 
    Access to this video is a benefit for members through PBS Passport.
                
            
            
                Back to Show
            
            
                
                
             
            
        
        
    Poetry in America
            I cannot dance opon my toes by Emily Dickinson
                
                    
                        
                            Season 1
                        
                    
                    
                        
                            Episode 1
                        
                    
                
            
            
            “I cannot dance opon my toes,” Emily Dickinson writes—“no man instructed me.” Join host Elisa New, actor Cynthia Nixon, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, dancer and choreographer Jill Johnson, and poet Marie Howe in an exploration of the challenges of art and audience across time, space, and artistic medium.
Support Provided By
                 
    
                            
                            Unlock with PBS Passport
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        
  
  
    
      
    
  
  
    
      
        
          24:42
        
      
    
  
  
                    
                
            Play hooky with Frank O’Hara’s “Lunch Poems.” Poets and NYC-lovers join host Elisa New.
        
        
     
    
                            
                            Unlock with PBS Passport
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        
  
  
    
      
    
  
  
    
      
        
          25:21
        
      
    
  
  
                    
                
            Poet Martín Espada worked manufacturing legal pads, and the job is burned into his memory.
        
        
     
    
                            
                            Unlock with PBS Passport
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        
  
  
    
      
    
  
  
    
      
        
          25:43
        
      
    
  
  
                    
                
            Murray Bartlett, Laurie Santos, and more guests join Elisa New to read Wallace Stevens.
        
        
     
    
                            
                            Unlock with PBS Passport
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        
  
  
    
      
    
  
  
    
      
        
          25:21
        
      
    
  
  
                    
                
            Drive through West Texas with Tracy K. Smith, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and host Elisa New.
        
        
     
    
                            
                            Unlock with PBS Passport
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        
  
  
    
      
    
  
  
    
      
        
          25:21
        
      
    
  
  
                    
                
            David Axelrod, Bill Kristol and Andrea Mitchell read Robert Lowell with Elisa New.
        
        
     
    
                            
                            Unlock with PBS Passport
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        
  
  
    
      
    
  
  
    
      
        
          25:21
        
      
    
  
  
                    
                
            Consider the poetics, and politics, of fungi with poems by Sylvia Plath and Kay Ryan.
        
        
     
    
                            
                            Unlock with PBS Passport
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        
  
  
    
      
    
  
  
    
      
        
          25:21
        
      
    
  
  
                    
                
            Read the elegiac poetry of Joseph Brodsky, a Cold War Russian exile, with host Elisa New.
        
        
     
    
                            
                            Unlock with PBS Passport
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        
  
  
    
      
    
  
  
    
      
        
          25:21
        
      
    
  
  
                    
                
            Poems by Wheatley with Amanda Gorman, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Richard Blanco, and more.
        
        
     
    
                            
                            Unlock with PBS Passport
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        
  
  
    
      
    
  
  
    
      
        
          25:41
        
      
    
  
  
                    
                
            Leslie Jamison, Olivia Gatwood, & more read a sonnet by Millay with host Elisa New.
        
        
     
    
                            
                            Unlock with PBS Passport
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        
  
  
    
      
    
  
  
    
      
        
          25:14
        
      
    
  
  
                    
                
            Linda Hogan & Alberto Ríos explore their poems with host Elisa New, Jeff Corwin & more.
        
        
     
    
                            
                            Unlock with PBS Passport
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        
  
  
    
      
    
  
  
    
      
        
          25:38
        
      
    
  
  
                    
                
            Elisa New, Emily Oster, Sharon Olds, & Bernadette Mayer explore poems on motherhood.
        
        
     
    
                            
                            Unlock with PBS Passport
                        
                    
                
                
                    
                        
  
  
    
      
    
  
  
    
      
        
          25:21
        
      
    
  
  
                    
                
            Caroline Kennedy, Tracy K. Smith & more read Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” with Elisa New.
        
        
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    