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Poetry in America

Looking for The Gulf Motel, by Richard Blanco

Season 3 Episode 2

Richard Blanco's poem "Looking for The Gulf Motel" transports readers to 1970s Florida, recalling a Cuban-American family’s vacations on the sparkling sands of Marco Island. Blanco and international superstar Gloria Estefan join Elisa New and a chorus of Cuban American adults in Miami and middle school students in New York City to reflect on family and what it means to call a place home.

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you can say that again, billie, by Evie Shockley
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25:22
Cassandra Wilson, Elisa New & more read Evie Shockley’s “you can say that again, billie.”
Cascadilla Falls, by A. R. Ammons
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25:21
DJ Spooky, Joshua Bennett, & more discuss A.R. Ammon’s “Cascadilla Falls” with Elisa New.
The Wound-Dresser, by Walt Whitman
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25:11
Tony Kushner, David Strathairn & more read Whitman’s “The Wound-Dresser” with Elisa New.
Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman
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26:46
Join host Elisa New to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Walt Whitman’s birth.
This Is Just to Say, by William Carlos Williams
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26:49
Williams' poem “This is Just to Say” is only 28 words and ireads like a refrigerator note.
You and I Are Disappearing, by Yusef Komunyakaa
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27:01
Explore the mingled beauty and horror of war, with this Yusef Komunyakaa poem.
Finishing the Hat, by Stephen Sondheim
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26:46
Stephen Sondheim blends lyrics and music in his poem "Finishing the Hat".
This Your Home Now, by Mark Doty
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26:46
In Doty's poem “This Your Home Now,” a barber shops sparks a meditation on love and more.
The Fish, by Marianne Moore
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26:46
Explore Moore’s great poem of marine life, with Al Gore, Jorie Graham, and others.
One Art, by Elizabeth Bishop
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26:46
Katie Couric, Mary Chapin Carpenter and others explore Elizabeth Bishop's poem "One Art".
Urban Love Poem, by Marilyn Chin
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26:46
Maxine Hong Kingston, Randy Komisar and others explore Marilyn Chin's "Urban Love Poem".
The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
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25:27
Contemplate the physical—and figurative—journeys charted by all immigrants.
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