Kevin Young

And there's something in that I think that she...

isn't playing with here, but that I admire in general in the blues, and I'd be curious to see thinking through it.

I think it might be here.

Well, I think that's a great place to maybe end our thinking about her because lament is,

ain't always the same, you know?

And I think what you've kind of helped us think through, I think, is when is a lament not a lament?

You know, because to me, there is a lamenting of loss, but there's also a kind of preparing for it.

I mean, you've said it better than I can.

But how do you see laments in general and how we, you know, is this an elegy for a self?

Well said.

More from my conversation with Monica Farrell after the break.

Monica, welcome back.

Now, on our November 3rd, 2025 issue, The New Yorker published your poem, The Fifties, which you'll read for us in a moment.

Is there anything we need to know before we hear it?

Oh, excellent.

Here's Monica Farrell reading her poem, The Fifties.

That was The Fifties by Monica Farrell.

What a wonderful poem, and it's great to hear you read it.

Thanks.

So obviously in some ways it's thinking about the past.