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Poetry in America
To Prisoners by Gwendolyn Brooks
Season 1
Episode 9
This episode brings together a group of interpreters who learned in prison to hear poetry’s “call.” Learn from Senator John McCain, playwright and activist Anna Deavere Smith, poets Reginald Dwayne Betts and Li-Young Lee, and four exonerated prisoners about poetry’s special resonance for those behind bars.
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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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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".