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:

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

• 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
• Boston, MA
• “Steps” by Frank O’Hara

• 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

• Rafael Campo
• Poet and Physician
• On William Carlos Williams

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

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

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

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

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

• 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

• 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

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

• Duy Doan
• Poet
• “Dusting” by Rita Dove

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

• 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

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

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

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

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

• 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

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

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

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

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

• 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

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

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

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

• Elena Kagan
• Associate Justice, Supreme Court
• “Poetry” by Marianne Moore

• 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

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

• 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
• On Walt Whitman

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

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

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

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

• 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

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

• Laura McPhee
• Photographer
• “The Gray Heron” by Galway Kinnell

• 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• 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

• Robert Pinsky
• Poet Laureate of the United States
• “Shirt” by Robert Pinsky

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

• Robert Polito
• Poet 
• On Chicago Poets

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

• 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

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

• 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

• Clint Smith
• Poet and Educator
• On Countee Cullen

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

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

• 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

• 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

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

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

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

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

• 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

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