Poetry in America believes that anyone can have a conversation about a poem. Here are some of the distinguished guests with whom we’ve filmed conversations so far.  

Featured Guests

Nas

Hip Hop Artist

“Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman

“It Ain’t Hard to Tell” by Nas

Sonia Sanchez

Poet

“Harlem” by Langston Hughes

Joe Biden

Vice President of the United States

“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden

Herbie Hancock

Jazz Pianist and Composer

“Harlem” by Langston Hughes

“Shirt” by Robert Pinsky

Elizabeth Alexander

Poet

“Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden

Elena Kagan

Supreme Court Justice

“Poetry” by Marianne Moore

Bill Clinton

President of the United States

“Harlem” by Langston Hughes

Shane Battier

NBA Basketball Player

“Fast Break” by Edward Hirsch

Eileen Myles

Poet

“the mother’s story” by Lucille Clifton

“What Tree Am I Waiting” by Eileen Myles

“Late March” by Eileen Myles

“That Country” by Eileen Myles

Ray Dalio

Founder of Bridgewater Associates

“The Fish” by Marianne Moore

Julie Taymor

Director

“You and I Are Disappearing” by Yusef Komunyakaa

Robert Pinsky

United States Poet Laureate, 1997-2000

“Shirt” by Robert Pinsky

Katie Couric

Journalist and News Anchor

“One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop

Al Gore

Vice President of the United States | Environmental Activist

“Each and All” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Anecdote of the Jar” by Wallace Stevens

Al Filreis

Kelly Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania; Creator of ModPo

On Wallace Stevens

Angela Duckworth

Psychologist, University of Pennsylvania

On Grit and Poetry

“Glad” by Coleman Barks

Yusef Komunyakaa

Poet

“Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa

Eve Ensler

Playwright and Performer

“Diving into the Wreck” by Adrienne Rich

John McCain

United States Senator from Arizona

“The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert Service

Natalia Zukerman

Singer/Songwriter

“Four Sonnets” by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Tony Kushner

Playwright

“The Conflict of Convictions” by Herman Melville

  The following is a full list (in alphabetical order) of those we’ve filmed so far for Poetry in America:

• 2018 National Student Poets
• “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman

• Jonathan Adler
• Potter and Designer 
• “This Your Home Now” by Mark Doty

• Elizabeth Alexander
• Poet
• “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden

• Woody Allen
• Director and Actor
• “This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams

• Matt Aucoin
• Composer and Conductor
• On Walt Whitman

• Mary Jo Bang
• Poet
• “The Applicant” by Sylvia Plath

• Shane Battier
• NBA player
• “Fast Break” by Edward Hirsch

• Daniel Berger-Jones
• Founder, Cambridge Historical Tours
• “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot

• Reginald Dwayne Betts
• Poet and Memoirist
• “To Prisoners” by Gwendolyn Brooks

• Joe Biden
• Vice President of the United States
• “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden

• Richard Blanco
• Poet
• “Looking for the Gulf Motel” by Richard Blanco

• Bono
• Singer-Songwriter
• “Kaddish” by Allen Ginsberg

• Boston Latin School
• Seniors
• “Steps” by Frank O’Hara

• Boston Pulse 
• Student Poets 
• “Water Devil” by Jamaal May

• Edythe and Eli Broad
• Broad Art Museum
• On Cy Twombly

• David Brooks
• Journalist
• “Musée des Beaux Arts” by W.H. Auden

• Brookline High School
• “The Wasteland” by T.S. Eliot
• AP European Literature Class

• Lawrence Buell
• Powell M. Cabot Professor, Harvard
• On Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Kate Burton
• Actor (Scandal)
• “Shirt” by Robert Pinsky | “Poem” by Elizabeth Bishop

• Cambridge Street Upper School
• 7th+8th grade English Language Arts
• “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman

• Campers at the Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Natural History Camp
• “The Gray Heron” by Galway Kinnell

• Rafael Campo
• Poet and Physician
• “This Is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams | “The Wound-Dresser” by Walt Whitman

• Kevin Carey
• Director of the Education Policy Program, The New America Foundation
• “Teaching English from an Old Composition Book” by Gary Soto

• Mary Chapin Carpenter
• Singer/Songwriter
• On “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop

• Glenda Carpio
• Professor of English and African American Studies
• On Phillis Wheatley

• Marilyn Chin
• Poet 
• “Urban Love Poem” by Marilyn Chin | “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman

• The City of London School
• Ben Bellak and 6th Form Boys
• “The Wasteland” by T.S. Eliot

• Maurice Clarett
• NFL Player | Motivational Speaker
• “Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio” by James Wright

• Bill Clinton
• President of the United States
• “Harlem” by Langston Hughes

• Todd Colby
• Poet
• “Steps” by Frank O’Hara

• David Coleman
• President of the College Board
• “Birches” by Robert Frost

• Billy Collins
• Poet Laureate of the United States
• “You were wearing” by Kenneth Koch | “Undressing Emily Dickinson” by Billy Collins

• Jason Collins
• NBA Player
• “Tell all the truth but tell it slant –” by Emily Dickinson

• Connecticut Opportunity Project and Hartford’s Our Piece of the Pie
• Students
• “generations” by Lucille Clifton | “After the Alphabets” by W.S. Merwin | “Tar” by C.K. Williams

• Kelly Corrigan
• Writer
• “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke

• Katie Couric
• Journalist
• “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop

• Ray Dalio
• Founder and CEO, Bridgewater Associates
• “The Fish” by Marianne Moore

• Terence Davies
• Director 
• “I cannot dance opon my toes” by Emily Dickinson

• Christina Davis
• Poet 
• “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman

• Richard Dawkins
• Evolutionary Biologist
• “The Road not Taken” by Robert Frost

• Philip Deloria
• Scholar of Native American and Environmental History
• “Bear Fat” by Linda Hogan

• Duy Doan
• Poet
• “Dusting” by Rita Dove | “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus

• Simon Doonan
• Writer, Fashion Commentator, and Television Personality
• “This Your Home Now” by Mark Doty

• Mark Doty
• Poet
• “This Your Home Now” by Mark Doty | “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman

• Angela Duckworth
• Psychologist
• “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden

• Scott Edwards
• Evolutionary Biologist 
• Bird poems of Emily Dickinson

• Jordan Ellenburg
• Mathematician
• “Soonest Mended” by John Ashbery

• Rahm Emanuel
• Mayor of Chicago
• “America” by Walt Whitman

• Eve Ensler
• Playwright and Performer
• “Diving into the Wreck” by Adrienne Rich

• James and Deborah Fallows
• Journalists | “American Futures” Project
• On Edgar Lee Masters

• Drew Faust
• President of Harvard University
• On Civil War Poetry

• Alan Filreis
• Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania
• On Wallace Stevens

• Caitlin Flanagan
• Writer | Journalist
• “I Go Back to May 1937” by Sharon Olds

• Ned Friedman
• Director, Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University
• Bird poems of Emily Dickinson

• Peter Gallison
• Pellegrino University Professor, History of Science, Harvard University
• On William Carlos Williams

• Pau Gasol
• NBA Player
• “Fast Break” by Edward Hirsch

• Henry Louis Gates Jr.
• Professor | Filmmaker
• On Paul Laurence Dunbar

• Olivia Gatwood
• Poet and Activist
• “2041” by Olivia Gatwood | “I shall forget you presently, my dear” by Edna St. Vincent Millay 

• Frank Gehry
• Architect
• “Skyscraper” by Carl Sandburg

• Al Gore
• Vice President of the United States
• “Each and All” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Jorie Graham
• Poet
• “The Fish” by Marianne Moore

• Greenwich Country Day School
• 1st, 3rd, and 9th Grade
• “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams | “My Mother Enters the Workforce” by Rita Dove | “Fast Break” by Edward Hirsch

• Betty Halbreich
• Director of Solutions, Bergdorf Goodman
• “Shirt” by Robert Pinsky

• Herbie Hancock
• Jazz Pianist
• “Harlem” by Langston Hughes | “Shirt” by Robert Pinsky

• Harlem Academy
• 7th Grade Students
• “I Have this Way of Being” by Jamaal May

• Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academy
• Harlem, NY
• “Harlem” by Langston Hughes

• Johnson Hartig
• Designer and Founder, Libertine
• “Shirt” by Robert Pinsky

• Harvard University Center for the Environment
• Cambridge, MA
• On Emily Dickinson and Natural Disasters

• Harvard University Men’s Basketball Team
• Cambridge, MA
• “Fast Break” by Edward Hirsch

• Dr. Joshua M. Hauser
• Palliative Care Physician and Professor of Medicine
• “There are Birds Here,” by Jamaal May

• Hebrew University
• Center for Literary Studies
• “New York” by Marianne Moore

• Juan Felipe Herrera
• United States Poet Laureate
• “Kaddish” and “Hum Bom!” by Allen Ginsberg

• Edward Hirsch
• Poet
• “Fast Break” by Edward Hirsch

• Jane Hirshfield
• Poet
• “This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams

• Linda Hogan
• Poet
• “Bear Fat” by Linda Hogan | “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman

• Mady Holzer
• Poet and Educator
• “Looking for the Gulf Motel” by Richard Blanco

• Marie Howe
• Poet
• “I cannot dance opon my toes” by Emily Dickinson

• Susan Howe
• Poet
• On Wallace Stevens and Emily Dickinson

• Jill Johnson
• Dancer and Choreographer
• “I Cannot Dance Opon My Toes” by Emily Dickinson

• Bill T. Jones
• Director and choreographer
• “This Your Home Now” by Mark Doty

• Edyson Julio
• Writer and Educator
• “Carrying a Ladder” by Kay Ryan

• Elena Kagan
• Associate Justice, Supreme Court
• “Poetry” by Marianne Moore | “The Wound-Dresser” by Walt Whitman

• Karen Karbiener
• Master Teacher of Liberal Studies Program, NYU
• On Walt Whitman

• Robin Kelsey
• Art Historian and Dean of Arts and Humanities, Harvard University
• “Rabbits and Fire” by Alberto Rios

• John Kerry
• Secretary of State and United States Senator
• “You and I Are Disappearing” by Yusef Komunyakaa

• Lord Mervyn King
• Director of the Bank of England
• “The Wasteland” by T.S. Eliot

• Joel Klein
• Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education
• “The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe

• Randy Komisar
• Venture Capitalist | Author
• On Basho

• Yusef Komunyakaa
• Poet
• “Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa

• David Kravitz
• Opera Singer
• “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman

• Tony Kushner
• Playwright
• “The Conflict of Convictions” by Herman Melville

• Yang Lan
• Journalist and Media Entrepreneur
• “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop

• Li-Young Lee
• Poet
• “To Prisoners” by Gwendolyn Brooks

• Greg LeMond
• Tour de France Champion
• “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman

• Al Lewis
• Opera Singer
• “The Wound-Dresser” by Walt Whitman

• John Lithgow
• Actor
• “Ave Maria” by Frank O’Hara

• Yo Yo Ma
• Cellist
• “I cannot dance opon my toes” by Emily Dickinson

• Anthony Malkin
• Chairman and CEO of Empire State Realty Trust
• “The Empire State Lights” by MacKinlay Kantor

• Chris Massenberg
• Hip Hop Scholar and Poet
• On Lyricism and Hip Hop

• John McCain
• United States Senator
• “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert Service

• Ryan McCittrick
• Dramaturg, The American Repertory Theater
• On Performance and Poetry

• Laura McPhee
• Photographer
• “The Gray Heron” by Galway Kinnell | “Rabbits and Fire” by Alberto Rios

• Thomas Menino
• Mayor of Boston (deceased)
• “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

• Martha Minow
• Dean of Harvard Law School
• “The Soldier’s Faith” by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. | “Rituals for Reading” by William Stafford

• Andrea Mitchell
• Journalist
• “July in Washington” by Robert Lowell

• Eileen Myles
• Poet
• “the mother’s story” by Lucille Clifton | “What Tree Am I Waiting” – “Late March” – “That Country” by Eileen Myles

• Nantucket High School Students
• “Nantucket” by William Carlos Williams

• Nasir Jones (Nas)
• Rapper | Songwriter | Producer
• “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman | “It Ain’t Hard to Tell” by Nas

• Nathanael Greene Elementary School of Chicago and the Birds in My Neighborhood Project
• On James Wright haiku

• The New School Poetry Students
• “Shirt” by Robert Pinsky

• Cynthia Nixon
• Actress
• “I cannot dance opon my toes” by Emily Dickinson

• University of North Carolina Women’s Soccer Team
• “Glad” by Coleman Barks

• Sharon Olds
• Poet
• “The Language of the Brag”

• Shaquille O’Neal
• NBA Basketball Player
• “Fast Break” by Edward Hirsch

• Gregory Orr
• Poet 
• “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop

• Jay Parini
• Poet | Biographer | Screenwriter
• “Mending Wall” and “Out, Out!” by Robert Frost

• Parsons School of Design Students
• “Shirt” by Robert Pinsky

• Diane Paulus
• Artistic Director, The American Repertory Theater
• “I cannot dance opon my toes” by Emily Dickinson

• Don Pease
• Writer, Scholar, and Founder and Director, Futures of American Studies Institute
• “If I Ran the Zoo” by Dr. Seuss

• Walter Peyton College Prep Students
• Chicago, IL
• “Each body has its art” by Gwendolyn Brooks

• Jane Pickering
• Director of the Harvard Museum of Natural History
• “He Digesteth Harde Yron” and “Silence” by Marianne Moore

• Steven Pinker
• Cognitive Psychologist and Linguist
• “This Your Home Now” by Mark Doty

• Robert Pinsky
• Poet Laureate of the United States
• “Shirt” by Robert Pinsky |“Nature Study” by Robert Pinsky | “A Plague of Dead Sharks” by Alan Dugan | “A Jellyfish” by Marianne Moore

• Robert Polito
• Poet 
• “Skyscraper” by Carl Sandburg | On Chicago Poets

• Michael Pollan
• Writer
• “Hasty Pudding” by Joel Barlow

• Samantha Power
• U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
• “Musée des Beaux Arts” by W.H. Auden

• Alicia Jo Rabins
• Poet and Musician
• On Kenneth Koch and Leonard Cohen

• Adrienne Raphel
• Poet
• “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman

• Lil Buck Riley
• Dancer
• “I cannot dance opon my toes” by Emily Dickinson

• Laura Rittenhouse
• Author
• “Poetry” by Marianne Moore

• David Rubenstein
• CEO, The Carlyle Group
• “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus

• Peter Sacks
• Artist, Poet
• “Musee des Beaux Arts” by W.H. Auden

• Sonia Sanchez
• Poet
• “Harlem” by Langston Hughes

• Jason Saul
• Founder, “Mission Measurement”
• “Aimless Love” by Billy Collins

• Daniel Schrag
• Geologist and Environmental Scientist
• “Cascadilla Falls” and “Mountain Talk” by A.R. Ammons | “The Poem that Took the Place of a Mountain” by Wallace Stevens

• Shiza Shahid
• Founder and CEO, The Malala Fund
• “Carrying a Ladder” by Kay Ryan

• Evie Shockley
• Poet
• “you can say that again, billie” by Evie Shockley

• Russell Simmons
• Entrepreneur and Producer
• “N.Y. State of Mind” by Nas

• Anne-Marie Slaughter
• President and CEO, The New America Foundation  
• “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers” by Emily Dickinson

• Anna Deveare Smith
• Actress, Playwright, Professor
• “To Prisoners” by Gwendolyn Brooks

• Clint Smith
• Poet and Educator
• On Countee Cullen

• Rosanne Somerson
• President, Rhode Island School of Design
• “The Emperor of Ice Cream” by Wallace Stevens

• DJ Spooky
• Composer, Multimedia Artist, and Writer
• “Cascadilla Falls” by A.R. Ammons

• Tom Steyer
• Environmentalist and Philanthropist 
• “State of the Planet” by Robert Hass

• Steve Stoute
• Record Executive and Entrepreneur
• “N.Y. State of Mind” by Nas

• Lawrence Summers
• Secretary of the Treasury
• “The One Hoss Shay” by Oliver Wendell Holmes

• Richard Summers
• Psychiatrist and Author
• “One Art” by Elizabeth Bishop

• Lisa Sun
• Founder and CEO, Project Gravitas
• “The Red Dress” by Dorothy Parker

• Amber Tamblyn
• Actress and Poet
• “Words” by Anne Sexton

• Julie Taymor
• Director
• “You and I Are Disappearing” by Yusef Komunyakaa

• Teachers as Scholars
• Boston, MA
• On Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson

• Salamishah Tillett
• Scholar and Activist
• “N.Y. State of Mind” by Nas

• Davone Tines
• Opera Singer
• “Juke Box Love Song” by Langston Hughes | “The Wound-Dresser” by Walt Whitman

• Rob Velella
• Scholar and Performer
• “The Conqueror Worm” by Edgar Allan Poe

• Joel Wagner
• Naturalist
• “The Gray Heron” by Galway Kinnell

• Stefan Weitz
• Director of Search, Microsoft
• On Poetry and the Internet

• Stuart Weitzman
• Shoe Designer and Entrepreneur
• “Shirt” by Robert Pinsky

• Moshe Waldoks
• Rabbi, Temple Beth Zion
• “Kaddish” by Allen Ginsberg

• Jonathan Walton
• Plummer Professor of Christian Morals, Harvard | Pusey Minister, Memorial Church
• “The Day of Doom” by Michael Wigglesworth

• Andrew Warren
• Associate Professor of the Humanities, Harvard
• On Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Randi Weingarten
• President of the American Federation of Teachers
• “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus

• Leon Wieseltier
• Author | Critic | Editor
• “The Continuous Life” by Mark Strand

• E.O. Wilson
• Biologist
• “The Gray Heron” by Galway Kinnell

• Damian Woetzel
• Principal Dancer, New York City Ballet
• “I cannot dance opon my toes” by Emily Dickinson

• Alfre Woodard
• Actor
• On Gwendolyn Brooks

• Zhang Xin
• Real Estate Developer
• “Skyscraper” by Carl Sandburg

• Natalia Zukerman
• Singer/Songwriter
• “Four Sonnets” by Edna St. Vincent Millay