Oct 6th, 2004 · Our resident political poets, Calvin Trillin and James Bowman, offer their take on last night's vice presidential debate. Trillin is the author of Obliviously On He Sails: The Bush Administration in Rhyme. Bowman is a resident scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington.
Aug 28th, 2004 · In the final installment of our summer series of poetry readings from the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival at Hillstead Museum in Connecticut, we hear a poem by Kate Rushin, author of "The Black Back-ups."
Aug 22nd, 2004 · NPR's Jennifer Ludden interviews Robert Hedin about the volume of poetry he edited: Old Glory: American War Poems from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terrorism. The editor says the body of literature reveals the nation's changing attitudes toward war. Hedin reads from several selections.
Jul 22nd, 2004 · Via a rather circuitous route, a poem written by a prison inmate about his escape attempr earlier this year has become a hit song in North Carolina.
Jul 18th, 2004 · Writer A. Van Jordan's latest poems imagine the life of MacNolia Cox, the first black finalist in the National Spelling Bee. In his book M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, Jordan uses a variety of forms and voices to depict Cox's life in 1936. Hear NPR's Susan Stamberg and Jordan.
Jul 17th, 2004 · A Weekend Edition Saturday summer series of poetry readings continues from the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival at Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Conn. This week's feature writer is Joan Joffe Hall, who reads her poem, "Driver's License."
Jul 17th, 2004 · A lively new book for children who aren't averse to a bit of verse, The Pelican Chorus and Other Nonsense features the poems of Edward Lear and the illustrations of Fred Marcellino. Hear NPR's Scott Simon and children's literature aficionado Daniel Pinkwater.
Jul 12th, 2004 · In honor of the centennial of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's birth, Chilean-American writer Ariel Dorfman reads the poem "Sexual Water."