Poetry in America

Poetry in America

Poetry in America

Arts & Culture

Passport

All episodes with PBS Passport

Poetry in America

Arts & Culture

Passport

All episodes with PBS Passport

Poetry in America explores the diversity of American poetry. In each episode, members of various American communities join host Elisa New, following Gwendolyn Brooks to the South Side of Chicago, Alberto Ríos to the Sonoran Desert, Richard Blanco to Marco Island, and more. Joining along the way are singers and Supreme Court justices, playwrights and physicists, and teachers and their students.

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Upcoming Airdates

Wednesday May 15, 2:00 AM PDT on PBS SoCal WORLD
Wednesday May 15, 2:30 AM PDT on PBS SoCal WORLD

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Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper

Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper

Season 4 Episode 7

Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper

Poet Martín Espada worked manufacturing legal pads, and the job is burned into his memory.

Emperor of Ice Cream, Motive for Metaphor

Emperor of Ice Cream, Motive for Metaphor

Season 4 Episode 6

Emperor of Ice Cream, Motive for Metaphor

Murray Bartlett, Laurie Santos, and more guests join Elisa New to read Wallace Stevens.

Hill Country

Hill Country

Season 4 Episode 5

Hill Country

Drive through West Texas with Tracy K. Smith, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and host Elisa New.

July in Washington

July in Washington

Season 4 Episode 4

July in Washington

David Axelrod, Bill Kristol and Andrea Mitchell read Robert Lowell with Elisa New.

Mushrooms, Weakness and Doubt

Mushrooms, Weakness and Doubt

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Season 4 Episode 3

Mushrooms, Weakness and Doubt

Consider the poetics, and politics, of fungi with poems by Sylvia Plath and Kay Ryan.

Six Years Later, Epitaph for a Centaur

Six Years Later, Epitaph for a Centaur

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Season 4 Episode 2

Six Years Later, Epitaph for a Centaur

Read the elegiac poetry of Joseph Brodsky, a Cold War Russian exile, with host Elisa New.

Poetry in America Season 4

Poetry in America Season 4

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Season 4 Episode 1

Phillis Wheatley: To the University

Poems by Wheatley with Amanda Gorman, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Richard Blanco, and more.

Sonnet IV; I shall forget you presently, my dear, by Millay

Sonnet IV; I shall forget you presently, my dear, by Millay

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Season 3 Episode 8

Sonnet IV; I shall forget you presently, my dear, by Millay

Leslie Jamison, Olivia Gatwood, & more read a sonnet by Millay with host Elisa New.

Two poems, by Linda Hogan and Alberto Ríos

Two poems, by Linda Hogan and Alberto Ríos

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Season 3 Episode 7

Two poems, by Linda Hogan and Alberto Ríos

Linda Hogan & Alberto Ríos explore their poems with host Elisa New, Jeff Corwin & more.

Poems about Motherhood by Sharon Olds and Bernadette Mayer

Poems about Motherhood by Sharon Olds and Bernadette Mayer

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Season 3 Episode 6

Poems about Motherhood by Sharon Olds and Bernadette Mayer

Elisa New, Emily Oster, Sharon Olds, & Bernadette Mayer explore poems on motherhood.

Mending Wall, by Robert Frost

Mending Wall, by Robert Frost

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Season 3 Episode 5

Mending Wall, by Robert Frost

Caroline Kennedy, Tracy K. Smith & more read Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” with Elisa New.

you can say that again, billie, by Evie Shockley

you can say that again, billie, by Evie Shockley

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Season 3 Episode 4

you can say that again, billie, by Evie Shockley

Cassandra Wilson, Elisa New & more read Evie Shockley’s “you can say that again, billie.”

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