A Thought went up my mind today 
  • If I can stop one Heart from breaking

(both poems in Final Harvest, edited by Thomas H. Johnson)

By Wendell Berry:

  • Questionnaire (from his book Leavings)
  • XV. (Sabbath Poem from 2005, collected in his book Leavings)

Poems:

By Marvin Bell from his book Mars Being Red
  • Coffee
  • What Things Are
By Wendell Berry from his book Leavings
  • A Letter (to Ed McClanahan)
  • Men Untrained to Comfort

Poems read:

  • Downtown in January Poem by c.d. wright (from her book Shallcross)
  • Obscurity and Isolation by c.d. wright (from her book Shallcross)
  • Playing House by Jack Gilbert (from his book The Great Fires)
  • Theoretical Lives by Jack Gilbert (from his book The Great Fires
  • The Farmer and the Sea by Wendell Berry (from his book The Peace of Wild Things)
  • Awake at Night by Wendell Berry (from his book The Peace of Wild Things)
Poems read:

  • Sabbath Poem IV. (2015 series) by Wendell Berry (from his book A Small Porch)
  • Flow Chart by Kathleen Flenniken (from her book Plume)
  • The Flower Horses by Laura Read (from her book Instructions for My Mother’s Funeral)
  • A Work for Poets by George Mackay Brown (from his book Carve the Runes)
Poems read:
  • Winter by Billy Collins
  • Some Questions You Might Ask by Mary Oliver (from her book House of Light)
  • First Date by Daniel Halpern (from his book Traveling on Credit)
  • January by Robert Hass (from his book Human Wishes)
  • Poem without Angel Food by c.d. wright (from her book Shallcross)
Poems read:

  • Pain for a Daughter by Anne Sexton (from her book Live or Die)
  • Nights and Days by Adrienne Rich (from her book The Dream of a Common Language)
  • Lost Poem by Molly Saty (from her book put sparklers on my grave)
  • Remembering to Sing by Patricia Smith (from her book Blood Dazzler)

2022

December 18, 2022

Poems read:

  • Training by Diannely Antigua (from Poetry/December 2021)
  • Dried Flowers by Daniel Moysaenko (from Poetry/January 2022)
  • Definitive by Melissa Sauma, translated by Janet McAdams (from Poetry/March 2022)
  • Dogs' Wedding by Zêdan Xelef (from Poetry/April 2022)
Poems read:
  • Autumn Equinox by George Mackay Brown (from his book Carve the Ruins)
  • Envoi by Charles Wright (from his book Black Zodiac)
  • Travel Agency by Dunya Mikhail (from her book The War Works Hard, trans. by Elizabeth Winslow)
  • IX. by Wendell Berry (“In the early morning we awaken” from his book The Peace of Wild Things)
Poems read:

By Tina Mozelle Braziel:

  • Known by Salt
  • Beneath the Trailer

By Wendell Berry:

  • The Old Elm by the River
  • The Record

By Polly Buckingham

  • Outside my Window
  • Grieving at the Longest Traffic Light in the World
Poems read:

  • Early Kitchen by Ann Tweedy (from her book A Registry of Survival)
  • The Cast Off by Marge Piercy (from her book The Moon is Always Female)
  • Newton’s Apple by Brooke Matson (from her book In Accelerated Silence)
  • As if Darkness Can Mend All by Maya Jewell Zeller (from her book Rust Fish)
Poems read:

  • Grace by Wendell Berry 
  • The Burial of the Old by Wendell Berry 

Poems read:
  • Dusty Plays the Piano by Simon J. Ortiz (from his book from Sand Creek)
  • Park Bench by Jack Jung (from Poetry, April 2022)
  • Hard Times by Eric Gansworth (from When The Light of The World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through, edited by Joy Harjo)
  • Eel by James Thomas Stevens (from When The Light of The World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through, edited by Joy Harjo)
Poems read:
  • These poems from The Black Poets, A New Anthology edited by Dudley Randall:
    • Langston Hughes 
      • The Negro Speaks of Rivers (To W.E.B. DuBois)
      • Children’s Rhymes
      • Words like Freedom
    • James A. Randall, Jr.
      • When Something Happens 
    • Nikki Giovanni
      • For Saundra
      • Knoxville, Tennessee
      • The Funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • "What it Feels Like to Exhale," editorial by Sandy Williams (from The Black Lens News, issue December 2017)
  • Excerpts from part III of Citizen, An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
  • Things Get Harder When It Rains by beyza ozer (from Halal if You Hear Me, The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 3)
  • These poems by William Evans from his book Still Can’t Do My Daughter’s Hair
    • Gigi
    • Even Though I Love You More Than Anything That Won’t Stop Them From Killing You
    • I Turn The Volume Down Because Beyoncé Says Fuck While I Drive My Daughter to School
  • These poems by AI from her book SIN
    • More (for James Wright)
    • The Man with The Saxophone
  • These poems by Audre Lorde from The Selected Works of Audre Lorde:
    • If You Come Softly
    • Progress Report
    • A Sewerplant Grows in Harlem Or I’m a Stranger Here Myself When Does The Next Swan Leave
  • These poems by Jericho Brown from his book The Tradition:
    • The Tradition
    • Foreday in the Morning 
    • Shovel
  • dream where every black person is standing by the ocean by Danez Smith (from his book Don’t Call Us Dead)
  • Mothering is Poetry by Nayyirah Waheed, written in commemoration of Afeni Shakur (selected by Sandy Williams for the Black Lens News, issue March 2019)
Poems read:
  • After Bishop by Natalya Sukhonos (from Naugatuck River Review, Issue 28/Summer Fall 2022)
  • On Orchids by Anne Carson (from her book Plainwater)
  • The Finishing Work by Tina Mozelle Braziel (from her book Known by Salt)
  • Portrait of my Father by Kathleen Flenniken (from her book Plume)

Poems read:

  • Fifteen by William Stafford 
  • A Room by Carolyn Forche (from her book In the Lateness of the World)
  • The Unsaying by Ann Tweedy (from Naugatuck River Review, Issue 28)
  • Double Mastectomy by Nikki Ummel (from Naugatuck River Review, Issue 28)
  • Fellowship Application by Joseph Rios (from LatiNEXT: The Breakbeat Poets, Vol. 4)

Poems read:
  • Locked Doors by Anne Sexton (from her book The Awful Rowing Toward God)
  • Morning Song by Sylvia Plath (from The Collected Poems)
  • Luck Town by Anne Carson (from The Best of the Best American Poetry, 1988-1997)
  • Town on the Way Through God's Woods by Anne Carson (from The Best of the Best American Poetry, 1988-1997)
  • A Story About the Body by Robert Hass (from his book Human Wishes)
  • Envoi by Charles Wright (from his book Black Zodiac)
  • When I Read the Book by Walt Whitman (from Complete Poetry and Selected Prose, edited by James E. Miller, Jr.)
August 14, 2022
  • Architect’s Watercolor by Arthur Sze (from Poetry, October 2021)
  • Blades of Grace by Carolina Duan (from Poetry, October 2021)
  • Thankful by Patricia Smith (from her book Blood Dazzler)
  • Song of the Stone and The Lost Child by George Mackay Brown (from his book Carve the Ruins)
  • XIII. by Wendell Berry (from his book The Peace of Wild Things)
  • A Ghost Sings by Jack Gilbert (from his book The Great Fires)
  • I Imagine the Gods by Jack Gilbert (from his book The Great Fires)
  • Naming by Polly Buckingham (from her book The River People)
  • Ms. Chisolm’s Red Jacket by Polly Buckingham (from The River People)
August 7, 2022

  • In the Reunion of All My Selves by Aline Mello (from LatiNEXT: The BreakBeat Poets, Volume 4)
  • We May No Longer Consider the End by Ruth Ellen Kocher (from The Best American Poetry, 2019)
  • Riddle by Laura Kasischke (from Space, in Chains)
  • My Brother is Asking for Stamps by Michael Torres (from Poetry, Feb. 2021)
  • Look at What I’ve Done! by Porsha Olayiwola (from her book I Shimmer Sometimes, Too)
  • from Sand Creek by Simon J. Ortiz 

Poems read:
  • The Tempest by Roberto Carlos Garcia (from LatiNEXT: BreakBeat Poets, Vol. 4)
  • Dried Flowers by Daniel Mosaenko (from Poetry, January 2022)
  • Fisherman’s Son by Chris La Tray (from his book One-Sentence Journal)
  • Rental Property by Ann Tweedy (from her book A Registry of Survival)
  • In one battle by Imamu Amiri Baraka (from The Black Poets, edited by Dudley Randall)
  • Sad Math by Mike Owens (from Best American Poetry 2018)
  • Silver Spoon Ode by Sharon Olds (from Best American Poetry 2018)
Poems read:
  • Portrait and Shadow by Andrés Cerpa (LatiNEXT: Break Beat Poets, Vol. 4)
  • For the Record by Naomi Ayala (LatiNEXT: Break Beat Poets, Vol. 4)
  • Beneath the Trailer by Tina Mozelle Braziel (from her book Known by Salt)
  • No Cause for Prediction by Tina Mozelle Braziel (from her book Known by Salt)
  • What It Looks Like to Us and the Words We Use by Ada Limón (archived at Poetry Foundation)
  • Late Summer After a Panic Attack by Ada Limón (archived at Poetry Foundation)
Poems read:

  • Swimming Lessons by Daniel Halpern (from his book Foreign Neon)
  • Nights & Days by Adrienne Rich (from her book The Dream of a Common Language)
  • Forward & Reverse by m.l. smoker (from her book Another Attempt at Rescue)
  • Hash Marks by Nikky Finney (from her book Head Off & Split)
  • Elegy by Lena Tuffaha (from the anthology Halal if You Hear Me, the Break Beat Poets Vol. 3)
  • II. by Wendell Berry (Sabbath Poems 2014, from his book A Small Porch)
Poems read:
  • I Was in a Hurry by Dunya Mikhail (from her book The War Works Hard, trans. by Elizabeth Winslow)
  • Poem in a Trance by C.D. Wright (from her book Shallcross)
  • Poem with a Missing Pilot by C.D. Wright (from her book Shallcross)
  • Everything Natalie by Arielle Greenberg (from her book My Kafka Century)
  • There Are No Honest Poems About Dead Women by Audre Lorde
Poems read:
  • Flee on Your Donkey by Anne Sexton
  • For Strong Women by Marge Piercy
Poems read:
  • The Want of Peace by Wendell Berry
  • The Plan by Wendell Berry
  • Foraging for Wood on the Mountain by Jack Gilbert 
  • A Ghost Sings, A Door Opens by Jack Gilbert
Poems read:
  • Between Walls by William Carlos Williams
  • The Embankment by T.E. Hulme
  • A Fixed Idea by Amy Lowell
Poems read:

Poems read:

  • I, This Body by Ilya Kaminsky (from Deaf Republic)
  • The Owls by Baudelaire (from Selected Poems, translated by Joanna Richardson)
  • Mother-Right by Adrienne Rich (from The Dream of a Common Language)
  • Sabbath Poem ll. from Sabbaths 2015, Section ll. by Wendell Berry (from A Small Porch)
  • Griefs for Dead Soldiers by Ted Hughes (from The Hawk in the Rain)
  • The Gift by Mary Oliver (from House of Light)
  • Three Green Windows by Anne Sexton (from Live or Die)

Poems read:
  • The Number of Hives Before We Panic’s Your Matter of Opinion by Ben Cartwright (from The Meanest Things Pick Clean)
  • Three Thoughts After Crossing Nameless Creek by Maggie Smith (from the literary journal Willow Springs 83/Spring 2019)
  • It’s Called the Sea by Ellen Welcker (from Ram Hands)
  • No Cause for Prediction by Tina Mozzelle Braziel (from Known by Salt)
  • Blue Door by Kim Addonizio (from Tell Me)
  • Insulated by Molly Saty (from Put Sparklers on my Grave)

Poems read:
  • The Opposites Game by Brendan Constantine (from Best American Poetry 2018)
  • Love Letter from Inside Fatherhood by Fritz Ward (from Poetry, September 2021)
  • The Old Elm Tree by the River by Wendell Berry (from The Peace of Wild Things)
  • I'm a Bad Engineer by Chidozie George Emesowum (from Poetry, March 2022)
  • a note on the body by Danez Smith (from Don't Call Us Dead)
Poem read:
  • "Mothers" composed by my pre-k and kindergarten students
Poems read:
  • Blood Gang Call by Juan Felipe Herrera (from 187 Reasons Mexicanos Can’t Cross the Border)
  • To Carolyn’s Father by Kathleen Flenniken (from Plume)
  • Coming Close by Philip Levine (from What Work Is)
  • Poem with a Dead Tree by C.D. Wright (from Shallcross)
  • Sometimes by Ann Tweedy (from literary journal Al-Khemia Poetica)
  • Five Minutes by Dunya Mikhail (from The War Works Hard, translated by Elizabeth Winslow)
  • From a Tin Box by m.l. smoker (from Another Attempt at Rescue)
Poems read:

  • Ghosts by Jack Gilbert (from his book The Great Fires)
  • Deliverance by Jericho Brown (from his book The Tradition)
  • The War Works Hard by Dunya Mikhail (from her book The War Works Hard, trans. by Elizabeth Winslow)
  • Between Two Wars by Dunya Mikhail (from her book The War Works Hard, trans. by Elizabeth Winslow)
  • Diehards by Ray McManus (from Poetry, Volume 218, No. 3)
  • Drawl and Hum by Tina Mozelle Braziel (from Poetry, Volune 218, No.3)
  • Poem from Pearl’s House by C.D. Wright (from her book Shallcross)
Poems read:
  • Consorting with Angels by Anne Sexton (from Live or Die)
  • Swimming by Polly Buckingham (from The River People)
  • Paen for the Body by Ann Tweedy (from The Body’s Alphabet)
  • She Dreams of Being an Artist by Maya Jewell Zeller (from Rust Fish)
  • Sparrow’s Sleep by m.l. smoker (from Another Attempt at Rescue)
  • Metaphors of Mass Destruction by Brooke Matson (from In Accelerated Silence)
  • After the Hysterectomy by Laura Read (from Instructions for My Mother’s Funeral)
Poems read:

  • The Gift by Mary Oliver
  • Bags of Bones by Dunya Mikhail (translated by Sadek Mohammed)
  • Tablets VI by Dunya Mikhail
  • In Time of War by Carolyn Forché 
Poems read:
  • Giving Thanks by Angela Jackson (2020)
  • The Valiant by Brigit Peegan Kelly (1984)
  • Black Swan by Brigit Peegan Kelly (2004)
  • Along with Youth by Ernest Hemingway 
  • Chicago by Carl Sandburg (1914)
  • Grass by Carl Sandburg (1918)

Poems read:
  • Upper Broadway by Adrienne Rich
  • The Jars by George MacKay Brown
  • The Kookaburras by Mary Oliver 
  • We Lived Happily During the War by Ilya Kaminsky
  • XII. by Wendell Berry (from Sabbath Poems 2015)

Poems read:
  • In the Box by Linda L. Beeman (from Wallace, Idaho)
  • I-90 by Linda L. Beeman (from Wallace, Idaho)
  • After Another Country by Jericho Brown (from The Tradition)
  • The Water Lilies by Jericho Brown (from The Tradition)
  • Dream by Mathias Svalina (from Poetry, Vol 219, Number 6)
Poems read:
  • 126 by Osip Mandelstam, translated by Clarence Brown and W.S. Merwin
  • Domination of Black by Wallace Stevens
  • The Munich Mannequins by Sylvia Plath 
Poems read:

  • The Spindle by Hashem Shafeeq, trans. by Sadek Mohammed
  • The Needle by Hashem Shafeeq, trans. by Sadek Mohammed
  • When he exploded by Salam Dawai, trans. by Soheil Najm
  • The Porch Over the River by Wendell Berry
  • As Soldiers March, Alfonso Covers the Boy’s Face by Ilya Kaminsky 
  • Your last day by Laura Kasischke
  • The Arm by Martin Espada
  • Poem in a Trance by c.d. wright
Poems read:
  • Wallace, Idaho by Linda L. Beeman
  • The Mission by Linda L. Beeman
  • Manifest by Cynthia Dewi Oka
  • This Online Shopping Habit is Sympathetic Magick by Caroline Crew
  • VIZ by Julia Drescher

Poems read:
  • January Reprieve by Linda Beeman
  • Landlocked by Stacy Boe Miller
  • Anne by CMarie Fuhrman
  • What Beauty Does by Patricia Spears Jones
Poems read:

  • Time Capsule by Porscha Olayiwola
  • Argument by Daniel Halpern
  • Somewhere in California by Rumsha Sajid
  • Love and Friendship by Emily Bronte
  • Amorous Friendship by Belle Randall
  • New Friend by Sandra McPherson
  • Friends by John Ciardi 

Poems read:

  • Foraging for Wood on the Mountain by Jack Gilbert
  • In Umbria by Jack Gilbert
  • Obsession by Baudelaire 
  • The Laments of an Icarus by Baudelaire 
  • The Water Lilies by Jericho Brown 
  • Stake by Jericho Brown
  • it won’t be a bullet by Danez Smith
  • last summer of innocence by Danez Smith
  • Sunflowers by James Hoch

Poems read:

  • The Cracked Bell by Baudelaire
  • Black Coat by Ted Hughes
  • XV. by Wendell Berry (Sabbath poems)
  • Ritual by Jon Pineda
  • Even Though I Love You More Than Anything, That Won’t Stop Them from Killing You by William Evans
  • I Am Offering This Poem by Jimmy Santiago Baca

Poems read:
  • The Old Elm Tree by the River by Wendell Berry
  • The Heart of a Woman by Lateef Helmet (translated by Soheil Najm) 
  • Bags of Bones by Dunya Mikhail (translated by Sadek Mohammed) 
  • Personal History by Kareem Tayyar 
  • Dream Journal by Kareem Tayyar 
  • The Lamppost Glows Orange in the Daytime by Hannah Srajer
Poems read:
  • About the Bees by Justin Phillip Reed
  • Debris of Life and Mind by Wallace Stevens
  • Cattails by Melissa Kwansy
  • Tradition by Lorine Niedecker
  • Sea-Ports by Baudelaire
  • An As-Though Prayer by Christopher Howell
Poems read:
  • The Decision by Jane Hirshfield
  • Tree by Jane Hirshfield
  • Inventions Toward Pleasure by Cameron McGill
  • 44.6336• N, 86.2345• W by Cameron Read McGill
  • Early March, 2015 by Ann Tweedy
  • Air Time by Ann Tweedy
  • Poem for My Neighbor Whose Good Intentions Are Wolf Pelt by Jacqueline Allen Trimble
  • The Language of Joy by Jacqueline Allen Trimble
  • The Heron by Wendell Berry

2021

Poems read:
  • 15. by Wendell Berry (from the longer poem VIII. A Small Porch in the Woods)
  • Training by Diannely Antigua
  • Space, in Chains by Laura Kasischke
  • Stranger by Night by Edward Hirsch
  • “I Am the Size of What I See” by Paul Hoover
  • Lilies by Mary Oliver
  • Awake at Night by Wendell Berry
Poems read:
  • Snowball by Shel Silverstein 
  • Little Jack Horner
  • Foot Repair by Shel Silverstein 
  • Snow on the fields by Christine Rossetti
  • Like Snow by Wendell Berry
Poems read:
  • Winter by Billy Collins
  • Winter by Marie Ponsot
  • Acquainted with the Night by Robert Frost
  • Foxes in Winter by Mary Oliver
  • The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry
Poems read:
  • Halfway by Daniel Halpern
  • Poem of a Houseboat Stranded in a Field by C.D. Wright
  • House Warming by Tina Mozelle Braziel
  • Winter Night Poem for Mary by Wendell Berry 
  • Intersection—Falcon Heights, Minnesota by Ann Tweedy
Poems read: 
  • Mama Said Nothing Good by Tina Mozelle Braziel 
  • Trailer Fish by Tina Mozelle Braziel
  • Fiddler’s Song by George Mackay Brown
  • Song of the Stone by George Mackay Brown
  • Playing House by Jack Gilbert
  • My Whole Life I Was Trained to Deny Myself by Eugenia Leigh
Poems read:
  • November by Alice Finnegan
  • November by Billy Collins
  • November by Maggie Dietz
  • November by Jane Shore
  • November Leaves by Jack Turner
Poems read:
  • a few remaining trees by Ann Tweedy
  • Swimming by Polly Buckingham
  • On Orchids by Anne Carson
  • Sowing by Audre Lorde
  • Immortality by Ai
  • Poem with a Dozen Cherries on a Ledge by C.D. Wright
Poems read:
  • Upper Broadway by Adrienne Rich
  • From Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein (A Red Stamp, A Box, A Plate, A Seltzer Bottle, A Long Dress, A Red Hat, A Blue Coat
  • Aubade with Sage and Lemon by Tarfia Faizullah
  • 100 Bells by Tarfia Faizullah
  • Passage by Carolyn Forché
  • Light of Sleep by Carolyn Forché
Poems read:
  • A Rhyme for Halloween by Maurice Kilwein Guevara
  • All Hallows by Louise Glück
  • Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe
  • The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
Poems read:
  • How to Corner the Market on Horse Cadavers by Lindsay Sletten
  • Parthenogenesis by Stevie Edwards
  • Conversation by Ai
  • Three Green Windows by Anne Sexton
  • Somewhere in California by Rumsha Sajid
  • Call It Instinct by m.l. smoker
  • Sonnet in the Higgs Field by Brooke Matson
  • Fine by Kim Addonizio
  • Prayer by Kaveh Akbar

Poems read:

  • Love Town by Anne Carson
  • Alone by Jack Gilbert
  • Stay Home by Wendell Berry
  • 36-40 from Bluets by Maggie Nelson
  • 52 and 57 by Sappho, translated by Anne Carson
  • Poem with a Girl Almost Fifteen by C.D. Wright
  • That Purple Were the Color of Our Skin by Maya Jewell Zeller
  • The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

Poems read:
  • 15. from XIII. A Small Porch in the Woods by Wendell Berry 
  • Walking in Paris by Anne Sexton
  • B.F.F. by Hieu Minh Nguyen
  • Grief Runs Untamed by Agnieszka Tworek
Poems read:

  • Song of Change by Daniel Halpern
  • Relative Pitch by Jack Gilbert
  • 1953 by Jack Gilbert
  • Outside my Window by Polly Buckingham 
  • Poem with a Dead Tree by C.D. Wright
  • My Imminent Demise Makes the Headlines the Same Day I Notice How Even Your Front Teeth Are by Momtaza Mehri
  • Sonnet: Hamnavoe Market by George Mackay Brown
  • Raggedy Man by James Whitcomb Riley 
Poems read:
  • Song of Change by Daniel Halpern
  • Relative Pitch by Jack Gilbert
  • 1953 by Jack Gilbert
  • Outside my Window by Polly Buckingham 
  • Poem with a Dead Tree by C.D. Wright
  • My Imminent Demise Makes the Headlines the Same Day I Notice How Even Your Front Teeth Are by Momtaza Mehri
  • Sonnet: Hamnavoe Market by George Mackay Brown
  • Raggedy Man by James Whitcomb Riley 

Poems read:
  • September by Tracy K. Smith
  • The Record by Wendell Berry
  • We Lived Happily During the War by Ilya Kaminsky
  • Beachcomber by George Mackay Brown
  • Roads by George Mackay Brown
  • Hello, This Letter Was Never Finished by beyza ozer
  • If They Come for Us by Fatima Ashgar
  • Some Boys Aren’t Born They Bubble by Kaveh Akbar
  • Rimrock by Kaveh Akbar

Poems Read:
  • Toast to My Dead Parents by Robert Cording
  • Centrifugal Force by Brooke Matson
  • Collapsing Poem by Kim Addonizio
  • Sister by Susan Bright
  • The Adirondack Chair by Molly Saty

Poems read:
  • Wild Geese by Wendell Berry
  • September by Polly Buckingham
  • Coffee by Daniel Halpern
  • Diehards by Ray McManus
  • Haunted Importantly by Jack Gilbert  
  • Going There by Jack Gilbert
  • The Tramp by George Mackay Brown
  • The Old Women by George Mackay Brown
  • The Thought of Something Else by Wendell Berry

Poems read:
  • August by Mary Oliver
  • Turkeys in the Snow by Jory Mickelson
  • Snake by D.H. Lawrence
  • Burial by Yuxi Lin

Dedicated to Kathy and Bob
Poems read:
  • The innerworkings by Laura Kasishke
  • View from the Glass Door by Laura Kasishke
  • Mythos by Cameron Read McGill
  • 44.633.6 degrees N, 86.2345 degrees W by Cameron McGill
  • Flight by Laura Read
  • Merge by Laura Read
  • Married by Jack Gilbert
  • Highlights and Interstices by Jack Gilbert
  • The Deer by Mary Oliver
  • Poem for J. by Wendell Berry
  • I. by Wendell Berry (one of his Sabbath poems)
Guest: Henry Valentine
Poems read: 
  • Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field
  • Skin Stealer by Shel Silverstein
  • Goosey, Goosey Gander
  • Minnie, Mattie, and Mae by Christine Rossetti
  • Johnny Drew a Monster by Lilian Moore
  • Falling Up by Shel Silverstein
  • There Was an Old Woman by Charles Causley
  • The Jumblies by Edward Lear

Dedicated to Ann Tweedy and her cat William
Poems read:
  • The cat's song by Marge Piercy
  • Cat Moving Kittens by Austin Smith
  • My Cat Jack by Hunt Hawkins
  • The Cat and the Fiddle by Mary Swander
  • Ceremony by Robert Pinsky
  • Cat, Failing by Robin Robertson
  • No Children, No Pets by Sue Ellen Thompson
  • More Blues and the Abstract Truth by C.D. Wright
  • Moonlight Monologue for the New Kitten by Peter Kantor, trans. by Michael Blumenthal
  • Venus by D. Nurske
Poems read:
  • The Envoy by Jane Hirshfield
  • For What Binds Us by Jane Hirshfield
  • The Way We Said Goodbye by Mark Vinz
  • A Bird, came down the Walk by Emily Dickinson
  • [i carry your heart with me (i carry it in)] by e.e. cummings
  • Unmediated experience by Bob Hicok
  • Haiku for an ailing father by Basho
  • Hon, or We have both traveled from the other side of some hill, one side of which we may wish we could forget by Anis Mojgani
Poems read:

  • Steel Guitars by Jack Gilbert
  • Ghosts by Jack Gilbert
  • Heat Wave by Lee Young-ju (trans. by Jae Kim)
  • The Singing Pills by Hadara Bar-Nadav
  • Forgotten Portraits by Janine Solursh
  • Let Me Tell You About the Snakes by Ann Tweedy

Poems read:
  • The Village Blacksmith by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
  • The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1832)
  • The Lady of Shallott by Alfred Lord Tennyson (1833)
Poems read:

  • The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot
  • Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota by James Wright
Poems read:
  • I. by Wendell Berry (Sabbath Poem)
  • Drawl and Hum by Tina Mozelle Braziel
  • When You're Brown with a Hand-Me-Down Bike by Inam Kang
  • A Woman Dead in her Forties by Adrienne Rich
  • XIII. by Wendell Berry (Sabbath Poem)
Poems read:
  • Ripening by Wendell Berry
  • Ephemeral Pool by Tina Mozelle Braziel
  • Dandelion by Tina Mozelle Braziel
  • First Memory by Louise Gluck
  • Father's Old Blue Cardigan by Anne Carson
  • Haiku for an Ailing Father by Basho
  • The Summer Day by Mary Oliver
  • XVI. by Wendell Berry (Sabbath poems, 2015)
Poems read:
  • Standing Ground by Wendell Berry
  • The Index by Rena Priest
  • Hon or We have both traveled from the other side of some hill, one side of which we may wish we could forget by Anis Mojgani
  • Central Park by Catherine Barnett
  • Harm's Way by A.E. Stallings
  • Throwing Away the Mail by Wendell Berry
Poems read:
  • Little Houses by Athena Nassar
  • Ritual by Jon Pineda
  • Three Green Windows by Ann Sexton
  • Apostle Town by Anne Carson

May 23

Poems read:
Poems read:
  • XXI. by Wendell Berry (Sabbath Poem)
  • Keyfood by Audre Lorde
  • Water by Porsha Olayiwola (listen to full poem here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LPCoHERA3g)
  • Duty by Natasha Trethewey
  • The Decision by Jane Hirshfield
  • Note by Maya Jewell Zeller
  • Tree by Jane Hirshfield
  • Like a Cat by Laura Cronk
  • XXII. by Wendell Berry (Sabbath Poem)
Poems read:
  • The Fear of Darkness by Wendell Berry
  • Winter Again by m.l. smoker
  • Cecilia by Laura Read
  • After the Hysterectomy by Laura Read
  • Wasps by Laura Kasischke
  • Space, In Chains by Laura Kasischke
  • At the Public Pool by Laura Kasischke
  • Vigil by Susan Bright
  • Sister by Susan Bright
  • Rim by Susan Bright
  • A Silent Chat with Our Old Cat by Molly Saty
  • The Piano Tuner by Molly Saty
  • XIX. by Wendell Berry
Poems read:
  • The Contrariness of the Mad Farmer by Wendell Berry
  • Charlotte by H.R. Webster
  • Guards at the Taj by Casey Thayer
  • When's My Luck Going to Change? by Rob Carney
  • Neurosurgery Sonata by Brooke Matson
  • Meeting the Light Completely by Jane Hirshfield
  • The Farmer and the Sea by Wendell Berry
Poems read:
  • IV. by Wendell Berry (Sabbath Poems 2014)
  • We May No Longer Consider the End by Ruth Ellen Kocher
  • Good Times by Lucille Clifton
  • Power by Audre Lorde
  • A More Delicate River by Ann Tweedy
  • V. by Wendell Berry (Sabbath Poems 2014)

Poems read:
  • II. by Wendell Berry (from Sabbath Poems 2015)
  • The Lilies Break Open Over the Dark Water by Mary Oliver
  • Unmeditated Experience by Bob Hicok
  • Walking with Jackie, Sitting with a Dog by Gary Soto
  • A Dog has Died by Pablo Neruda, translated by Alfred Yankauer
  • The Way We Said Goodbye by Mark Vinz
  • VIII. by Wendell Berry (from Sabbath Poems 2015)
Poems read:
  • IX. by Wendell Berry (Sabbath Poems)
  • In April by Rainer Maria Rilke
  • April by Alicia Ostriker
  • I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party by Chen Chen
  • Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer
  • XII. by Wendell Berry (Sabbath Poems)
Poems read:
  • Travelling at Home by Wendell Berry
  • Sam by Ted Hughes
  • Shooting Wild by Natasha Trethewey
  • One Hundred and Eighty by Arielle Greenberg
  • La Terre Smelled of Fish by Luis Alberto Urrea
  • Listen by Wendell Berry
Poems read:
  • March Snow by Wendell Berry
  • On a Palm by James Matthew Wilson
  • An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo
  • My Bed Shakes & I Assume the Ghosts Are Finally Getting Me by Su Cho
  • Loop (in dirt and gold)by Hadara Bar-Nadav
  • The Singing Pills by Hadara Bar-Nadav
  • Girl by Lane Falcon
  • Night Strains by Ann Tweedy
  • The Finches by Wendell Berry
Poems read:
  • Another Descent by Wendell Berry
  • Spring by Mary Oliver
  • A Bird, came down the Walk by Emily Dickinson
  • anyone lived in a pretty how town by e.e. cummings
  • The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats
  • Quarantine by Eaven Boland
  • Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney
  • Fall by Wendell Berry
Poems read:
  • In a Country Once Forested by Wendell Berry
  • American Dreams by Julia Alvarez
  • The Opposites Game by Brendan Constantine
  • Little Owl who Lives in the Orchard by Mary Oliver
  • As if Darkness Can Mend it All by Maya Jewell Zeller
  • The Plan by Wendell Berry
Poems read:
  • A Meeting by Wendell Berry
  • The Sun by Anne Sexton
  • America Will Be by Joshua Bennett
  • Six Obits by Victoria Chang
  • Primal Scream by Ann Tweedy
  • Come Forth by Wendell Berry
Poems read:
  • Anger Against Beasts by Wendell Berry
  • Haiku and Tanka for Harriet Tubman by Sonia Sanchez
  • Reading Dostoyevsky at Seventeen by Dante Di Stefano
  • Sherpa Song by David Barber
  • The Arrival by Wendell Berry
Poems read:
  • They by Wendell Berry
  • Argument by Daniel Halpern
  • II (from 24 Love Poems) by Adrienne Rich
  • fracture by Ann Tweedy
  • Early Kitchen by Ann Tweedy
  • Annabelle Lee by Edgar Allan Poe
  • Romance Sonambulo by Lorca
  • To You by Walt Whitman
  • Why by Wendell Berry
Poems read:
  • Winter Nightfall by Wendell Berry
  • The House by the Side of the Road by Sam Walter Foss
  • Afterimages by Audre Lord
  • The Tuft of Flowers by Robert Frost
  • First a light, then-- by Ann Tweedy
  • Awake at Night by Wendell Berry
Poems read:
  • The Blue Robe by Wendell Berry
  • fungus by Ann Tweedy
  • Michiko Dead by Jack Gilbert
  • Ghosts by Jack Gilbert
  • Winter (excerpts) by Chris La Tray
  • On Orchids by Anne Carson
  • Winter Again by m.l. smoker
  • Why by Wendell Berry
Poems from today's session:
  • To My Children, Fearing for Them by Wendell Berry
  • Trying to Have Something Left Over by Jack Gilbert
  • Venom by m.l. smoker
  • Elegy by Lena Tuffaha
  • Inaugural by Jericho Brown
  • Inauguration Poem by Amanda Gorman

Poems read:

  • Awake at Night by Wendell Berry
  • How to Triumph like a Girl by Ada Limon
  • Ode to Dalya's Bald Spot by Angel Nafis
  • Ars Poetica for the Future by Erin Belieu
  • Peace Walk by William E. Stafford
  • Movement Song by Audre Lorde
  • Making Peace by Denise Levertov
  • Winter Night Poem for Mary by Wendell Berry

Poems read:

  • [once the moment came it was too late to go back to the moment before] by kathryn l. pringle
  • A Story about the Body by Robert Hass
  • A Litany for Survival by Audre Lorde
  • A Few Minutes at the Beach by Ann Tweedy
  • dream where every black person is standing by the ocean by danez smith
  • Song of Change by Daniel Halpern
  • On the Hill Late at Night by Wendell Berry

Poems read:
  • Lies Lies Lies by m.l. smoker
  • Finding Something by Jack Gilbert
  • Milk by Kaveh Akbar
  • Sylvia's Death by Ann Sexton
  • Progress by Walter Moore
  • She Dreams of Being an Artist by Maya Jewell Zeller
  • We are Not Dead by Munthir Abdul-Hur, translated by Sadek Mohammed
  • Power by Adrienne Rich

2020

December 27

Poems read:
  • The Fear of Darkness by Wendell Berry
  • There is a force that breaks the body by Diane Seuss
  • Argument by Daniel Halpern
  • Duplex by Jericho Brown
  • March Snow by Wendell Berry

Poems read:

  • The Cold Pane by Wendell Barry
  • Lilies by Mary Oliver
  • Vaccine by William Evans
  • Guilty by Jack Gilbert
  • Bluets (an excerpt) by Maggie Nelson
  • From the River's Edge by m.l. smoker
  • Fruit by Ann Tweedy
  • A Meeting by Wendell Berry
Poems read:
  • Morning by Billy Collins
  • I Am Offering This Poem by Jimmy Santiago Bac
  • Love Poem by Louise Gluck
  • Blues for the Death of the Sun by Ansel Elkins
  • The Great Fires by Jack Gilbert
Poets read:
Wendell Berry, from his book A Small Porch; Kim Addonizio from her book Tell Me; Polly Buckingham from The River People; Adrienne Rich from The Dream of a Common Language; Marge Piercy from The Moon is Always Female; James D'Agostino from Slur Oeuvre

Poems by Ann Tweedy, Polly Buckingham, Joy Harjo, Anne Carson, Laura Kasischke, and Claudia Rankine