Podcast appearances and mentions of carolyn kizer

Today's poem is a shape poem dedicated to chefs, but (surprise?) it might be about more than cooking.John Hollander, one of contemporary poetry's foremost poets, editors, and anthologists, grew up in New York City. He studied at Columbia University and Indiana University, and he was a Junior Fellow of the Society of Fellows of Harvard University. Hollander received numerous awards and fellowships, including the Levinson Prize, a MacArthur Foundation grant, and the poet laureateship of Connecticut. He served as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, and he taught at Hunter College, Connecticut College, and Yale University, where he was the Sterling Professor emeritus of English.Over the course of an astonishing career, Hollander influenced generations of poets and thinkers with his critical work, his anthologies and his poetry. In the words of J.D. McClatchy, Hollander was “a formidable presence in American literary life.” Hollander's eminence as a scholar and critic was in some ways greater than his reputation as a poet. His groundbreaking introduction to form and prosody Rhyme's Reason (1981), as well as his work as an anthologist, has ensured him a place as one of the 20th-century's great, original literary critics. Hollander's critical writing is known for its extreme erudition and graceful touch. Hollander's poetry possesses many of the same qualities, though the wide range of allusion and technical virtuosity can make it seem “difficult” to a general readership.Hollander's first poetry collection, A Crackling of Thorns (1958) won the prestigious Yale Series of Younger Poets Awards, judged by W.H. Auden. And in fact James K. Robinson in the Southern Review found that Hollander's “early poetry resembles Auden's in its wit, its learned allusiveness, its prosodic mastery.” Hollander's technique continued to develop through later books like Visions from the Ramble (1965) and The Night Mirror (1971). Broader in range and scope than his previous work, Hollander's Tales Told of the Fathers (1975) and Spectral Emanations (1978) heralded his arrival as a major force in contemporary poetry. Reviewing Spectral Emanations for the New Republic, Harold Bloom reflected on his changing impressions of the poet's work over the first 20 years of his career: “I read [A Crackling of Thorns] … soon after I first met the poet, and was rather more impressed by the man than by the book. It has taken 20 years for the emotional complexity, spiritual anguish, and intellectual and moral power of the man to become the book. The enormous mastery of verse was there from the start, and is there still … But there seemed almost always to be more knowledge and insight within Hollander than the verse could accommodate.” Bloom found in Spectral Emanations “another poet as vital and accomplished as [A.R.] Ammons, [James] Merrill, [W.S.] Merwin, [John] Ashbery, James Wright, an immense augmentation to what is clearly a group of major poets.”Shortly after Spectral Emanations, Hollander published Blue Wine and Other Poems (1979), a volume which a number of critics have identified as an important milestone in Hollander's life and career. Reviewing the work for the New Leader, Phoebe Pettingell remarked, “I would guess from the evidence of Blue Wine that John Hollander is now at the crossroads of his own midlife journey, picking out a new direction to follow.” Hollander's new direction proved to be incredibly fruitful: his next books were unqualified successes. Powers of Thirteen (1983) won the Bollingen Prize from Yale University and In Time and Place (1986) was highly praised for its blend of verse and prose. In the Times Literary Supplement, Jay Parini believed “an elegiac tone dominates this book, which begins with a sequence of 34 poems in the In Memoriam stanza. These interconnecting lyrics are exquisite and moving, superior to almost anything else Hollander has ever written.” Parini described the book as “a landmark in contemporary poetry.” McClatchy held up In Time and Place as evidence that Hollander is “part conjurer and part philosopher, one of our language's true mythographers and one of its very best poets.”Hollander continued to publish challenging, technically stunning verse throughout the 1980s and '90s. His Selected Poetry (1993) was released simultaneously with Tesserae (1993); Figurehead and Other Poems (1999) came a few years later. “The work collected in [Tesserae and Other Poems and Selected Poetry] makes clear that John Hollander is a considerable poet,” New Republic reviewer Vernon Shetley remarked, “but it may leave readers wondering still, thirty-five years after his first book … exactly what kind of poet Hollander is.” Shetley recognized the sheer variety of Hollander's work, but also noted the peculiar absence of anything like a personality, “as if the poet had taken to heart, much more fully than its author, Eliot's dictum that poetry should embody ‘emotion which has its life in the poem and not in the history of the poet.'” Another frequent charge leveled against Hollander's work is that it is “philosophical verse.” Reviewing A Draft of Light (2008) for Jacket Magazine, Alex Lewis argued that instead of writing “philosophizing verse,” Hollander actually “borrows from philosophy a language and a way of thought. Hollander's poems are frequently meta-poems that create further meaning out of their own self-interrogations, out of their own reflexivity.” As always, the poems are underpinned by an enormous amount of learning and incredible technical expertise and require “a good deal of time and thought to unravel,” Lewis admitted. But the rewards are great: “the book deepens every time that I read it,” Lewis wrote, adding that Hollander's later years have given his work grandeur akin to Thomas Hardy and Wallace Stevens.Hollander's work as a critic and anthologist has been widely praised from the start. As editor, he has worked on volumes of poets as diverse as Ben Jonson and Dante Gabriel Rossetti; his anthologist's credentials are impeccable. He was widely praised for the expansive American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century (1994), two volumes of verse including ballads, sonnets, epic poetry, and even folk songs. Herbert Mitgang of the New York Times praised the range of poets and authors included in the anthology: “Mr. Hollander has a large vision at work in these highly original volumes of verse. Without passing critical judgment, he allows the reader to savor not only the geniuses but also the second-rank writers of the era.” Hollander also worked on the companion volume, American Poetry: The Twentieth Century (2000) with fellow poets and scholars Robert Hass, Carolyn Kizer, Nathaniel Mackey, and Marjorie Perloff.Hollander's prose and criticism has been read and absorbed by generations of readers and writers. Perhaps his most lasting work is Rhyme's Reason. In an interview with Paul Devlin of St. John's University, Hollander described the impetus behind the volume: “Thinking of my own students, and of how there was no such guide to the varieties of verse in English to which I could send them and that would help teach them to notice things about the examples presented—to see how the particular stanza or rhythmic scheme or whatever was being used by the particular words of the particular poem, for example—I got to work and with a speed which now alarms me produced a manuscript for the first edition of the book. I've never had more immediate fun writing a book.” Hollander's other works of criticism include The Work of Poetry (1993), The Poetry of Everyday Life (1997), and Poetry and Music (2003).Hollander died on August 17, 2013 in Branford, Connecticut.-bio via Poetry Foundation Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe

A talk with the delightful Marian Janssen who describes her career as a biographer and why she chose to write about the American poet Carolyn Kizer.

A Meditation on the late Carolyn Kizer Shaun Griffin is a poet and writer who hopes to bring some part of that world to you every other week on KWNK with a new audio segment on Sundays at 5pm.

Kerrie M. Droban is an award winning author and attorney in Phoenix, Arizona. A graduate of The Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars and the University of Arizona, she studied playwriting with Edward Albee and poetry with Peter Sacks, Carolyn Kizer and Joy Harjo. You can find out more about Kerrie and find her books at KerrieDroban.com Check out Self-Publishing Launchpad here. Or hear a testimonial here.  Want to support the show? Go here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/PencilsLipstick Looking for tips on writing, publishing, and storytelling? Join my writers' newsletter! https://www.subscribepage.com/katcaldwellnewsletter Want more information on my books, author swaps, short stories and what I'm reading? Sign up for my readers' newsletter.

Sounds are incorporated into poems as part of a poet's observational paradigm and thereby shape the meanings of poems. Because many of us are especially attentive to sounds at night and of the night, today I read poems about night sounds by Thomas Hardy, James Joyce, Robert Frost, Maxine Kumin, Carolyn Kizer, and Alejandra Piznarik. I end the program with two of my own poems.

Today we celebrate the birthday of a beloved American who, in her lifetime, was known more as a gardener than a poet. We'll also learn about the gift from Japan that resulted in the Plant Quarantine Act in the United States. We’ll remember the botanist knighted for his incredible scientific services to the British Empire. We’ll hear a poem about King Midas and his garden. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a book that reminds us of the importance of beauty in our garden harvest. And then we’ll wrap things up with the story of the botanist known as “Mad Ridley”... and it turns out he wasn’t mad at all.   Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to “Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast.” And she will. It's just that easy.   The Daily Gardener Friday Newsletter Sign up for the FREE Friday Newsletter featuring: A personal update from me Garden-related items for your calendar The Grow That Garden Library™ featured books for the week Gardener gift ideas Garden-inspired recipes Exclusive updates regarding the show Plus, each week, one lucky subscriber wins a book from the Grow That Garden Library™ bookshelf.   Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org   Curated News The Story of the ‘Conference’ Pear | The English Garden | Greg Loades   Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. So, there’s no need to take notes or search for links. The next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community where you’d search for a friend... and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.   Important Events December 10, 1830 Today is the birthday of Emily Dickinson. The Dickinson author, Judith Farr, reminds us that during her lifetime, Emily Dickinson was, "known more widely as a gardener... than as a poet." Emily grew up gardening. She would help her mother with their large edible and ornamental garden. The flower garden became Emily’s responsibility when she got older. She planted in a carefree cottage garden style. After Emily died, her sister Lavinia took over the garden. Emily's niece and editor, Martha Dickinson Bianchi, recalls: "All [Lavinia’s] flowers did as they liked: tyrannized over her, hopped out of their own beds and into each other’s beds, were never reproved or removed as long as they bloomed; for a live flower to Aunt Lavinia was more than any dead horticultural principle."   December 10, 1909 On this day, 2,000 cherry trees arrived in Seattle from Japan. When the First Lady Helen Taft indicated, she wanted to beautify Potomac Park, the mayor of Tokyo donated 2,000 cherry trees for the project. But once the trees arrived on this day in 1909, they were found to have pest issues and disease. And it was this delivery of trees that lead to plant quarantine legislation for America. So, if you’ve ever wondered about the laws that govern bringing plants into the country, that legislation is rooted in this bad batch of cherry trees which the USDA ordered to be burned. Now, you can imagine Japan’s mortification over the first lot of trees. In response, Japanese horticulturists immediately started cultivating and fumigating a new lot of cherry trees. It took three years to grow the trees and get them ready for travel. Finally, in 1912, Tokyo’s mayor Yukio Ozaki rectified the matter from 1909 three-fold when he sent 6,000 trees to the United States. By this time, Charles Marlett’s Plant Quarantine Act of 1912 was in place to ensure that all plant material entering the country was healthy and sanctioned. And this larger batch of trees was split between New York and Washington DC.   December 10, 1911 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Victorian British botanist, explorer, President of the Royal Society, and director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, who died at 94. Joseph accomplished much during his long life. The botanic gardens of the world were a discovery and classification network that Joseph masterfully orchestrated. To Joseph, the botanic gardens were essentially botanical laboratories on a mission to enhance the world's economy and promote trade. And Joseph was Charle’s Darwin’s closest friend and collaborator. In fact, they corresponded about Darwin's theory before it was made public. And Joseph was instrumental in getting Darwin's work published. Many regard Joseph as Darwin’s PR man. Joseph was brilliant and concise. It was Joseph Dalton Hooker who once famously wrote, “Life is short, and books are long.” In 1877, Joseph was knighted for scientific services to the British Empire. And here's an adorable factoid about Joseph: Kew Gardens shared that, during his travels, Joseph would send letters to his young son with the salutation “my dear little Lion” or “my dear cub.”   Unearthed Words December 10, 1925 Today is the birthday of an American poet of the Pacific Northwest; Carolyn Kizer. Carolyn occasionally wrote about the garden, and my favorite garden poem by Carolyn is this charming piece about King Midas growing golden roses called The Ungrateful Garden. Here are some definitions to help you understand Carolyn’s poem: An ague ("AYE-gyoo") is a shivering fever, serried ("SAIR-id") means standing in a row, to "silt up" is to block or fill with silt, and a shift is a nightgown. To keep the show clean, I’ve eliminated all offensive language. Midas watched the golden crust That formed over his steaming sores, Hugged his agues, loved his lust, But (cursed) the out-of-doors Where blazing motes of sun impaled The serried roses, metal-bright. "Those famous flowers," Midas wailed, "Have scorched my retina with light." This gift, he'd thought, would gild his joys, Silt up the waters of his grief; His lawns a wilderness of noise, The heavy clang of leaf on leaf. Within, the golden cup is good To lift, to sip the yellow mead. Outside, in summer's rage, the rude Gold thorn has made his fingers bleed. "I strolled my halls in golden shift, As ruddy as a lion’s meat. Then I rushed out to share my gift, And golden stubble cut my feet." Dazzled with wounds, he limped away To climb into his golden bed, Roses, roses can betray. "Nature is evil," Midas said. — Carolyn Kizer, American poet, The Ungrateful Garden   Grow That Garden Library Growing Beautiful Food by Matthew Benson This book came out in 2015, and the subtitle is A Gardener's Guide to Cultivating Extraordinary Vegetables and Fruit. Let me just start by saying I love Matthew’s book because he is not only a gardener but also a garden photographer. His garden was designed with a photographer’s eye, and his Stonegate Farm property in Balmville, New York, is one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen displayed in a garden book. For anyone wondering why beauty matters, just ask your kids how appearance influences what they will - and won’t - eat. Matthew knows first hand that beauty inspires behavior and behavior change. If our harvest is visually appealing, we will eat better and be healthier. Matthew’s gentleman's farm is on one small acre of land. He also operates a CSA offering vegetables, orchard fruit, cut flowers, herbs, eggs, and honey. Matthew uses his expertise in growing and selling 50 garden crops for inspiration and instruction in his book. This book is 264 pages of beauty - from the garden to the harvest - Matthew shows us how to grow delicious and alluring food. You can get a copy of Growing Beautiful Food by Matthew Benson and support the show using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $10.   Today’s Botanic Spark Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart December 10, 1855   Today is the birthday of the English botanist, geologist, and naturalist Henry Nicholas Ridley. As the first Director of the Singapore Botanic Garden, Henry arrived in Singapore in 1888. Henry has been described as the Rubber Tree’s Johnny Appleseed because he single-handedly pioneered Malaya’s rubber industry. Not only did Henry plant and encourage the planting of the trees, but he also figured out ingenious ways to tap the tree’s latex without harming the tree. Henry’s exuberance for persuading Malayan farmers to grow rubber trees lead to an unfortunate nickname, “Mad Ridley.” Without Henry, rubber wouldn’t have become a viable cash crop alternative when the Malayan coffee crops succumbed to disease. At one point, the requests for Henry’s seeds were pouring in at a rate of a million seeds a day. Henry not only provided the seed for farmers courtesy of the Botanic Garden, but he lived to see the rubber trade market begin to transform Malaya.  By 1920, Malaya produced over half the world’s rubber, and rubber remains an essential crop for the region today. And to think that it all started with rubber seed that Henry collected from just 22 plants...   Thanks for listening to The Daily Gardener. And remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."

David Rigsbee is the author of 21 books and chapbooks, including seven previous full-length collections of poems.  In addition to his poems, he has also published critical works on Carolyn Kizer and Joseph Brodsky, whom he also translated.  He has co-edited two anthologies, including Invited Guest:  An Anthology of Twentieth-Century Southern Poetry, a “notable book” selection of the American Library Association and the American Association of University Professors and featured on C-Span Booknotes.  His work has appeared in AGNI, The American Poetry Review, The Georgia Review, The Iowa Review, The New Yorker, The Iowa Review, The Ohio Review, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, The Sewanee Review, The Southern Review, and many others.  He has been the recipient of two creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as an NEH summer fellowship to the American Academy in Rome. His other awards include The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown Fellowship, The Virginia Commission on the Arts literary fellowship, The Djerassi Foundation, and Jentel Foundation residencies, and an Award from the Academy of American Poets.  Winner of a 2012 Pushcart Prize, the Vachel Lindsay Poetry Award, and the Pound Prize, he was also the 2010 winner of the Sam Ragan Award for contribution to the arts in North Carolina. Rigsbee is currently contributing editor for The Cortland Review.Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScintilliansRead the blog: https://offshoreexplorer.blogspot.com/Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/offshoreexplorerSupport us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/OffshoreexplorerLinks:https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/david-rigsbeehttps://blacklawrencepress.com/authors/david-rigsbee/https://rigsbeepoetryconsultations.com/index.html 

This program pays tribute to the past American voices of feminist poets from the last century, who opened doors at publishing houses for the vast numbers of talented women writers today. Listen to excerpts from Pulitzer Prize winners Maxine Kumin (1925-2014) and Carolyn Kizer (1925-2014), as well as MacArthur "genius" fellow Adrienne Rich (1929-2012). We'll also list...

Today we celebrate the gardener poet known for writing “hope is the thing with feathers”, and the man who became the world authority on agaves. We'll learn about the Victorian botanist who was the first to speak in favor of Darwin’s theory and the man who created the Ballard Lock Garden in Seattle. We'll hear a December poem from the man known during the 20th century as the People's Poet. We Grow That Garden Library with a book of letters between two gardeners during the year between 1998 and 1999. I'll talk about an architectural element for your kitchen that makes a tremendous holiday gift and we wrap things up with a clever poem about King Midas and what would happen if his roses had turned to gold. But first, let's catch up on a few recent events.     Today's Curated Articles: Book Review: Wild about Weeds, Garden Design with Rebel Plants by Jack Wallington Here's Alison Levey's review of the wonderful new book from @jackwallington on garden design with weeds and rebel plants #gardenblog #bookreview #gmg @LaurenceKingPub The book is one of my favorites for 2019. I especially enjoy the designer profiles and Jack's ability to defend the plants many of us secretly love but might not admit in certain circles.   Botany at the Bar Three scientists discuss the plant science and history of bitters—and share a Thanksgiving cocktail | Scientific American@sciam Take 3 researchers, add plant science, & a deep dive into the world of bitters& you have this phenomenal book of 75 botanically inspired craft cocktails! #BotanyattheBar #science #technology Great post to help you discover the fascinating and ancient #botanicalhistory behind bitters, plus a fun cocktail recipe - and, these scientists really know how to make a good cocktail! Folks on Social Media provided many ringing endorsements saying they had tried a number of their bitters and etc at conferences and were definite fans.     Who Doesn't Like Sweet Potatoes? This Kenyan Researcher, For One| @npr @estherngumbi Can you have too much of a good thing? Yes. Yes, you can. Here’s a very relatable post from Researcher Esther Ngumbi who grew up eating sweet potatoes for nearly every meal. Part of our desire for certain foods is their seasonality. Monotony is the death of pleasure. Now many of her family members are just done with these foods. "No one — and I mean no one — had any more appetite for these root vegetables." "True confession," she writes, "I will not eat sweet potatoes on Thanksgiving. Or any other time of the year. It all has to do with my Kenyan childhood." "I know it is many people's favorite food, especially during Thanksgiving, but as for me, I still say NO to sweet potatoes. They remind me of what it's like to grow up ... without being able to choose what kind of food you'd like to eat each day."     Now, if you'd like to check out these curated articles for yourself, you're in luck - because I share all of it with the Listener Community on Facebook. So, there’s no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, just search for the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.     Here are Today's Brevities: #OTD Today is the birthday of Emily Dickenson who was born on this day in 1830. The Dickinson Author Judith Farr reminds us that during her lifetime, Emily Dickinson was "known more widely as a gardener,... than as a poet." Emily grew up gardening. She would help her mother with their large edible and ornamental garden. The flower garden became Emily’s responsibility when she got older. She planted in a carefree cottage garden style. After Emily died, her sister Lavinia took over the garden. Emily's niece and editor, Martha Dickinson Bianchi recalls: "All [Lavinia’s] flowers did as they liked: tyrannized over her, hopped out of their own beds and into each other’s beds, were never reproved or removed as long as they bloomed; for a live flower to Aunt Lavinia was more than any dead horticultural principle."     #OTD Today is the birthday of Howard Scott Gentry who was born on this day in 1903. A 1982 newspaper article shared a great story about Howard, saying: "This elder statesman of the botanical world [is] a first-class charmer when you get .... to his subject;... his love for the wilds of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico; [and] about the years he spent as an agricultural explorer for the USDA, and about how he gradually came to know more about agaves "than any other human being."   Concerning the hectic pace of his agave research after his retirement from the USDA in 1971, Howard said: "I don't like to start things and not finish them."   Several times a year, Howard would plunge into the rugged interior of Mexico perched atop a mule, just as he'd done during his first collecting trips nearly half a century earlier. [Howard graduated college with a degree in] vertebrate biology from the University of California at Berkeley [and he] concocted the notion of becoming a freelance biologist. To pay for his first field trip into Mexico, Howard sent 300 letters around the country - to scientific institutions, naturalists, really anybody he could think of - soliciting collection orders. "I came up with $3,000 worth of orders. For anything and everything, for an embryo of a white-tailed deer, which I did collect, for birds' eggs, for ticks, for plant specimens. I really got fascinated with that southern Sonoran and Chihuahuan country.”   After this trip, Howard wrote "Rio Mayo Plants." He recalled: "After that book came out, I became somewhat known as a botanist, which I wasn't. I was a zoologist doing exceptionally well writing as a botanist." Howard completed a doctorate in botany at the University of Michigan, where the well-known botanist Harley Harris Bartlett taught. In 1950, Howard became an agricultural explorer for the USDA. Based in Maryland, he traveled the world locating, researching and collecting plants for the government. [Howard was involved in a] spurt of postwar agave work when it was discovered that plants in the agave family and plants in the wild yam family contained compounds that seemed effective in treating arthritis. Because of his far-flung collecting (he traveled in 24 foreign countries), Howard was constantly introducing new plants to the United States. It was high-profile work in the botanical community. "I refused several times to become a desk man for USDA.  It was a chance to cut out all the travel, but I told them,  'No, not me. I want to work with plants, not people. People are problems."     #OTD Today is the anniversary of the death of the Victorian British botanist, explorer, President of the Royal Society, and director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker who died on this day in 1911 at the age of 94. Hooker accomplished much during his long life. The botanic gardens of the world were a discovery and classification network he masterfully orchestrated into R&D facilities to enhance the world's economy and promote trade. Hooker was Charle’s Darwin’s closest friend and collaborator. In fact, they corresponded about Darwin's theory before it was made public. And, Hooker was instrumental in getting Darwin's work published. Many regard Hooker as Darwin’s personal PR man. In 1877, Hooker was knighted for scientific services to the British Empire. And here's an adorable factoid about Hooker: Kew Gardens recently shared that, during his travels, Hooker would address letters to his young son to “my dear little Lion” or “my dear cub”.     #OTD On this day in 1974, in Seattle, Washington, that seven acres of gardens were named in honor of the eminent horticulturist, Carl S. English Jr. The gardens are located on the Lake Washington Ship Canal and overlook the Hiram Chittenden Locks which connect Puget Sound to Lake Washington. The locks and the canal offer their own beauty and are fascinating to watch. And, every year, hundreds of thousands of salmon and trout climb the fish ladder in their annual migration. English was the supervisor of the gardens for 36 years, from 1940 until his death in 1976. After graduating with a degree in botany from Washington State University, Carl was hired by the locks to tend the grounds. The seven acres were intended to be used as a demonstration field where soldiers could march. In reality, the area sat idle. Being a botanist, Carl thought the grounds had potential and would have loved to install a garden on the spot, but there was no budget. So, Carl used his own time and went on many plant collecting trips around the world. Not surprisingly, Carl always brought back seeds and specimens for the garden. In addition, Carl and his wife, who was also a botanist, had a small seed business and published a seed catalog. Today, this lovely arboretum and specimen garden is home to nearly 1,500 flower varieties. There’s a charming description of the garden by Dr. Arthur Kruckeberg written in the Summer of 1959: “To be sure, the average visitor enters the grounds bent on viewing the activity of boats and people at the locksides. Yet, once entering the north gate, one senses the change from the clutter and crowding of city life to the serenity and expansive beauty of a park. To the knowing eye, the plantings are not at all typical of just any park. The keen gardener, horticulturalist, or botanist is at once convinced that he has stepped into a botanical sanctuary-a true arboretum.”     Unearthed Words Edgar Albert Guest, Winter in the Garden Gray skies above us, and the snow Blankets the frozen earth below. Where roses bloomed the drifts lie deep. The hollyhocks are fast asleep. The cedars green are wearing white Like rich men's wives on opera night. The elm tree strangely seems to throw A lean, gaunt shadow on the snow. The last brown leaves of twig and stem Have found the storms too much for them. Winter, the tyrant of the land, Once more is in supreme command. Guest was known as the People’s Poet during the first half of the 20th century. His poems were happy and hopeful; which is why people liked them.     It's Time to Grow That Garden Library with Today's Book: A Year in Our Gardens by Nancy Goodwin and Allen Lacy This is a book of letters that were exchanged between Nancy Goodwin and Allen Lacy during one year between 1998 and 1999. They were both enormously passionate gardeners and they drew inspiration from their shared zest for plants. Aside from sharing a growingng zone (7A), their gardens were very different. Allen gardened on sandy soil on a small lot while Nancy battled rich clay loam on more than sixty acres. Together Nancy and Allen swapped stories of their horticultural successes and failures; traded information about a great many plants; discussed their hopes, fears, and inspirations; and mused on the connections between gardening and music, family, and friendship. I love what it says in the description of this book: Any woman who buys a house because of the quality of its dirt is a true gardener. Any man who reads garden catalogs word for word, cover to cover, is equally enthusiastic about plants. Meet Goodwin and Lacy, two kindred spirits… who also reveal the changes in their lives, sharing their innermost feelings and experiences, as one does only with a very close friend. You can get a used copy and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for under $4.     Today's Recommended Holiday Gift for Gardeners: Esschert Design C3000 Herb Drier With this hanging herb drier, you can enjoy aromatic herbs year-round Just tie herbs in bunches with string and hang upside down Herb drier made of rustic metal with hooks for hanging herbs Herb drier is 15.8 inches in diameter $23.99     Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart #OTD Today is the birthday of the poet Carolyn Kizer who was born on this day in 1925.  Kizer wrote occasionally about the garden and my favorite poem of hers is this charming piece about King Midas growing golden roses called The Ungrateful Garden. Here are some definitions to help you understand Carolyn’s poem: Ague is a shivering fever, serried means standing in a row, to "silt up" is to block or fill with silt, and a shift is a nightgown. To keep the show clean, I’ve eliminated all offensive language.   The Ungrateful Garden Midas watched the golden crust That formed over his steaming sores,  Hugged his agues, loved his lust,  But (cursed) the out-of-doors Where blazing motes of sun impaled The serried roses, metal-bright. "Those famous flowers," Midas wailed, "Have scorched my retina with light." This gift, he'd thought, would gild his joys, Silt up the waters of his grief; His lawns a wilderness of noise, The heavy clang of leaf on leaf. Within, the golden cup is good To lift, to sip the yellow mead. Outside, in summer's rage, the rude Gold thorn has made his fingers bleed. "I strolled my halls in golden shift, As ruddy as a lion’s meat. Then I rushed out to share my gift, And golden stubble cut my feet." Dazzled with wounds, he limped away To climb into his golden bed, Roses, roses can betray. "Nature is evil," Midas said.

Today's poem is Carolyn Kizer's "Parents' Pantoum." Remember to rate and review the show if you're enjoying it. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The late Carolyn Kizer on the erotic side of love

This intimate critique of Roethke's influence on American literature includes readings written by his former students, including poets Richard Hugo, David Wagoner, James Wright, Jack Gilbert and Carolyn Kizer, plus a segment from the play "First Class" by David Wagoner focusing on Roethke the teacher. Sandy Kleven, who wrote the script, is an alumna of UAA's M.F.A. program, the editor of the literary journal Cirque, author of "Holy Land", the book children's book "The Right Touch" and a collection of poems called "Defiance Street".

In 1966, Lloyd Reynolds was presented with a Festschrift, gathering 60 offerings from his friends, and spearheaded by Philip Whalen. The collection included poetry from Gary Snyder, James Dickey, William Dickey, Carolyn Kizer, William Stafford, Dell Hymes, Mary Barnard, Vern Rutsala, and Phil Whalen, music from Jacob Avshalomov and Mark DeVoto, writings from Alfred Fairbank, Ray DaBoll, Byron MacDonald, John Cage, James Hayes, Clyde Van Cleve, and Edward Catich, and art from Cindy Parker and Manuel Izquierdo.

Archival recordings of poet Carolyn Kizer, with an introduction to her life and work. Recorded in 1958 and 1973 in Seattle, WA, and at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.