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Poetry in America
Harlem by Langston Hughes
Season 1
Episode 6
“What happens to a dream deferred?” Langston Hughes’s question calls President Bill Clinton, pianist and composer Herbie Hancock, poet Sonia Sanchez, and students from the Harlem Children’s Zone to interpret Hughes’s most iconic poem,“Harlem.” Together with host Elisa New, the President and other guests, explore the poem’s rhythms and rhymes, and discuss its enduring call for justice.
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25:22
Cassandra Wilson, Elisa New & more read Evie Shockley’s “you can say that again, billie.”
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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".