Poetry Unbound
Episodes
Stephanie Burt — Prayer for Werewolves
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The search for authentic love is a powerful hunger in humans and, as Stephanie Burt shares, in werewolves. Stephanie Burt is a poet, literary critic,...
Fiona Benson — Mama Cockroach, I Love You
28 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Do you experience disgust at the sight of certain insects? Which ones? Fiona Benson teaches us how to see. Fiona Benson is the author of several poet...
Saddiq Dzukogi — Learning about Constellations
24 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A man whose baby daughter has died turns to stars, mythology, and imagination for solace. There, he encounters what might help, a little. Saddiq Dzuk...
Adam Zagajewski — Transformation
21 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What do you do when what sustains you no longer sustains you? A poet tries everything he can to reconnect with his art. Adam Zagajewski was a Polish ...
Carolina Ebeid — Reading Celan in a Subway Station
17 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The sounds of a city can be overwhelming — but in the imagination of this poem, they are made into something new. Carolina Ebeid is a multimedia po...
Molly Twomey — The Drop Off
14 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Asking for help is a thing of bravery. A poet describes her journey towards that help. Molly Twomey is a poet and editor from Lismore, County Waterfo...
Hinemoana Baker — if i had to sing
10 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the aftermath of disaster, how do you sing a song to mark what’s gone, and praise what’s growing? Hinemoana Baker is a writer and musician liv...
Jennifer Huang — Departure
07 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What’s a moment when you grew up? When you realized the help you get might not be the help you want? Jennifer Huang is the author of Return Flight,...
Gabeba Baderoon – The pen
03 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
After her father’s death, a poet considers her relationship with loss. Gabeba Baderoon is an Associate Professor of Women’s Studies, Gender and S...
Michael Kleber-Diggs — Gloria Mundi
30 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Is there life after death? This poem says yes: where one life is part of a cycle of life that continues. Michael Kleber-Diggs is a poet, essayist, li...
David Wagoner — Lost
26 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A person is lost, and in panic. A calm voice says strangely comforting things. David Wagoner is the author of 24 poetry collections and 10 novels. He...
Poetry Unbound — Season 6 Trailer
19 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Poetry Unbound with host Pádraig Ó Tuama is back on Monday, September 26. Featured poets in this season include Rumi, Fiona Benson, Michael Kleber-D...
Yu Xiuhua — Crossing Half of China to Sleep with You
03 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How far would you go for great love? And what distances would you cross? Yu Xiuhua is a poet from Hengdian, in Hubei, China. She became well known in...
Andy Jackson — The change room
30 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
When all eyes seem to lock on you, how do you cope with self-consciousness? How do you look back? Andy Jackson is a poet preoccupied with difference ...
Tiana Clark — My Therapist Wants to Know about My Relationship to Work
27 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Life can feel exhausting sometimes: how do you find rest? Tiana Clark is the author of the poetry collection, I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without ...
Joshua Bennett — Owed to Your Father’s Gold Chain
23 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes when your world changes, it seems like everything turns towards you, fresh, new, and curious. Joshua Bennett is the author of The Sobbing S...
Abigail Chabitnoy — If You’re Going to Look Like a Wolf They Have to Love You More Than They Fear You.
20 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How would you tell your own creation myth? Who — or what — would be in it? Abigail Chabitnoy is the author of How to Dress a Fish (Wesleyan 2019)...
M. Soledad Caballero — Someday I Will Visit Hawk Mountain
16 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the face of wonder, we can sometimes lose ourselves. M. Soledad Caballero is Professor of English and chair of the Women’s Gender and Sexuality ...
Rafiq Kathwari — Mother Writes to President Eisenhower
13 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Would you write a letter to a world leader? Do you think they’d listen? What would you say? Rafiq Kathwari is the first Kashmiri recipient of the P...
Caroline Bird — Little Children
09 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Children’s demands can be high, and their standards can be exacting. It’s a good thing they’re loveable. Caroline Bird grew up in Leeds, the da...
Marilyn Nelson — The Truceless Wars
06 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
What do we achieve in our fighting? How can we turn to hope and our deepest nature? Marilyn Nelson was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the daughter of a sch...
Richard Blanco — Looking for The Gulf Motel
02 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Is something lost once it’s gone? How do we blend sadness with sweet memory? Richard Blanco practiced civil engineering for more than 20 years. He ...
Yusef Komunyakaa — Praising Dark Places
29 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Is the light a comfort and the night disturbing? Yusef Komunyakaa explores the life and brilliance of what’s in shadow and darkness.Yusef Komunyakaa...
Hannah Emerson — Keep Yourself at the Beginning of the Beginning
25 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A poem inviting us to discover our brilliance and our nothingness. Both true. Both vital. Hannah Emerson is the author of The Kissing of Kissing. She...
Kyle Carrero Lopez — Ode to the Crop Top
22 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A song of praise to the crop-top from a crop-top-wearing man who encounters comments in public and sings and swings. Kyle Carrero Lopez was born to C...
Divya Victor — First Petition
18 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A seven-year poem: from the start of the process to bring a mother to live in the US to the time she walks through the gate. Divya Victor is the auth...
Denise Low — Walking with My Delaware Grandfather
15 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We carry memory in our body: memories of our own selves, but memories of our forebears, too — talking with them as we walk, learning from them as th...
Rita Dove — Eurydice, Turning
11 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
How do you speak with your mother when she’s forgotten who you are? By turning to myth, it seems, and by holding gentleness with bewilderment, love ...
Poetry Unbound — Season 5 Trailer
04 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Poetry Unbound with host Pádraig Ó Tuama is back on Monday, April 11. Featured poets in this season include Rita Dove, Joshua Bennett, Tiana Clark, ...
BONUS: An Invitation from Pádraig and Krista
28 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While preparing for the next season of Poetry Unbound, host Pádraig Ó Tuama sat down with Krista Tippett for a conversation about the power of poetr...
Danez Smith — i’m going back to Minnesota where sadness makes sense
17 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a poem brimming with love and nostalgia for winter, a poet leaves California to return to their Minnesotan homeplace, a place where winter makes se...
Craig Santos Perez — Rings of Fire
13 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What if the planet were as loved as a child? Taking the story of his daughter’s fever when she was one, Craig Santos Perez reflects on everything he...
Alberto Ríos — December Morning in the Desert
10 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Standing at the edge of a desert, surveying the stars on a December morning, the speaker in this poem observes the everything of everything. He is so ...
Yehoshua November — 2AM, and the Rabbinical Students Stand in their Bathrobes
06 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Yeshiva students stand around in the middle of the night while firemen find the cause of the alarm. It’s a student — distressed by distressing new...
Aria Aber — The Only Cab Service of Farmington, Maine
03 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a taxi, a poet speaks to the driver. It’s the only taxi in town. He mentions travel, mentions Afghanistan, that he was there with the forces. She...
Donika Kelly — In the Chapel of St. Mary’s
29 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why do empty places sometimes lend themselves to reflection or contemplation? In this poem, a poet — describing herself as a nonbeliever — goes in...
Linda Hogan — Song for the Turtles of the Gulf
26 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a poem called a “Song,” Linda Hogan crafts a song for turtles and other creatures killed through oil spills in the gulf. At once a praise song ...
Lory Bedikian — On the Way to Oshagan
22 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The exile’s return to the motherland is the theme around which Lory Bedikian’s poem “On the Way to Oshagan” circles. She, a proud Armenian, st...
Nico Amador — Flower Wars
19 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Telling some of the story of the Flower Wars of the Aztec era, Nico Amador’s poem pits wars against creation. In a poem that begins by recalling cre...
Darrel Alejandro Holnes — Amending Wall
15 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a poem that directly addresses Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall,” Darrel Alejandro Holnes asks questions: who gets to build walls, or guard borde...
Elizabeth Bishop — Sestina
12 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This sestina poem considers a scene from Elizabeth Bishop’s own childhood through the sounds of six repeating words: house, grandmother, child, stov...
Major Jackson — Blunts
08 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Some friends gather and smoke at a doorway in a city. There’s Malik, and Johnny Cash, and Lefty, and Jësus. And the poet, Major Jackson. They’ve ...
Andrés Cerpa — Seasonal without Spring: Autumn
05 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Andrés Cerpa recollects how his father’s early dementia was an increasing influence on his early years. As he grew, his father diminished. The burd...
Kaveh Akbar — How Prayer Works
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A narrative prose poem about two brothers — one on a visit home from college — who are turning to face east in their small shared room. With seven...
Gail McConnell — Worm
29 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a poem that addresses a worm directly as “you,” Gail McConnell considers how these tube-shaped beings live: ingesting the earth, aerating it, d...
Romeo Oriogun — Pink Club
25 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A club is a place for dancing, for abandon, for music, and for meeting strangers. Romeo Oriogun recalls a gay club that was for all those things, but ...
Kathleen Flenniken — Married Love
22 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a poem of extraordinary poise, Kathleen Flenniken recounts her parents’ lively parties, their rich social life, their summer trips, and their fri...
Imtiaz Dharker — Don’t Miss Out! Book Right Now for the Journey of a Lifetime!
18 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A love poem with a playful title that sounds like an ad from a travel agent unfolds into a poem about choosing to stay at home. Imtiaz Dharker’s hus...
No’u Revilla — Smoke Screen
15 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The life of a sugar worker is the center of this poem: a worker whose body and person bear the imprint of that industry, with its demands and smoke an...
BONUS: A Conversation with No’u Revilla
15 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
While preparing for this week’s episode of Poetry Unbound, host Pádraig Ó Tuama began an email correspondence with the poet, No‘u Revilla. The e...
Jake Skeets — Daybreak
11 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a slight change to the normal format, host Pádraig Ó Tuama speaks with the poet Jake Skeets who reads his poem “Daybreak,” a poem combining D...
Tishani Doshi — Species
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a fantastical poem about the future, Tishani Doshi explores the present. She imagines a future where agriculture, forestry, and cultivation are thi...
Jason Allen-Paisant — Right now I’m Standing
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a poem considering trees, Jason Allen-Paisant opens up many associations with trees: in a woodland, there’s a dead tree, from which new forms of ...
Jacob Shores-Argüello — Make Believe
01 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a short poem recalling a childhood response to grief, Jacob Shores-Argüello brings us into the fantasy world of a child: leaving an ill adult in a...
Margaret Atwood — All Bread
27 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In a poem of four stanzas, Margaret Atwood traces bread from its growth in bone-nurtured soil, to the warm ovens of baking, to the table, to the mouth...
Poetry Unbound — Season 4 Trailer
20 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Poetry Unbound with host Pádraig Ó Tuama is back on Monday, September 27. Featured poets in this season include Margaret Atwood, Kaveh Akbar, Danez ...
Katie Manning — What to Expect
18 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This poem stretches the word ‘expect’ into dozens of formulations. Proceeding alphabetically through the index of the book, “What to Expect Wh...
Ilya Kaminsky — We Lived Happily during the War
14 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The opening poem to Ilya Kaminsky’s masterpiece, “Deaf Republic,” is written in the voice of someone who is confessing their complacency during ...
BONUS: A Conversation with Margaret Noodin
11 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After Margaret Noodin recited her poem, “Gimaazinibii'amoon” / “A Message to You,” for this week’s Poetry Unbound episode, she spoke with ho...
Margaret Noodin — Gimaazinibii’amoon (A Message to You)
11 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A special bilingual poem in Anishinaabemowin and English by Margaret Noodin, a linguist who writes primarily in Anishinaabemowin. This poem of eight l...
Martín Espada — After the Goose that Rose Like the God of Geese
07 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Bereavement brings all kinds of pressures. This poem by Martín Espada starts off with a grief-to-do-list: a phone call, a flight, a blizzard, cremati...
Roshni Goyate — Coconut Oil
04 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In many ways this poem can be analyzed by how it ends: by examining the contents of organic shops. Roshni Goyate looks at one such item — coconut oi...
b: william bearhart — When I Was in Las Vegas and Saw a Warhol Painting of Geronimo
31 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When looking at Andy Warhol’s painting of Geronimo — a leader and medicine man of the Bedonkohe band of the Apache tribe — b: william bearhe...
Esteban Rodríguez — 22 La Bota
28 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A poet considers his father, and, particularly, his father’s boots. These boots could be a hammer, a prop, a weapon. But Esteban Rodríguez also rem...
Reginald Dwayne Betts — Essay on Reentry
24 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This ‘Essay on Reentry’ charts life after prison: and the way that others keep your sentence alive even when you’re wishing to just get on with ...
Li-Young Lee — From Blossoms
21 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A poem about blossoms that is not only about blossoms. Li-Young Lee remembers a glorious day when he and a companion bought peaches; peaches that had ...
Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo — Battlegrounds
17 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This poem takes place on battlegrounds. The poet — Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo — is at Gettysburg National Military Park, where she wanders around the ...
Matthew Olzmann — Mountain Dew Commercial Disguised as a Love Poem
14 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this love poem, Matthew Olzmann writes about his wife — the poet Vievee Francis whose poem for Matthew was featured in the previous episode — a...
Vievee Francis — How Delicious to Say It
10 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Building up in lists of delicious words — uvular, hibiscus, loquacious, shuttlecock, dollop, chipotles and chocolate — this poem uses sensual lang...
Eavan Boland — Eviction
07 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This poem offers critique into a moment of Irish history when Ireland, through independence, was rising to the light. But Irish women were facing live...
Jónína Kirton — Reconciliation
03 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This poem starts off by describing how split the poet — Jónína Kirton — feels between two identities: having both Métis and Icelandic heritage....
Lorna Goodison — Reporting Back to Queen Isabella
30 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In Lorna Goodison’s imagined scene, Spain’s Queen Isabella receives the ‘report’ of the discovery of Xamaica from Christopher Columbus, an Ita...
Hanif Abdurraqib — When We Were 13, Jeff’s Father Left The Needle Down On A Journey Record Before Leaving The House One Morning And Never Coming Back
26 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Music works a kind of poetry in us. This poem is like a mix-tape of Hanif Abdurraqib’s memories, complete with a soundtrack that’s as roaring as i...
Poetry Unbound — Season 3 Trailer
19 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Poetry Unbound with host Pádraig Ó Tuama is back on Monday, April 26. Featured poets in this season include Hanif Abdurraqib, Vievee Francis, Ilya K...
Christian Wiman — All My Friends Are Finding New Beliefs
18 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Who are the friends that, despite different paths chosen, have remained steadfast in your life?In this poem Christian Wiman recalls the changing belie...
Carlos Andrés Gómez — Father
14 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How has becoming a parent — or being a caregiver — changed you? This is a poem of two halves. In the first half, a man questions God — how coul...
Ellen Bass — Bone of My Bone and Flesh of My Flesh
11 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What pet names have you been called? What are the circumstances and stories behind these pet names?In this poem, a woman considers the pet names to gi...
R.A. Villanueva — Life Drawing
07 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Who do you trust with your body? In this poem, a man writes about his wife’s life-drawing class. She’s been sketching a naked male model for week...
Zaffar Kunial — The Word
04 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever projected your own awkwardness onto someone else? How did you do it? And how would you address them now? This poem recalls how, as a yo...
Dilruba Ahmed — Phase One
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What do you find hard to forgive in yourself? What might help? In this poem, the poet makes a list of all the things she holds against herself: openi...
Layli Long Soldier — WHEREAS my eyes land on the shoreline
27 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When you feel like crying, do you cry? Or do you stifle it? Why? The U.S. Congress 2009 “Joint resolution to acknowledge a long history of official...
Chen Chen — I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party
23 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In this poem, a son writes to his parents and invites them to a meal, letting them know that his boyfriend will also be there. He gives instruction to...
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill — Ceist na Teangan (The Language Issue)
20 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Are there languages that once were spoken in your family that are not anymore? What caused those changes? This poem considers the plight of a languag...
Aracelis Girmay — Consider the Hands that Write this Letter
16 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When you’re writing by hand, where is your other hand? What story is the space between your two hands — your dominant hand and non-dominant hand —...
Tayi Tibble — Our Nan Lets Us Smoke Inside
13 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Who is in your chosen family? This poem considers the lines of loyalty in families and how particular memories, like a grandmother keeping “wishbon...
Paul Tran — The Cave
10 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What have you had to explore on your own? What, or who, helped? This poem explores the archetype of the cave — a cave that calls, a cave that conta...
Philip Metres — One Tree
06 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What do you notice about how you behave in times of conflict? Do you tend toward avoidance? Or compromise? Or collaboration? Or competition? Or accomm...
Roger Robinson — A Portable Paradise
02 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How do you hold onto hope? And who helped you find it? This poem is about holding onto paradise in the midst of an environment that seeks to steal or...
Seán Hewitt — Suibhne is wounded, and confesses
30 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In times of isolation, what stories have you turned to for comfort? This poem is an exploration of isolation as seen through the mythical Irish cha...
Meleika Gesa-Fatafehi — Say My Name
26 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What is the story of your name? In this poem, the poet calls on place, ancestors, and history to bear witness to the dignity of their name. They reca...
Lucille Clifton — song at midnight
23 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In strength and defiance, Lucille Clifton celebrates her Black body and her survival. When have you said or heard words like this? Calling herself “...
Chris Abani — The New Religion
19 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How do you speak of — and to — your body? This is a poem dedicated to the body. “The body is a nation I have never known,” Chris Abani writes...
Molly McCully Brown — Transubstantiation
16 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Are there places you've lived or visited that others would disregard? What do you see in them that others might miss?" This poem takes place at night...
Natalie Diaz — Of Course She Looked Back
12 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Is there a character (from history, politics, or literature) whose story you want to tell from a new perspective? This poem is told from the point of...
Natasha Trethewey — Miscegenation
09 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Were you born during a time when laws were different? What impact did those laws have on you? In this poem, Natasha Trethewey recalls the story of ho...
James Wright — A Blessing
05 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Is there a moment of beauty you can recall that’s like a blessing for you?This poem takes place at twilight in a field just off the highway to Roche...
Gregory Pardlo — Wishing Well
02 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What’s a chance encounter in a city that’s never left you? In this poem the speaker is asked a question by a stranger while standing near the wat...
Ada Limón — Wonder Woman
28 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What stories or myths bring you strength?This poem tells the story of a person living with invisible chronic pain who finds unexpected fortitude from ...
Poetry Unbound — Season 2 Trailer
14 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Poetry Unbound with host Pádraig Ó Tuama is back on Monday, Sept. 28. Featured poets in this season include Lucille Clifton, James Wright, Natasha T...
Leanne O'Sullivan — Leaving Early
03 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In Leanne O’Sullivan’s poem “Leaving Early,” the poet writes to her ill husband, entrusting him into the care of a nurse named Fionnuala. As t...