SEGMENT A: Mark Strand, who served as
United States poet laureate from 1990-91, talks with New
Letters editor Robert Stewart about the creative process
and using humor in poetry. He reads his wry and widely
anthologized poem “Eating Poetry,” and from his 1999 Pulitzer
Prize-winning poetry collection A Blizzard of One. (12
minutes)
SEGMENT B: Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000)
was the first African-American woman to become poet laureate
(1985-86), and was the last Library of Congress Poetry
Consultant before the post’s name was changed to Poet
Laureate. Brooks reads some of her poetry, including “We
Real Cool,” and talks with Rebekah Presson about writing the
black experience and her sometimes controversial work. (19
minutes)
SEGMENT C: Ted Kooser, United States
poet laureate since 2004, worked for many years in the
insurance industry in Lincoln, Nebraska. Since his
retirement, he has battled oral cancer, published three books
of poetry, and won the Pulitzer Prize. In this segment, he
reads from his award-winning book Delights and Shadows,
and talks with Angela Elamabout his belief that poetry
should be accessible. Find out more about Kooser's
initiative, American Life in Poetry, by visiting
www.americanlifeinpoetry.org. (19 minutes)
SEGMENT A:
Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996), a poet who was
exiled from his native Soviet Union because of his radical
poetry, became the poet laureate of the United States from
1991-92. In this interview with Rebekah Presson, Brodsky
discusses his poet laureate initiative of introducing poetry
into common public places, including grocery stores and motel
rooms. He co-founded the
American Poetry and Literacy Project,
with college student Andrew Carroll, which continues Brodsky’s
legacy. Brodsky died of a heart attack in 1996. (12 minutes)
Music:
Lara St. John, Bach Violin Concertos "BWV 1043: II -
Largo," and "BWV 1041: I - Allegro," available at
www.magnatune.com.
SEGMENT B:
Mona Van Duyn (1921-2005), “Suburbia’s Poet,” followed Brodsky
to the Library of Congress, serving one term as Poet Laureate
from 1992-93. Known for her work that personified the lives
of Middle America, the Iowa-born Van Duyn’s domestic poetry
often did so with humor. This excerpt comes from both a 1984
public reading in Kansas City, and a 1991 interview with
Rebekah Presson. (19 minutes)
SEGMENT C:
The only poet laureate to serve three terms (1997-2000) Robert
Pinsky became one of the most visible poet laureates due to
his numerous media appearances. His “Favorite
Poem Project,”
in which he asked Americans from all walks of life to identify
their favorite poems, produced several best-selling
anthologies. Here Pinsky talks with Kay Bonetti about his
creative impulses and penchant for baseball. (19 minutes)
SEGMENT A:
Richard Wilbur was the second person to be named U.S. Poet
Laureate after the name changed in 1986. This 1990 interview
by Robert Stewart was conducted on the front porch of Wilbur’s
home in Massachusetts. Just to show that the Poet Laureate
doesn’t always have to be serious, Wilbur reads some of his
poems for
children.
SEGMENT B: Robert
Hass, U.S. Poet Laureate from 1995-97, writes poems that meld
the landscape of California with childhood memories and Native
American stories. In this 1998 interview with poet Michelle
Boisseau, Hass reads “Dragonflies Mating” from Sun Under Wood,
which won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1996.
SEGMENT C:
The youngest person to serve as U.S. Poet Laureate, Rita Dove
was 41 when she accepted the position in 1993. In this
segment from a 1993 interview with Rebekah Presson, Dove talks
about her development as a writer and reads her famous poem
“Parsley,” about the plight of the Haitian people, along with
several other poems.
SEGMENT D:
The oldest person to serve as U.S. Poet Laureate, Stanley
Kunitz was 95 in 2000 when he was appointed to the position he
held once before from 1974-75. An avid gardener, Kunitz
continues to write and publish work into his second century.
In this 1992 interview with Rebekah Presson, he talks about
his long life and feeling a connection to the natural world.
SEGMENT
A: Howard Nemerov (1920-1991) first became Poetry
Consultant to the Library of Congress from 1963-64, and was
re-installed as U.S. Poet Laureate from 1988-90. From 1969
until his death, Nemerov was Poet in Residence at Washington
University in St. Louis, Missouri. In this excerpt of a
rather contrary 1990 interview with Rebekah Presson, Nemerov
reveals some of his working habits and reads “On an Occasion
of National Mourning” about the 1986 Space Shuttle
Challenger disaster. This segment also includes some of his
funny dog poems from a 1983 public reading.
Music:
Andreas Haefliger "Sonata in C Major. KV 545," "Sonata
in D Major, KV 576," "Sonata in B Flat Minor, KV 570," "Sontata
in F Major, KV 533-494" from Mozart Piano Sonatas.
Jan Hanford "Prelude Number 3," all available at
www.magnatune.com.
SEGMENT
B: Billy Collins, poet laureate from 2001 to 2003, tries to
make poetry accessible through the use of humor in his
poems. While laureate, Collins initiated a program called “Poetry
180,” which called for a poem to be read aloud every day
in high schools across the country. In this interview with
New Letters’
Robert Stewart, Collins talks about finding his first
success as a poet after the age of 40, and the pitfalls of
traditional poetry analysis to beat meaning out of a poem.
SEGMENT
C: Long associated with the Kansas prairie of his birth,
William Stafford (1914-1993) was named the Library of
Congress’ Consultant in Poetry from 1970-71. Stafford and
his family left the Midwest in 1948 so he could teach at Lewis
and Clark College in Oregon. After his term as Poetry
consultant, he went on to serve as the Poet Laureate of
Oregon from 1975-1990. Stafford’s poetry often deals
with ordinary subjects, but uses formal structures to reveal
a deeper meaning. In this segment from a 1984 public
reading recorded in Kansas City, Mo., Stafford shares some
of his poetry and discusses his lifetime of pacifism.
SEGMENT A: Anthony Hecht (1923-2004), a New York City native,
won the Pulitzer Prize in 1968 for his poetry collection
The Hard Hours. In this segment, he talks with Robert
Aubry Davis about his acquaintance with poet W.H. Auden, the
significance of literary prizes on a poet’s career, and also
discusses the differences between performance poetry and
poetry on the page. He also reads two of his poems in a
public poetry reading. Hecht served as U.S. Poet Laureate
from 1982-84.
Music:
Schlomo Mintz, "Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, No. 2,
K291, Andante" and "Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, No. 1,
K207, 'Presto,"
available at
www.magnatune.com.
SEGMENT
B: Reed Whittemore served twice as Consultant in Poetry—once
from 1965-66, and again to replace the ailing Robert
Fitzgerald in 1984-85. Following his last tenure, Whittemore
became the Poet Laureate of his home state of Maryland. In
this segment, Whittemore talks with Robert Aubry Davis about
the influence of poetry during a time of war, and ponders
poetry’s significance in a post-Beat society.
SEGMENT
C: Maxine Kumin, Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress
from 1981-83, lives in New Hampshire with her husband, and her
poetry often references nature, family, and her love of
horses. In the first part, Kumin reads poems from her 1973
Pulitzer Prize-winning book Up Country: Poems of New
England and talks with David Ray about her use of form and
content. The second part is excerpted from an interview by
Michelle Boisseau in which Kumin talks frankly about the 1998
horse-riding accident that nearly killed her and reads from
her 2001 book The Long Marriage.
SEGMENT D: Newly appointed poet laureate
Donald Hall reads "Ox Cart Man," from his book Kicking the
Leaves. Former poet laureate of New Hampshire, Hall
hopes to bring more poetry to public radio as his initiative.
Husband of the late poet Jane Kenyon, he lives on his
ancestral farm near Danbury, New Hampshire.
