Access to this video is a benefit for members through
Up Next
Back to Show
Poetry in America
Who Burns for the Perfection of Paper
Season 4
Episode 7
Long before he won the National Book Award, Latinx poet Martín Espada worked after school in a factory making legal pads. Espada, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, economists Natasha Sarin, Betsey Stevenson, and Justin Wolfers, historian Jill Lepore, and actor John Turturro join Elisa New to reflect on social mobility, and what connects manual labor with the raw materials of poetry and law.
Support Provided By
Season
Unlock with PBS Passport
25:21
DJ Spooky, Joshua Bennett, & more discuss A.R. Ammon’s “Cascadilla Falls” with Elisa New.
Unlock with PBS Passport
25:02
Gloria Estefan & more read Richard Blanco’s "Looking for The Gulf Motel" with Elisa New.
Unlock with PBS Passport
25:11
Tony Kushner, David Strathairn & more read Whitman’s “The Wound-Dresser” with Elisa New.
Unlock with PBS Passport
26:46
Join host Elisa New to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Walt Whitman’s birth.
Unlock with PBS Passport
26:49
Williams' poem “This is Just to Say” is only 28 words and ireads like a refrigerator note.
Unlock with PBS Passport
27:01
Explore the mingled beauty and horror of war, with this Yusef Komunyakaa poem.
Unlock with PBS Passport
26:46
Stephen Sondheim blends lyrics and music in his poem "Finishing the Hat".
Unlock with PBS Passport
26:46
In Doty's poem “This Your Home Now,” a barber shops sparks a meditation on love and more.
Unlock with PBS Passport
26:46
Explore Moore’s great poem of marine life, with Al Gore, Jorie Graham, and others.
Unlock with PBS Passport
26:46
Katie Couric, Mary Chapin Carpenter and others explore Elizabeth Bishop's poem "One Art".
Unlock with PBS Passport
26:46
Maxine Hong Kingston, Randy Komisar and others explore Marilyn Chin's "Urban Love Poem".
Unlock with PBS Passport
25:27
Contemplate the physical—and figurative—journeys charted by all immigrants.