The Art of Losing—Three Poems for the COVID-19 Pandemic
“The aspiration to mastery leaves room for a lot of anxiety. Many readers hear a kind of hysteria in the poem, with its rhythm revving up as it ruminates …
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Production Diary: Filming the 2020 National Student Poets
Each year, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Alliance for Young Artists and Writers select five of the best and brightest high school poets in the country to serve as youth poetry ambassadors. Poetry In America has been proud to feature the distinguished members of this prestigious program as guest interpreters in our previous seasons. (You can see the National Student Poets of 2016 and 2018 in our “Carl Sandburg – Skyscraper” and “Walt Whitman – Leaves of Grass” episodes.)
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Boys and Girls Clubs of America Cipher
This summer, Poetry in America teamed up with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and Wide Open School to offer the Whatever It Takes to Speak Your Mind Challenge. The challenge …
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2020 Production Diary: Looking for the Gulf Motel
Poetry is evocative, ethereal, emotional, transportive, but right now, poetry for me is a traffic jam on Florida’s Route 1.
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2020 Production Diary: Poetry in America Season 3
Read below to hear from our Communications Intern Gideon Leek, a senior at Oberlin College. Gideon, an English and Politics major, has been the voice behind many of Poetry …
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Poetry in America featured in The Boston Globe
On April 25th, 2018, The Boston Globe discussed Poetry in America in its “TV Critics Corner.” In the article are topics including the state of poetry (Rupi Kaur, the dream frontier, dismissive college freshmen), the case (for poetry) made by the show, and the potential downside to listening to Allen Ginsberg’s “Hum Bom” at excessive volume.
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Poetry in America featured on Sheen Center Talks
On June 12th, 2020, the Sheen Center presented Poetry in America Live “Finishing the Hat” as part of the celebration of Sondheim’s 90th. The most recent event in an ongoing series, this live event involved performance and discussion of lyrics from “Sunday in the Park with George.”
The event featured several guests from the Season 2 episode on the song but was by no means a rehash of well-worn terrain. The live format both expanding the time available for discussion and narrowed in the conversation to fewer guests, creating a discrete and complementary experience.
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Poetry in America featured on Montana Public Radio
On November 8th, 2018, Poetry in America host Professor Elisa New was interviewed on Montana Public Radio discussing the mission of the show and the state of the poetry.
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Poetry in America featured in Tablet
On April 13th, 2018, Tablet Magazine published an essay in its Arts and Letters section on Poetry in America’s first season. Describing the show as ‘infectious,’ ‘too good to be true,’ and capable of inspiring viewers to ‘seek out more daring and unusual contemporary writing.’ The article also notes some of season 1’s highlights: Regina Spektor’s personal take on ‘The New Colossus’, New’s intro to the Ginsberg episode, and the natural conversational style from which stunning insights seem to ‘spontaneously erupt at climactic points.’
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