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Poetry in America
Emperor of Ice Cream, Motive for Metaphor
Season 4
Episode 6
Modernist poet Wallace Stevens balanced his long career as an insurance executive with a thrilling life of the imagination. Actor Murray Bartlett, ice cream maker Gus Rancatore, cognitive scientist Laurie Santos, scholar Al Filreis, poet David Baker, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Bob Rubin, and the 2021 National Student Poets join Elisa New.
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25:21
DJ Spooky, Joshua Bennett, & more discuss A.R. Ammon’s “Cascadilla Falls” with Elisa New.

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25:02
Gloria Estefan & more read Richard Blanco’s "Looking for The Gulf Motel" with Elisa New.

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25:11
Tony Kushner, David Strathairn & more read Whitman’s “The Wound-Dresser” with Elisa New.

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26:46
Join host Elisa New to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Walt Whitman’s birth.

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26:49
Williams' poem “This is Just to Say” is only 28 words and ireads like a refrigerator note.

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27:01
Explore the mingled beauty and horror of war, with this Yusef Komunyakaa poem.

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26:46
Stephen Sondheim blends lyrics and music in his poem "Finishing the Hat".

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26:46
In Doty's poem “This Your Home Now,” a barber shops sparks a meditation on love and more.

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26:46
Explore Moore’s great poem of marine life, with Al Gore, Jorie Graham, and others.

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26:46
Katie Couric, Mary Chapin Carpenter and others explore Elizabeth Bishop's poem "One Art".

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26:46
Maxine Hong Kingston, Randy Komisar and others explore Marilyn Chin's "Urban Love Poem".

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25:27
Contemplate the physical—and figurative—journeys charted by all immigrants.