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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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25:27
Contemplate the physical—and figurative—journeys charted by all immigrants.
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25:45
Explore the transformation of America’s long tradition of urban verse by hip hop artists.
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25:26
Explore Galway Kinnell's poem with E.O. Wilson, Robert Hass, Laura McPhee and other guests
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25:27
Explore Robert Pinsky's poem with Stuart Weitzman, Johnson Hartig, and the poet himself.
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25:33
Explore W.H. Auden's poem with guests Samantha Power, David Brooks, and Peter Sacks.
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25:26
“What happens to a dream deferred?” Bill Clinton, Herbie Hancock, and others weigh in.
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25:27
Can a building have a soul? Frank Gehry, Zhang Xin, Robert Polito, and others weigh in.
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25:27
Explore Ginsberg's poetry with Bono, US Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, and others.
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25:26
Explore Hayden's poem with Joe Biden, Elizabeth Alexander, Angela Duckworth, and others.
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25:27
Can basketball be poetic? NBA players Shaq, Pau Gasol, and Shane Battier weigh in.
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25:29
Host Elisa New explores Emily Dickinson's poem with Cyntha Nixon, Yo-Yo Ma, and others.