Podcasts about Galway Kinnell

The queens boil down the essence of some favorite poems and poets in this game that decides what poetry is *really* about.Please Support Breaking Form!Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.NOTES:Read the NY Times review of Michael Schmidt's The Lives of the PoetsListen to James Merrill read his poem "For Proust" and while we're on the subject, here's a madeleine recipe. For an examination of Bishop's sensible sensibility, go here. Watch Anne Carson read from Nox (~24 min).Here is a Galway Kinnell tribute reading from May 2015 which included Marie Howe and Sharon Olds (among others).Watch Dorianne Laux read "Trying to Raise the Dead" published in her book SmokeIn a New Yorker profile interview, Natasha Trethewey discusses Native Guard, and says that we have to remember "the nearly two hundred thousand African American soldiers who fought in the Civil War, who fought for their own freedom, who fought to preserve the Union rather than destroy the Union, to whom there are very few monuments erected. Just think how different the landscape of the South would be, and how differently we would learn about our Southern history, our shared American history, if we had monuments to those soldiers who won the war—who didn't lose the war but won the war to save the Union. Those are the monuments we need to have." Read the whole conversation and profile here.Here's a BBC4 adaptation of Browning's The Ring and the Book (~1 hour)Go here for more about George Meredith's sonnet sequence Modern Love.If you were looking for a free audio full-text version of Tennyson's In Memoriam read by Elizabeth Klatt, today's your lucky day. (~2.5 hours).

Amanda Holmes reads Galway Kinnell's “Little Sleep's-Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you'll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman. This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The queens play a round of Step Your Poetry Up before poet-voicing porn dialogue. Please Support Breaking Form!Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.Pretty Please.....Buy our books:     Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.     James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.SHOW NOTES:Here are links to some of the poems we mention:Amy Lowell, "Patterns"Robinson Jeffers, "Credo"H.D., "Sea Rose"Sara Teasdale, "Moonlight"An essay on Hart Crane's "The River"Robert Duncan, "My Mother Would Be a Falconress"Theodore Roethke, "In a Dark Time"Robert Creeley, "The Rain"James Dickey, "The Sheep Child"Galway Kinnell, "The Bear"Stanley Kunitz, "Father and Son"We make reference to the poet C. Dale Young--visit him online here. 

“I seem to be a little bit less burdened by myself.” Show notes The Poetry Detective Ern Malley David Brooks' books include Walking to Point Clear, The Sons of Clovis, The Balcony, Animal Dreams, and The other side of daylight Ep 106 with David Maud Rilke's Duino Elegies The Book of Nightmares by Galway Kinnell … Continue reading "Ep 281. David Brooks returns"

Of the many invitations for mindful self-improvement that landed in my inbox at the turn of the year, one piqued my interest — a daily sensory incantation from . The instructions are simple: set a timer for five minutes and record, without interruption and preferably with pen and paper, “close, meticulous, external” notes on your immediate surroundings. No interpretations, no personal commentary, no embellishments allowed.Now here's the twist —Once the timer goes off, look over your fragments and find the five that are the most interesting, the most unique, the most jagged, the strangest. Imagine the paper is on fire and you can save only five fragments before it burns. Put a star by those. Now, read them out loud with the words “I am” in front of them (I am the morning light on the carpet, I am footsteps on the porch, I am rain splattering on the window, I am a baby crying).The primary aim of this practice is to translate sensory impressions of the particular onto the page. But it also points to a deeper incantation of ourselves as dynamic, mosaic creatures. It's a nod to the irreducible reality of who we are.Authenticity is a worthwhile study in this strange new world. Consumer research points to a longing for sincere human connection. Skepticism of the public arena is at an all-time high while our private lives have frayed from isolation and siloing, resulting in a degrading mistrust of those we identify as other.We are a culture sick of being sold and challenged to assess what's vital and honest behind everything and everyone we encounter. But what exactly is authenticity? Among researchers, it's a debated concept. Back in 2000, psychologists Michael Kernis and Brian Goldman distilled decades of scholarly work into a roadmap Authenticity Inventory. Their research landed on authenticity as “the unimpeded operation of one's core or true self in one's daily enterprise” as operationalized by four contributing factors: awareness, distortion-free (or unbiased) mental processing, ways of behaving, and relational orientation.  Despite the bumper sticker platitudes of pseudo-spirituality — follow your bliss! Speak your truth! You do you! — an important caveat about “relational orientation” must be made: authenticity is not an unalloyed good. If the goal were for everyone to express absolute congruence between their outer behavior and whatever developmental, psychological, and circumstantial access they might have to their “core or true self” at the current moment — well, God help us. Let's keep our most primal, unfiltered instincts and perspectives to ourselves, thank you very much.In my clinical training as a therapist, I often turned to the research of Brene Brown, who famously explores the emotions that make us human. Brown speaks here about authenticity as radical participation in our felt experience of life.“Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we're supposed to be and embracing who we are. Choosing authenticity means cultivating the courage to be imperfect, to set boundaries, and to allow ourselves to be vulnerable; exercising the compassion that comes from knowing that we are all made of strength and struggle; and nurturing the connection and sense of belonging that can only happen when we believe that we are enough. Authenticity demands Wholehearted living and loving—even when it's hard, even when we're wrestling with the shame and fear of not being good enough, and especially when the joy is so intense that we're afraid to let ourselves feel it. Mindfully practicing authenticity during our most soul-searching struggles is how we invite grace, joy, and gratitude into our lives.”― Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You AreBrene's words feel germane to the creative frontier on which many of us stand. Perhaps this is because being ourselves is an antidote to the erosive superficiality of our times; sorely, obviously needed, and yet too often relegated only to the safest harbors of our emotional lives. We feel orphaned from a sense of moral and social belonging. Yet authenticity remains among our most formidable teachers, demanding steadfast discipline, the maturation of vulnerability, courage, and forgiveness, and the grace of our mutual wholeheartedness. Many years ago, in the first season of our relationship, in an outstretched moment of indecision on my part, my now-husband, exasperated, exclaimed: “Will you please just say what you want to do?” I was startled by his question, even agitated. After a relatively successful launch into adulthood (I had a real job, after all), the truth was I had no idea what to do with an un-pressured Sunday afternoon and a considerate man asking about my desires. Knowing ourselves, much less being and expressing ourselves, is not our default. It hasn't been since we were very young. To study the origins of our estrangement, we begin with a tender revisit to that young part within us for whom the existence of magic was disproven. We review how our innate experience of wonder was truncated by loss, trauma, or neglect — or simply by the systematic message of our too-muchness. In a gradual and largely subconscious process, we learn to prune the unique signature of ourselves. First, we sense our social context. Then, we compartmentalize and subjugate the parts of ourselves we internalize as undesirable. We become adept at making bids for approval (a process of influencing others' perceptions that sociologist Erving Goffman aptly coined “impression management”). Over time, the Edenic qualities that might otherwise have ushered us into authentic expression dry up on the stalk, and we abandon the luminous wholeness with which we arrived.In other words, we adapt. It seems a matter of survival. A pleased teacher or parent, a nod from a boss, a compliment from a new acquaintance – any small gesture of allegiance can make us feel secure and optimal. Our nervous systems seem to approve of preserving and promoting only those parts that the world deems worthy of praise. Perfectionist values become our unacknowledged norm, subtly affirmed by those who groom us into adulthood.Underground go the needier parts, the messier parts — the brilliant, irreducible parts. “The only antidote to perfectionism is to turn away from every whiff of plastic and gloss and follow our grief, pursue our imperfections, and exaggerate our eccentricities until the things we once sought to hide reveal themselves as our majesty.”― Toko-pa Turner, Belonging: Remembering Ourselves HomeSelf-exile serves us for a while. We become palatable and productive and we reap the benefits. Eventually, though, those long-forgotten, chthonic parts begin to emerge. By some subconscious hand, they are unearthed and delivered like a pile of soiled bones to the back porch in early Spring.[I recently spoke with poet about revelation through a geologic lens.]We begin to test and taste the tin of our words and all we've left unspoken and feel the fatigue of triangulating around our native energies and desires. We realize the irony of shaping ourselves around implicit expectations only to earn enough caché to be ourselves. We recognize the limits of pleasing others as a currency of well-being, suffer the grief of inner scarcity, and feel the shame of chronic self-abandonment — and, ultimately, we feel our hunger for the true and holy gravity of belonging. “…The budstands for all things,even for those things that don't flower,for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing;though sometimes it is necessaryto reteach a thing its loveliness,to put a hand on its browof the flowerand retell it in words and in touchit is lovelyuntil it flowers again from within, of self-blessing.”― Galway Kinnell, “Saint Francis and the Sow”Sometimes it's necessary to re-teach a thing its loveliness. It took years for my nervous system to relax enough to perceive my instincts for a Sunday afternoon. A slow cup of tea, a hike with my family, a cooking project, listening to Nina Simone while organizing a pantry… It took a gradual incantation of myself to myself and to those who cared enough to keep asking, season after season.Coming home to ourselves is a dedicated practice with the promise of profound alignment and personal agency. Classical yoga philosophy offers svādhyāya (a compound Sanskrit word composed of sva (स्व) "own, one's own, self, the human soul" + adhyāya (अध्याय) "a lesson, lecture, chapter; reading") as the fundamental study of our unmasking. It's a gradual process of yoking back to our most integrated, dynamic whole.“You see, I want a lot.Perhaps I want everythingthe darkness that comes with every infinite falland the shivering blaze of every step up.So many live on and want nothingAnd are raised to the rank of princeBy the slippery ease of their light judgmentsBut what you love to see are facesthat do work and feel thirst.You love most of all those who need youas they need a crowbar or a hoe.You have not grown old, and it is not too lateTo dive into your increasing depthswhere life calmly gives out its own secret.”― Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to GodAuthenticity is an essential kind of remembering. It's the art of coiling our attention inwardly, through layers of anxiety, fear, and shame, to the shelter of our original ownership. To author our way home, to make a song of this being human, first, we get in touch with our want to be ourselves – “to dive into [our] increasing depths.” Then, we commit our oar to the waters of radical self-honesty and become an authority on the subject of rowing against the current of our conditioning. We nurture ourselves courageously through the many mistakes and missteps along the way, making regular visits to the dirt altar of a forgiving heart. “Anyhow, the older I get, the less impressed I become with originality. These days, I'm far more moved by authenticity. Attempts at originality can often feel forced and precious, but authenticity has quiet resonance that never fails to stir me.”― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond FearAuthenticity has a quiet resonance that never fails. We feel safest with those who are themselves in our company. Those rare friends who “need [us] as they need a crowbar or a hoe,” who reflect to us our worthiness to be beholden, become our particular kin. Gradually, like St. Francis' sow, we relearn the distinct manner of our loveliness. And thus, the life that's here can once again become a refuge of belonging.Today —[I am] freckles sprayed across an aging hand.[I am] the long-bodied breath of a sleeping dog.[I am] the small animal rustling in the arroyo.[I am] steam rising from a mug.[I am] the thick leaves of a fig in a clay pot. Get full access to The Guest House at shawnparell.substack.com/subscribe

Amanda Holmes reads Pablo Neruda's “I Explain a Few Things,” translated from the Spanish by Galway Kinnell. Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you'll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman. This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The queens bust out their microscopes and examine poetic DNA. Support Breaking Form!Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.  Buy our books:Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. Publisher's Weekly calls the book "visceral, tender, and compassionate."James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. "Romantic Comedy," writes Diane Seuss in her judge's citation, "is a masterpiece of queer self-creation."Some of the writers discussed include:Terrance Hayes (who'll join us for the Breaking Form interview next week!), author of So to Speak, which will be out July 18 and is available for pre-order.Listen to Etheridge Knight read "Hard Rock Returns To Prison From The Hospital For The Criminal Insane" & "The Idea Of Ancestry" here (~6 min). Galway Kinnell reads his poem "After Making Love We Hear Footsteps" here (~2 min).Read more about Herbert Morris here, and read his fabulous poem "Thinking of Darwin" here.Read Thomas James's title poem "Letters to a Stranger." Then read this beautiful reconsideration of the poet by Lucie Brock-Broido, who used to photocopy James's poems and give them to her classes at Columbia, before Graywolf republished Letters to a Stranger in 2008.Watch Gary Jackson read Lynda Hull's poem "Magical Thinking" (~3 minutes).Stanley Kunitz reads his poem "The Portrait" here (~2 minutes).If you haven't read Anne Carson's "The Gender of Sound," it is worthwhile & contains a crazy-ass story about Hemingway deciding to dissolve his friendship with Gertrude Stein.Read Lynn Emmanuel's "Inside Gertrude Stein" here.Read Anna Akhmatova's "Lot's Wife" here. Read Osip Mandelstam's "I was washing at night out in the yard" here. Watch Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon read her poem "Solace" and then discuss how her poem draws inspiration from science. Jennifer Michael Hecht's poem "Funny Strange" from her book Funny can be read from here. Manuel Muñoz is the author of  the short story collectionThe Consequences (Graywolf, 2022). He reads Gary Soto's poem "The Morning They Shot Tony Lopez, Barber and Pusher Who Went Too Far 1958" from Soto's 1977 volume The Elements of San Joaquin. You can read a tiny essay Muñoz published about Soto in West Branch, in a folio edited by poet Shara Lessley.

What if feeling like a “failure” is just a natural part of growth?  It's been more than six months since the last episode of Outgrow the Grind! In this courageous and honest episode, I share with you where I've been, what I've learned, and where I'm going.

April 20, 2022 - "Mango" By Galway Kinnell, Read By Audrey Keller by The Desmond-Fish Public Library & The Highlands Current, hosted by Ryan Biracree

The Bros are lost in space this week, tasting Tired Hands brewing's "Alien Church." We discuss the negative sides of success for Tired Hands, and everything they're working to improve upon in the future. While discussing their controversy we also discuss MIB, science fiction cults, and everything sci fi. As usual, we've paired this beer with a Dill favorite poet, and this week that poet is Galway Kinnell. This American Poet who created his own persona in his poetry is an interesting American who contributed to various social causes during the tumultuous 60's, all while writing poetry that has stood the test of time. Join us for another great episode, grab a brew, and enjoy.Cheers!

Join me as I visit with two veteran poets who are using poetry as a mental health tool.They work out of The Heart's Ease Love and Freedom Center, which is a place to explore heart-centered living.One of my guests, Salaam Green is proudly born and bred in the Black Belt of Alabama. She is the founder and executive director of www.theliteraryhealingarts.com, a 2018 New Economy's Fellow, Deep South Storyteller, Poet and Master Healer. She was:Birmingham's 2016 Poet Laureate for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and a 2018 Tedx Speaker. The other poet, Liz Hildreth, has been writing poems for more than 40 years. She studied poetry at NYU with Robert Bly, Sharon Olds, Allen Ginsberg, and Galway Kinnell. She considers herself a confessional poet and thinks the best poems are raw, honest, weird, and wild. One of her daughters has autism, cerebral palsy, and a seizure disorder. She has written at length about mental illness and has written commissioned poems for people at galleries, museums, and other artistic venues.Tune in to watch or listen to 44 other released episodes Zennurgy is on all podcast platformsAll the merchandise shown and much more is available at www.laughzandlyrics.com/shopWww.laughznlyricsmerch.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-zennurgy-podcast/exclusive-content

This week, we are reading a selection from Galway Kinnell's poem "When You Have Lived A Long Time Alone” and reflecting on what it might be saying about our life together in South Bend.South Bend on Purpose is a podcast about place, belonging, and South Bend co-hosted by Jacob Titus, Dustin Mix, and John Garry. We enjoy conversations with the people who shape our city by practicing their purpose. And read poetry to reflect on our city and our own story in it.New episodes are published every Tuesday morning. For comments and questions about the show, please write to comments @ westsb.com. Thank you for listening.

Mark Cronin '80 and his son John Cronin join Maura Sweeney '07 to speak about how they came to found John's Crazy Socks. A serial entrepreneur, Mark passed along this passion to John.  In the spirit of Holy Cross, theirs is a company created to do good.  Through John's Crazy Socks they are living their mission to “spread happiness,” while also serving as advocates for workplace equality and voices for people with differing abilities. Interview originally recorded on March 17, 2021. Due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic, all interviews in season 2 are recorded remotely. --- Mark : It's the nature of the social enterprise, you've got to have a mission. You can't be, we just want to make money. It's got to be something larger than yourself, an impact you want to have on the world. And when you're driven by that, it's so motivating. All the petty stuff falls away. And that's how you can go and connect with people. We get asked, what's the key ingredient? What skill? A lot if it is just belief. If we have a mission to spread happiness, just believe. Maura : Welcome to Mission-Driven where we speak with alumni who are leveraging their Holy Cross education to make a meaningful difference in the world around them. I'm your host, Maura Sweeney from the class of 2007, director of Alumni Career Development at Holy Cross. I'm delighted to welcome you to today's show. Maura : In this episode, I speak with Mark Cronin from the class of 1980 and his son, John Cronin. Mark and John are co-founders of John's Crazy Socks. A company whose mission is to spread happiness, where over half of the employees have a differing ability. An entrepreneur at heart, Mark has been creating opportunities and organizations ever since his days at Holy Cross. From creating The Lunchbox Theater as a student, to running political campaigns, to founding a software company, his career path shows what can be done when you pursue an idea. Maura : Every step of the way he's been driven by mission. And every step of the way has prepared him for his role at John's Crazy Socks. Our conversation focuses a lot on the incredible work that Mark and John are doing through John's Crazy Socks, to raise awareness about people with differing abilities. They live the motto, to whom much has been given, much is expected, and they do it well. We are lucky to have people like Mark and John working hard to improve the lives of millions of others, because it's not just the right thing to do, it's also good for business. Maura : Mark and John, it is really wonderful to be here with you today. How are you today? Mark : Pretty good, right? John : Pretty good dad. Mark : Life remains interesting. Maura, thank you very much for having us on. Maura : It is my pleasure. It is my pleasure. I have been really looking forward to talking to you about Mark, about your career journey and John, about how you came to help co-found John's Crazy Socks, and the incredible work that you're doing together to really make a difference for people with differing abilities out in the world. Before we get to that, and before we get to John's Crazy Socks, because I could go down a rabbit hole there. First, I'd love to know more about you and your family. I know that you're both New Yorkers. Have you always lived in New York? Mark : So, we live in a town called Huntington on Long Island. I tell the story about that with John. He sometimes laughs at me about this. So, I grew up here on Long Island in part of Huntington, Huntington Station, and when I was 19, I set out for the world. I was leaving and I'm never coming back to Long Island. So in 1997, by that point we had three kids. Our eldest was in first grade and we had moved several times. And if you move two blocks with a little kid, their world turns upside. So we said, we'll buy a house and we'll stay in one place until you get out of college. And we wound up buying a house in Huntington Bay in Huntington, not out of college, out of high school. We said, we'll stay here. And there were a few times where boy, all I wanted to do was travel and move. Mark : There was one point I had this interesting opportunity in Hong Kong, and I sat the family down and I gave them a pitch and they all listened and they nodded and they said, "Dad, that sounds great. And why don't you send us a postcard when you get there, because we're not going." But then, so our two elders, they get up and leave and John, he got an extra three years of high school, but now he's in his final year of high school and I'm thinking, and my wife, Carol is also a Holy Cross grad. We're thinking we can move. We can relocate. Mark : Even after starting this business, we thought you could run an online business from the moon. We could go anywhere. Well, the good news is the business took off faster than we expected. So, we started with a three-year lease and now we have a bunch of employees, and I am going to die on Long Island. I'm not getting away. Maura : No. Well, and I can tell too, just from what I've seen in just the different media footage and the stories about the way you run John's Crazy Socks, is it's also a community organization. Mark : We think about community a lot, we think about the community here. I'm always wary of businesses that say, we're like a family. I don't know about that. But we're building a community there. We think about the community that we're building around here, our customers and supporters. But we also think about the local community and you've got to be good citizens. You got to be engaged in their community and giving back and involved. So, there is a lot of things we do, and that's important to us. Maura : Well, thinking about community and thinking about Holy Cross, because you're an alum from the class of 1980, I know community is a huge part of someone's time at Holy Cross. I'd love to hear about your days on the Hill and what brought you to Holy Cross from Long Island. Mark : So, a different day and age. Okay. I'm getting out of high school in 1976 and I really knew nothing. I didn't really know anything about looking at schools. At a college fair, I got a booklet that seemed interesting. I applied to three schools. I really applied to two. I applied to Holy Cross and Boston College. A third school came in and started recruiting me for football but by that point, I wasn't thinking of playing football. I got in both Holy Cross and Boston College, and was going back and forth. I didn't really know how to choose. So, Boston College had me up for a weekend with a group of students and they greeted us saying, we think you want the leaders of the class of 1980. Mark : And as soon as I heard that, I was like, well, I don't want to come here. If you think I'm one of your leaders, you're in trouble. So, I wound up at Holy Cross and there were a few points. Freshman year, where I was like, I don't know if this is really the right place. I thought of leaving, but once I made the commitment to stay, well, then you're all in. And like most things, the more you put in, the more you get out. And I was thinking, I just sent a package of socks to a guy named Father Carlson, who was my freshmen advisor. And I took him for a survey of Greek lit, but I was particularly thinking of one moment, just a small moment that altered the course of my life. Mark : It was sophomore year, second semester, sophomore year. And he called me in his office. I was trying to think, how did he get me? There was no email, there was no text. But he had me come into his office and he sat me down, and he was the head of the honors program. And he gave me a picture he said, "You should really apply for this." I was like, "Me. Nah." That's not how I thought of myself. I could talk. I was a pretty serious student, but I did a lot of other things too. I didn't do a lot of sleeping. Mark : I walked out of there and thought, oh. I still, I'm not very... I'm kind of... Not counting on it... To inviting you to an honors program. I was really not very smart because I'm thinking, well, I still don't have a chance. Not even thinking well, the head of the program asked me to do this. So I apply and got in the program. And now I spent my junior year at Trinity College in Ireland. Mark : But among the other little things, you got to take the seminars and it was so wonderful. So I took a seminar in non-Euclidean geometry with a guy named, I think his first name was Ted. Ted Cecil, math professor. It was just wonderful. Blew my mind of opening up the world and different ways of thinking. And I could tell the story a little bit, but on graduation, I wind up teaching math and religion. And first question was, did you study any math in college? Yes, I studied non-Euclidean geometry. Mark : And I got to spend a year working with Bob Cording, writing a thesis on a book-length poem by Galway Kinnell, called The Book of Nightmares. And I had met Galway because he was a visiting writing instructor, actually for the Worcester Consortium. So, I was able to take a poetry workshop with him when I was a sophomore. But to spend a year engaged in writing, I learned how to read, I learned how to write. It was so wonderful. Mark : So, just that experience and the confidence it gave me and helped me, it challenged me to think, you're really not that much of an idiot. But then jump ahead a couple of years, I'm bouncing around doing different things. I'm working for a Congressman in New York and I want to get into public policy, public affairs. He's advised me to go to law school. So I apply to some law schools, and I get something in the mail from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. And I read it and say, "This is what I should do." Mark : So, I apply there and I get in. Later, I served on the Admissions Committee at the Kennedy School and realize how the heck did I get in? And I know the crucial factor was, I was in the honors program and Holy Cross. So for some reason, Father Carlson took that time to call in this knucklehead and say, "You may want to do this." And in that way, it was just a conversation, but it had this impact on my life. And I'm 62 now and it's still blooming, and those are special moments. Maura : Well, and that's one of the things that I really enjoy is I get to have conversations with alums like you in this podcast, is to hear how many times individual people reaching out and knowing you as a person has a tremendous effect. And the fact that Holy Cross is small and allows people to get to know you and to see something in you that you didn't recognize in yourself at that moment. Mark : There were things you got to do. Some of this was day and age. So late seventies, there was so much freedom. My sophomore year, I realized that we were at this giant buffet table and it was all you could eat. You could get whatever you wanted. And so at the time, you would take four courses each semester, but you weren't limited to that. So I saw it as, well, naturally I'll take a fifth. I don't have to pay more. And then I would find out and sit in on other classes, then I would find out if you didn't see a class that you wanted, you could just make one up. Now I know Independent Studies, but that wasn't structured then, so sophomore year went to John Mayer, who was the chair of the English Department, and he taught myself and my two housemates a course on Bob Dylan, which was awesome. Maura : That's great. Mark : I remember mentioning it to my parents saying, "I'm taking a course on Dylan," and they were like, "What are you doing?" But it was awesome. Or senior year, my girlfriend, now my wife, we were college sweethearts. So she started on a course, which is not unusual at Holy Cross, of a bio pre-med and quickly wound up as an English major. But now, in senior year and she's got to make up some of her English credits. She's not seeing a lot, she can fill it up, but she needs one more course. We'll just find one. Mark : And I'm like, "Who are some of your favorite authors?" And she hits on Joseph Conrad. I said, "Great. We'll get a class on Conrad. You and I, we'll go do this." And she goes, "How are we going to do that?" "Don't worry." And so, Pat Bizzell in the English Department approached her and she said, "Sure, this would be great." So the two of us would read a book a week, and then we would meet with her, and how awesome is that to be able to have and go and do those things. There were a lot of things like that, but it's also, there were other things that were more extracurricular. Mark : So, sophomore year around Christmas, I read Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test about Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. And they would have what you would call today, a rave. And I'm reading this with the house band, The Warlocks, which changed their name to be the Grateful Dead. I'm reading this and I'm like, I would love to go to something like that. But what do I know? So then decided we'll have our own, and went off and did things, which now I look back like, wow, that was pretty good. I got a group of people together, today we could call a board. Everybody put money in, we sold tickets. We bought some things that we resold. I won't go into that even if the, what do they call it? The standards, the laws say that they can't arrest me anymore. And we had this three-day party with bands. It was just wonderful because you could go do that. Like again, different day and age. Mark : That year, I'm sleeping in Beaven, and every Wednesday night we had a cake party where we would charge money, and $1 would go to buy the cake for the next week, and 1$ would go towards this three-day party. So, I was learning to be an entrepreneur and then repeated it at a different level senior year. I came back from Ireland, wanted to do something and we created something called The Lunchbox Theater. During the lunch hour, we would put on plays and poetry readings, and concerts, and just had a blast doing this. And I'd run around and line people up and get people to agree to stage a play. What great fun. And we could go and do it. No one was going to stop you, and that it was encouraged and that was great. Maura : Well, and I can see now why you didn't sleep at all? Mark : No. Between that and work. I had a professor, Brendan Kenelly at Trinity College who would say, you go to university to find out what you don't know. And I didn't know. Eventually Father Carlson before, so I'm taking this Greek lit class freshman year, and now we come on to our first blue books, and I was in Carlin, which then was primarily a freshmen dorm. You could feel the stress level rising. And I'm like, well, I should be worried. I should do something. And that's when I realized I had no idea how to study. I had no idea how to take notes, no idea how to study. I didn't know really what to do. So I stayed up all night, re-read The Odyssey and The Iliad and I showed up with no sleep, but it's all fresh in my mind now. A lot of it, because I was so unsure of myself and insecurity that gets flipped sometimes as bravado. Mark : I remember it was a Bob Cording class sophomore year, and okay, different time and age, and I am ludicrous. It's a 10:30 or an 11 o'clock class and small class. I think everybody was a senior, I'm the only sophomore in the class. And I'm showing up in my bathrobe, sitting in the back of the class. And he turns, he hands out the first paper, and Bob was so diligent and detailed notes, but very demanding. Hands this out and he announces to the class, "I'm really disappointed and they're poor. And I'm telling you now, you're going to have to rewrite these." Because the highest grade, there were like two Cs and everybody else got a D. And I'm thinking, what the hell? People are slumping. He says, "But was one paper that just hit the mark and I'm going to read it to you." And he starts reading it. And all the people, I'm like several rows back from everybody, they're all looking at each other because they all know each other. Is that yours? Is that yours? Slowly they realize it's the freak in the back of the class. Mark : Again, it was somebody, Bob coming to me and saying... It's a lesson I had to keep learning. Don't be a fool. You can do things and now that becomes an obligation. You got to make something of that. Plus, there's friendships. I was texting last night with a buddy of mine from Holy Cross. We're still close. For a long time at that house that I mentioned, we would have like 25 people come down for president's weekend, bringing their families. We had this at a mini reunion. My wife, Carol, during the pandemic at six o'clock every Tuesday night, there's a Zoom call where they call themselves the Carlin Girls. They're in their sixties. They're not girls, but they do a Zoom call and they'll get 20 people in it. And every five years, they take a trip together and they go to Miami, or I guess, The Bahamas they've been to, all because there's this rich connection that was made at Holy Cross. Maura : It is. It's a special, my best friends in the world are from Holy Cross. It is, it's a special time, and it's nice when you can make those connections. It's amazing to see them last. Mark : And there's something about the Jesuit Mission and the liberal arts that always has you asking, inquiring and asking for more. It directly feeds into the business we have, which is a social enterprise. We have a social mission, and where do you get that from? Well, you get it from some of the activism and some of the yearning that was instilled in me in college. Maura : Well, and it seems like, looking at your career, from Holy Cross, you mentioned the Kennedy School, and then fast forward to today with John's Crazy Socks. It seems like, and I'd love to hear from you, but it seems like there's this thread of entrepreneurial-ism and mission and 'striving for the more' that seemed to be woven throughout your path. Mark : I look back and I guess I've always been an entrepreneur. I didn't always have the language to use it, but early on, everything and again, I didn't always necessarily have the language, but everything was mission-driven. So, I got out, I taught school for two years. Pure happenstance that I did that, I went to graduate school for literature. I was in a doctoral program and I'm sitting in there, sitting in a class the day the US invaded Grenada. And I don't know if people remember. It was this tiny island and we had to go rescue medical students. It was crazy. And I'm like, I should be doing something. So that's how I got the job at the Congressman. I showed up at his office and said, "I want to work with you." They said, "Well, we don't have any jobs." "That's all right. I'll volunteer. I just want experience." Mark : We move into a community and you'd connect. I can remember when we moved into Greenpoint, Brooklyn, we were early hipsters. It was before it boomed, and through the church and we set up a food bank, we set up a clothing depository. We work with the local recycling program to set something up, because you go and do that. I spent much of my career in the healthcare field. I wound up running the Medicaid health service program in New York City, and then ran a series of companies that were trying to figure out, how do you better deliver healthcare to the poor? How do we better organize care? Mark : But some of that Holy Cross thing was always there of the liberal arts and how do you pursue that mission and those values and still be carrying things out? But that wide interest, it fueled a lot. I started a software company. I ran political campaigns. I did a fair amount of writing. I published some of my less than really terrible fiction. And even this enterprise, we've now been doing this for four years, but people would say, well, when did you get into it? How long have you worked in retail? How long have you been in the sock game? Got no background in it. But I'm 62 today, everything I have done has prepared me for this moment. Everything I have done in my life has prepared me for this interview. Maura : Well, and that is the perfect segue to pull you into this John too, and to talk about John's Crazy Socks, and talk about the incredible work that you are doing. Because you're making a lot of change and you're doing a lot of good in the world through this company. Mark : We're very fortunate, but what are the two things you always talk about? John : Try to do for others. Mark : Try to do for others. It sounds trite, but the more we can do for others, the better off we are. We're living a dream. We get to do what we want to do. We have no excuses. We can't blame it on the board. We can't blame it on headquarters. And it also speaks to the way we run the business and our appearance. One of the internal ambitions, and I've always wanted this to be a way, I want this to be a great place to work. I want people to love working here. We work at that and you make that happen, and that runs through... What's our overall mission pal? John : Spread happiness. Mark : Spreading happiness. Well, you got to start at home and people got to be happy, and you have to understand it can't be lip service, it's got to drive through everything you do. So, here's an easy way. When it comes to customer service, you heard the old saw, the customer is always right. Nonsense. The customer can be damn wrong. But we're not in the business of being right. We're in the business of making customers happy. So, we don't limit any time that people spend with customers. People that work with our customers know they can spend 200 hours on any customer, at any time, doing anything they want, just go and wow that customer. Mark : We had something last week. Somebody had ordered something they said they were going to pay by check. That's pretty rare, somebody say they pay by check. And what our folks did was they said, "Okay," but they didn't fill the order until the check arrived. And when they did, it was an item we had sold out. So we sat and I said, let's think about this. First, in four years, maybe we've received 15 checks. It doesn't happen. Every time somebody says, they're going to send us a check, they send us a check. So, why not just live in a world where we trust people. And as soon as we get the order, we ship it out and trust that we're going to get the check. And my colleagues are looking and saying, "Can we do that?" "Why not? We can do whatever the hell we want to do." Mark : And they were like, "Well, what if people do this or that?" I said, "Nobody does that. Would you do that? So why don't we just treat people that way?" And it's so easy. And wouldn't you rather live in that world? Maura : Yes. Mark : Now, if we get burned, if all of a sudden people are fake, but it doesn't happen. We doing the same thing with our returns. You don't have to send us anything. Just let us know. If there's any problem we're going to replace it. We're going to give you your money back. We want to make you happy. What results of that? Well, if we treat you that way, you tell other people. Aren't people happy, because we're not going through stuff. We're just trying to make you happy, and our return rate last month, our refund rate was 0.6%. Businesses would kill to do that. We give away anything we can. Maura : Well, and I know that the origin story, if you will, of John's Crazy Socks is out there for people to read and to watch. But I'd love to hear from you about that moment, because I talk to so many people who dream of starting their own business. Who say, someday, I'd love to do this, but there's a very small percentage who actually do it. So what sparked that courage to really go and make this happen? Mark : Well, first of all, it is, again, it's much simpler than you think. Worst thing that happens is, you fail. And you go on. But ours grew out of a specific situation, this particular business, and origin stories matter. Because you take your DNA and they run through everything. So ours, it's the fall of 2016, and where were you buddy? John : I'm in school dad. Mark : Which school? John : Huntington High School. Mark : So, he's in Huntington High School in the states, and this is across the country. You can remain in high school until you either graduate or turn 21. If you have a disability, you can stay until you're 21. So this was going to be John's last year at school. Like everybody else, he's trying to figure out what do I do next? What are you looking at? John : I looked at shop programs in school. Mark : See anything you like? John : No, I never saw anything I liked. Mark : Well, the answer is, there's not a lot of great choices. John grew up in a household where he saw me starting different businesses and running things. And I'd like to say he's a natural entrepreneur, because he did things like that himself in school. I remember showing up at his summer school, we've got a summer program, and came into some and the principal came out and said, "I want to talk to you about John." And that was always good. Particularly my middle guy, Jamie, the principal comes, wants to talk to me, that's not good. That's the same way with me. But with John, okay. Well, it turned out John wanted to run a talent show, and he organized a talent show at the school. Never mentioned to me. He didn't think why I have to ask permission, I just go and do this. Mark : So, he doesn't see anything he like, the natural entrepreneur doesn't see that as a problem, but as an opportunity. So what do you tell me? John : I want to go into business with my dad. This is my idea. Mark : I was starting some online businesses. He comes and tells me that, it's like, okay, let's go do this. And traditionally, what you do in a business, once you get the idea, is you stop everything to prepare a business plan. Work out your competitive analysis, your market research, your operational projections, financial projections. We did none of that. We went what's known as the lean startup route. We were bootstrapping. Let's just get something up and running. I've worked with venture capitalists before and done that. We didn't want to do that. Just get something up and running. And he's the perfect partner because he just believes, of course this is going to work. Maura : Why wouldn't it? Mark : Why wouldn't it? And so much of what we've been able to do is why not? So, I'll let you know on something that's coming up on March 30th. This is top secret information. On March 30th, we're going to introduce our unity socks, which are blue socks with American flags on them. We want them to symbolize inclusivity and unity, and we get this idea. We want to give them to every member of Congress. So on March 30th, we have two local congressmen coming, a Republican and a Democrat, to help us introduce these socks, and we're going to give them to every member of Congress. We've already been invited to come up to Albany and do it in the New York State Legislature. And we see ourselves that we can go across the country, just symbolizing look what's possible. Have John be handing out these unity socks. What a wild, ridiculous idea and yet, okay, who's going to stop us? Maura : And yet it's so perfect. What a perfect idea. Mark : And it just grows. Not every idea is a good idea. We have bad ones. We do a lot of presentations. Right before this, we were speaking virtually to a school in New York City. Last week, we got a question from a high school student, need to ask permission from to do these things. It's like, no, that's part of the power. You don't have to ask anybody for permission. Just go and do and come back to... It's the nature of the social enterprise. You've got to have a mission. Mark : You can't be, we just want to make money. It's got to be something larger than yourself, an impact you want to have on the world. And when you're driven by that, it's so motivating. All the petty stuff falls away, and that's how you can go and connect with people. We get asked, what's the key ingredient? Which skill? A lot of it is just belief. If we have a mission to spread happiness, just believe. So when you ask on the origin story, okay, we'll find a way forward and we'll go test it. And it turned out it went well, right buddy. Maura : Well, I think even more than just believe, you talked about wanting to make a great place for people to work. And I think that the fact that you care about your employees, and you care about the people, both who work with you and who you serve, that is another really big piece. Mark : It's all the whole. So yes, our mission is to spread happiness. You do that by hiring people with differing abilities and showing what they can do, by giving back and by making personal connection with our customers. When it comes to this workplace, one of the things we're trying to share with other employers, hiring people with differing abilities is not altruism. It's good business. And what do we see? Morale is way up. Productivity is high, retention is through the roof and it helps us recruit. And it makes for a better workplace. You think the benefits would mainly accrue to the people with differing abilities, but everybody is better off and everybody is happier. Mark : But I've worked over the years into, in essence, a formula on employee engagement. One, you have to start with a mission in which people can believe. It's got to be something greater than ourselves. It's got to be something that can matter. Two, everybody has to know how they fit into the mission, how their job matters. There's no leg work. There's no, I'm just a cog in a machinery. Yes, our webmaster knows, but our sock wranglers, that's what we call the pickers on our pick and pack warehouse, they know their job matters. Mark : Three, put people in a position to succeed. Don't ask them to do what they can't do. Give them the tools. If they need a special chair, get them a chair. If they need a software tool, a webmaster needs some analytical tool, get that for them. As a manager, you have to be a leader. And in doing that, what you have to make clear to people is, I work for you. My job is to put you in a position to succeed and if you have problem, if you have a limitation, my job is to try to help remove that limitation. Mark : Four, recognize what people do. People care. It's as simple as saying, thank you. I saw you doing this. What you do matters. We value. And then the last, stay the hell out of the way. Let people do their jobs and they will thrive. But some of this comes down to, it's like a Christian thing. Do unto others, treat people the way you would like to be treated. If you treat people poorly, they will respond that way. If you treat people that I don't trust you, so I have to manage and inspect and micromanage, they will respond in kind. Maura : Well, and I know that you've had a lot of opportunities to spread this message. I recently saw that you joined this CEO Commission on Disability Employment. And I know when we've spoken before, you mentioned going before Congress in the past. Mark : We've been very fortunate. We've had a fair amount of media coverage. We've had some viral experiences, and we go out and basically proselytize. John, you love the speaking engagements, right. John : Yeah. I love speaking engagements. Mark : So yes, we've done things. We've testified twice before Congress, we've spoken to United Nations. We're part of the State Department Speakers Bureau. So they had us take a little speaking tour in Canada. We didn't get tour T-shirts made up, next time we will. And yes, we're on the CEO Commission for Disability Employment. And I laugh. This was founded by Voya Financial and the Society of Human Resource Managers. How are we on this? Like, we're on this National Autism @ Work Roundtable with IBM and Microsoft and Ernst & Young and Warner Brothers, and John's Crazy Socks? Mark : We appreciate the opportunities and you could go back to Rome and find this motto, and you can see it with the Kennedy's and with Spider-Man. To those who are given opportunities, come great responsibilities. So I'll give you an anecdote on that. We're down on Capitol Hill, and we get a phone call here in New York in the office, from a customer in Houston who says, "I see that John and Mark are on Capitol Hill. My mother works there. She's a big fan of John's, would it be possible for them to meet my mom?" Person says, "Sure. Here's Mark's cell phone. Just text him your mom's name and contact information and he'll do it." Who's mom? Nancy Pelosi. Mark : So now, we get an audience with Nancy Pelosi and forget about right wing, left wing. We vilify our politicians too often, or deify them. They're just people. She's a grandmother. She comes in, her eyes light up seeing John, and she brings out pictures of socks that she gave former President Bush, because John had become a sock buddy with former President Bush, George H W Bush, where they exchanged letters and socks, and all this is great. We take photos, but now we have this opportunity that creates an obligation. Mark : So it's yes, but Ms. Pelosi, we have to talk about some other matters. One, we have to talk about repealing section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standard Act of 1938, great piece of American legislation. It created the 40 hour workweek, it eliminated child labor, it created overtime. But it allows employers to pay people with a disability less than minimum wage. So, there are 400,000 people being paid as little as five cents an hour. And we are grateful that we have this opportunity, but we are now going to take advantage of this. Mark : I'll give you a recent one where, despite our best efforts, we contracted the COVID virus, John, my wife and myself. And for Christmas, we gave John a hospital stay. He was admitted on Christmas Day, it was dicey for a few days. People say it's nothing, it's just the flu. Now very healthy, got out eight days later. So, we held an event at the hospital because we know we can attract media attention. So we went back to the hospital and you got to thank everybody, right? John : I did. Mark : But we also used it to do two other things. One, to raise awareness about the risk that people with down syndrome face, they're not more likely to get the virus, but if they do, five times more likely to be hospitalized, 10 times more likely to die. So, we want to get that word out. The other thing, the hospital let me stay with John the entire time, even when he was, because things went bad for a day or two. When they moved him to the critical care unit, they let me stay. Now, Federal Regulations require that people with a disability, that they get access to their caregivers. That's not the way it's practiced, particularly during COVID. So, we wanted to highlight look, this is better for everybody. That there's always a little medicine with the sugar. Mark : So, we keep driving that mission and you can't separate the two. We'd like to make money, we'd like to live indoors, like to pay the rent. And if the business doesn't succeed, then we'll go home and all this stops. So you got to make that happen, but like the giving back. So, we baked into it from day one. We donate 5% of our earnings where? John : Special Olympics. Mark : Special Olympics. Why the special Olympics? John : I'm a Special Olympics athlete. Mark : And then we've created a whole series of products that celebrate causes and raise money for charity partners. So the first one was a down syndrome awareness sock, raises money for the National Down Syndrome Society. But more recent ones, an EMT tribute sock raises money for a local EMT squad. Last April, we wanted to thank people. We introduced healthcare, superhero socks, and they've raised over $50,000 for frontline workers. Mark : And there have been different points when very smart people have said to me, you're not making money. What are you doing making these donations. But we wouldn't have the business we have if we weren't doing that. Willingness for the long haul. So, among things that are really cool, our little business we've raised over $400,000 for our charity partners. Maura : That's amazing. Mark : John here is a special Olympic athlete, who's raised over $100,000 for the special Olympics. We make sure everybody who works here knows they're all philanthropists. It's very cool. We're so fortunate. So in the end, we are these knuckleheads running a sock business and this is a small business, and all we want to do is change the world. How much fun? Maura : And you're doing it too. That's the incredible thing. Is even if it's in small ways, as you showed all of these donations, one pair of sock here, the one conversation there, it's changing hearts and minds. Mark : That has been the thing that has surprised us the most, and it's still hard to wrap our minds around and we have to be really careful about. But people take inspiration and there is a deep, emotional connection. I could tell you all sorts of stories of things we get to see, but I'll tell you one that my wife likes me to tell because I tear up sometimes. Mark : The National Down Syndrome Society sponsors Buddy Walks around the country, but the biggest one is in New York City. Before it starts, they rent a billboard in the city in Times Square, and they want like a video with faces on it of people with down syndrome. So, we go there and John's like a rock star in that community. People are swarming him. But a woman comes up to me and just hugs me and says, "Thank you." Mark : Okay, what's going on? And she explains that she is from Curacao, an island just off of Venezuela. And she tells us that her daughter had gotten pregnant and tested that she was going to have a child with down syndrome. She explained that on Curacao, people were ashamed of people with disabilities, that they hide them. It's something they don't want deal with, talk about it. And in fact, everybody knew that her doctor said, "This is what you're going to do. You're going to get an abortion." And to me, this is not really an abortion story. This was just, this was grant. This is what's going to happen. And the family came home and they saw a news story about John and John's Crazy Socks. Mark : And she said, it changed their entire outlook. And she introduced us to her one year old son. How awesome. We get people coming up to us all the time, thanking us and telling us how they want to do this with their child, or it gave them hope. And we have to be careful. We have nothing special. We're just out doing these things and sharing. So when John stands up in front of a crowd, be it 10 people at a SEPTA, be at 22,000 people at Madison Square Garden, and they see what he can do, it changes people's minds. And we are very fortunate to be able to do that. Maura : I think you really are living that mission of spreading happiness and of doing great things with the opportunities that you've been afforded. Mark : We've been given a lot. We had our family and I could go on about my other boys and the love of my life. We'll be married 40 years. John : It's 39 years still. Mark : It's still 39, I know. Mark : There's a reasonable chance that we'll make it to June. Reasonable chance. Maura : Fingers crossed. Mark : Well, you know. I'm still a Dylan fan. There's that line, when I see you, I don't know if I want to kiss you or kill you. A lot a marriage in that. Here's just some of what we get to do, and how fortunate. We get to see minor miracles all the time. So one of our colleagues, Thomas, his mother calls us in October of 2017 and says, "I understand you hire people like my son. I need you to give him a job." We're not hiring, we'll post when we are. She calls every day and the moms are persistent. She's not the only one who's done this. So I got on the phone with her and I said, "Well, tell me about Thomas." Mark : She says, "Well, he's early twenties. He's on the autism spectrum. And he's in a very bad way. He's very depressed. We have trouble getting him to come out of his room. He won't shower or shave. He doesn't want to deal with anybody. We can't get him to join any programs or activities. It's so bad he hasn't spoken to his father in over six months." Sounds like a great employee. Mark : So, we have an opening and bring him out. And the opening is for our sock wrangler position, that's kind of our entry level position. We pay $15 an hour to start because everybody, you got to pay a fair wage. The way you get the job, you meet with John and me. We want to make sure you understand the mission and our values. Then one of our current sock wranglers will train you and they love doing it. You've trained people. John : Yes. Mark : They love doing it. And then when you're ready, you have to pass the sock wrangler test. You got to pick six orders, 30 minutes or less, show us you can do the job. Well, Thomas comes out and after an hour of training, says, "I'm ready." And he passes that test as if he was put on this earth to be a sock wrangler. Today, on the days he works, Thomas is ready, showered and shaved at 6:30 in the morning for his father to drive one hour to work. When he gets in here, the young man who wouldn't look at anybody or talk to anybody, goes around and wishes everybody in the building a good morning. Mark : I want to be really clear here. We did nothing. We did no special training, no government funding, no special programs. All we did was give Thomas the opportunity to earn a job, and how fortunate are we? And so Holy Cross, the imprint that studying and understanding the liberal arts in the way it gets you to think and prepare, the way you imbue. Some of this comes from studying literature. You imbue different levels, different things all in the same action. That runs through what we do. I've spoken to students. Mark : So, I was an English major, I got out in 1980. There was no internet. Fax machines had not come, they've come and gone. There were no cell phones. We run an E-commerce business, I couldn't have studied that if I wanted to. But the liberal arts let you understand how to learn, how to figure things out, and so this runs through what we do today. And a lot of my classmates would be shocked to think that someone would be interviewing me for a Holy Cross alumni network. You've met those friends. John : I do. Mark : Paul, you should be talking to him. Paul Miles running a charter school and John Flynn, who's got this bicycle recycling program in Hartford. Charlie Brown or Chris Potter and Sue Mack and all these good people. Maureen, lots of good stuff. Maura : John, what's the best part for you about working with your dad? John : One thing I love working with my dad, I'm so lucky to be where he is. I'm never without my dad. He always, I've changed I can, if possible. I love my dad. Third and lastly, about my dad going to Holy Cross. I am a proud son because I am so, so happy of him being my father. Mark : What about your mom? You got to speak up for her, right? John : Yeah. I'll never forget mom. I am proud son. I am so proud of my dad, my mom accomplished. They are amazing accomplished. Mark : And you like hearing the stories of how we met, right? John : Oh yeah. Dad is so romantic. Mark : Romantic? Ricky, Kevin and I were looking for beer. And I can tease something for you. I'm not going any further than this. I've read in the alumni magazine and seen references to the fingers on the Jesus statue in the quad. I can tell you I was there and I know what happened. But that's it. No names, no details. Maura : Living mystery. That's what that is. Well, and my last question, this has just been really wonderful. What is your favorite pair of socks? Mark : What's your favorite pair? John : My favorite pair, my down syndrome superhero socks. Mark : Down syndrome superhero socks. Maura : Yes, that sounds like a good pair. Mark : Whose face is on those socks? John : Me. Mark : You. Maura : Good choice. Mark : You're a funny boy. Maura : I think we'll all have to check out that pair of socks. This has been an absolute pleasure. Is there anything else you want to share with listeners before we go? John : I want to say something. It's something that I said before... Mark : Go ahead. John : I am so proud of my dad's career. I am so proud of my dad's career and college. I am a proud son. I love my dad and what he did. It's wonderful. Mark : Well, there's a late poem from Yates where he recounts his achievements and those were notable, part of the revolution, part of the day of the Senate, winning a Nobel prize. But the refrain is what then sang Plato's ghost, what then are you going to do for me next? And we get to keep doing things, right? John : I love you dad. Mark : My boy. Maura : Thank you both so much. This has been just such a pleasure. John : I'm so proud of you Dad. Mark : Well, you let us know if there's ever something we can do. You got to put the pitch in. Where do people get stuff? John : At JohnsCrazySocks.com. Mark : There you go. Maura : Perfect. Yes. And I can say, I treated the alumni relations team to a pair of donut socks last year for Christmas, and they have been a big hit. So, I am a fan of John's Crazy Socks. Thank you for everything that you do. Mark : Well, thank you. John : I'm a big fan of my dad. Mark : You're a fan of your dad. Boy, you are being nice to me today. Maura : That's our show. I hope you enjoyed hearing about just one of the many ways that Holy Cross alumni have been inspired by the Mission to be people for and with others. A special thanks to today's guests and everyone at Holy Cross, who has contributed to making this podcast a reality. If you or someone you know, would like to be featured on this podcast, then please send us an email at alumnicareers@holycross.edu. If you like what you hear, then please leave us a review. This podcast is brought to you by the Office of Alumni Relations at the College of the Holy Cross. You can subscribe for future episodes wherever you find your podcasts. I'm your host, Maura Sweeney, and this is Mission-Driven. In the words of St. Ignatius of Loyola, now go forth and set the world on fire. Theme music composed by Scott Holmes, courtesy of freemusicarchive.org.

In my program today, as a follow up to last week's podcast, I explore immigration more widely and read poems by poets who consider the framework of immigration and the destinies of those who find themselves crossing borders, legally or illegally, to find a new home.  I read poems by Woody Guthrie, Galway Kinnell, Blas Manuel de Luna, Tishani Doshi, Tracy K. Smith, Lory Bedikian, and Adrienne Su. I end the program with one of my own poems.

Here's a very short poem by one of my favorite poets, Galway Kinnell: "Prayer." Just three lines, no invocation, no "amen"--instead, an elliptical, lyrical strangeness that gets to the heart of being human, summed up in a form that's usually addressed to the deity. Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I work out the ways this poem has hit me in recent weeks, the ways it's become a mantra in my mind as I go about my days. I'm not a religious person. It's all the prayer I could ever recite. But it's enough.

I’m there with every breath of yours even after I have lost mine.

In this episode, have you made the decision to make kindness a superpower, but have also come to realize that it will take some work on your part? Today, we engage in the ‘the work’, the internal practice of building kindness so that it becomes a foundation for transforming our lives with more kindness. Let’s walk! “Love expands us, connects us, sweetens us, ennobles us. Love springs up in tender concern, it blossoms into caring action. It makes beauty out of all we touch. In any moment we can step beyond our small self and embrace each other as beloved parts of a whole.”Jack Kornfield “With mindfulness, loving kindness, and self-compassion, we can begin to let go of our expectations about how life and those we love should be.”Sharon Salzberg “The budstands for all things,even for those things that don’t flower,for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing; though sometimes it is necessaryto reteach a thing its loveliness,to put a hand on its browof the flowerand retell it in words and in touchit is lovelyuntil it flowers again from within, of self-blessing.”Galway Kinnell

Heather reads "On the Oregon Coast" by Galway Kinnell.

Galway Kinnell - 1927-2014 Wait Wait, for now. Distrust everything if you have to. But trust the hours. Haven’t they carried you everywhere, up to now? Personal events will become interesting again. Hair will become interesting. Pain will become interesting. Buds that open out of season will become interesting. Second-hand gloves will become lovely again; their memories are what give them the need for other hands. The desolation of lovers is the same: that enormous emptiness carved out of such tiny beings as we are asks to be filled; the need for the new love is faithfulness to the old. Wait. Don’t go too early. You’re tired. But everyone’s tired. But no one is tired enough. Only wait a little and listen: music of hair, music of pain, music of looms weaving our loves again. Be there to hear it, it will be the only time, most of all to hear your whole existence, rehearsed by the sorrows, play itself into total exhaustion. Copyright © 1980 by Galway Kinnell. From Mortal Acts, Mortal Words (Mariner Books, 1980). --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/wileyfoxes/message

December is a month of anticipation and waiting. It is not only the season of Advent that defines this month, with its promise of new light and its groundwork of redemption as the month concludes, but it is also a month that clearly frames the idea and fact of waiting as an essential parameter of human life. I read poems about waiting in that light by William Butler Yeats, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Galway Kinnell, Pablo Neruda, Alice Walker, and Walt Whitman.  I end the program with one of my own poems.

Amanda Holmes reads Galway Kinnell’s poem, “Wait.” Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode of Poetry for Men, I read the exquisite "Last Gods” by the 20th century American poet Galway Kinnell. This graphic poem depicting a man and woman making passionate love weaves together both personal and mythological themes to produce a result that attains, to me, the status of high art. It has become one of my favorite poems of all time, and though it's taken an act of courage to read, the process was very much worth it. I hope you agree, and that this poem moves you as much as it does me. To read "Last Gods" online, click here For more about Galway Kinnell, click here To watch Galway Kinnell on YouTube, click here To hear Galway Kinnell read this poem on Spotify, click here To order "The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart", click here. Visit https://renofmen.com to sign up to be notified about exciting upcoming news. Follow The Renaissance of Men on Instagram and Twitter

In this episode, have you made the decision to make kindness a superpower, but have also come to realize that it will take some work on your part? Today, we engage in the ‘the work’, the internal practice of building kindness so that it becomes a foundation for transforming our lives with more kindness. Let’s walk! “Love expands us, connects us, sweetens us, ennobles us. Love springs up in tender concern, it blossoms into caring action. It makes beauty out of all we touch. In any moment we can step beyond our small self and embrace each other as beloved parts of a whole.”Jack Kornfield “With mindfulness, loving kindness, and self-compassion, we can begin to let go of our expectations about how life and those we love should be.”Sharon Salzberg “The budstands for all things,even for those things that don’t flower,for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing; though sometimes it is necessaryto reteach a thing its loveliness,to put a hand on its browof the flowerand retell it in words and in touchit is lovelyuntil it flowers again from within, of self-blessing.”Galway Kinnell

Hello folks. Welcome to episode 34 of POET-THREAD w/ckhanson81. In this episode I talk about the cool poet, Galway Kinnell. I read his biography that may be found in the second edition of The Vintage Book Of Contemporary American Poetry edited by J.D. McClatchy and I also read a poem of his called "The Vow". I also touch on a tangential theme of The medieval Troubadours from circa the 12-13th century Europe. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ckhanson81/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ckhanson81/support

The return of like eight people's favorite podcast (grateful 4 the 8)! We talk about Galway Kinnell, mostly looking at The Book of Nightmares -- a book-length wild ride of a poem (not as spooky as it sounds, folks). https://youtu.be/Iagzm8qFwCQ for video

Today’s episode features a poem by Galway Kinnell, called “Wait,” promising that “Personal events will become interesting again.”

Today's poem is Galway Kinnell's "St. Francis and the Sow." See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

You know the way it feels when you’re fired, or when you find out a bunch of friends were all at a celebration you weren’t invited to, or when someone you love breaks up with you? Like, wait, I mattered that little to you? I'm nothing to you? Even, or especially, when you tried so hard. Words by Winter: Conversations, reflections, and poems about the passages of life. Because it’s rough out there, and we have to help each other through.Original theme music composed and performed by Dylan Perese. Additional music by musician Kelly Krebs. Galway Kinnell’s poem "St. Francis and the Sow" was read by writer and voice actor Luke O’Brien and used with permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Artwork by Mark Garry. Words by Winter can be reached at wordsbywinterpodcast@gmail.com.

Connor and Jack close out Poetry Month 2020 with a series of shorter episodes about short poems that can be comforting springboards to reflection and contemplation. To begin with, a simple, untitled piece by Ezra Pound. The conversation encompasses quinces, John Mulaney, Galway Kinnell's poem "Blackberry Eating," and much more. Mediterranean March Black cat on the quince branch mousing blossoms Find us on Facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking 
Find us on Twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking
 Find us on Instagram: @closetalkingpoetry You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com.

Zolang de coronacrisis duurt deelt Daan Doesborgh in een wekelijks Poëziebulletin audioboodschappen van dichters met een wereld die wel wat hoop en poëzie kan gebruiken. Deze week gedichten van en door Bart Moeyaert, Vicky Francken, Chantal Dupuy-Dunier, Jonathan Griffioen, Charles Bukowski, Joost Oomen, Erik Lindner, Elske van Lonkhuyzen, Menno Wigman, Sergio Garau, Nadia de Vries, Galway Kinnell, Maarten van der Graaff, Mina Loy en Francis Ponge. Muziek door Winterjong. Ook een gedicht insturen? Neem je voordracht op en mail 'm naar poeziepodcast@gmail.com.

"When creatures don't have an extraordinary beauty, it's because the person in contact with them is not seeing it," said pulitzer-prize winning poet Galway Kinnell, whose poem about pigs ends this episode. It's not an easy episode, but nothing worth talking about ever is.  From Original Broadcast:  Today’s episode is dedicated to pigs – how wonderful they are, how we misrepresent them, and what affect our perception of them has on our treatment of them. Pigs are exploited and used by humans in a variety of ways: as research tools, as “food animals,” in high school science classes, as entertainment in a blood sport called “hog-baiting” or “hog dogging,” as victims of hunting and the cycle of violence inherent in slaughterhouses. Even our language about them contributes to our abuse of them. Take a listen, share, and let me know what you think.  Today's episode, like all episodes, is brought to you by listeners like you. Become a supporter today at patreon.com/colleenpatrickgoudreau.

Dolly talks bird-feeding and rabid Game of Thrones fans who want to re-make the ending; Pandora ponders what Spice Girl merch to get her hands on; and we discuss Oxbridge's first appointment of its first black female master.In this episode, a talk-gone-viral from Hay Festival, by behavioural scientist and LSE scientist Paul Dolan, who claimed that women without a spouse and children are happier. We call on the words of Grace Dent, Corinne Fisher and Terri Gross; Simone de Beauvoir and Jacqueline Rose in order to try and determine what makes a happy woman (and is it ever possible to contrast two very different lives?)We also muse upon the Moby vs. Natalie Portman row, after the musician claimed in his memoir that they dated when she was 20; she says they didn't date - oh and she was 18. What does this story tell us about about entitlement, fact-checking and truth-telling?E-mail thehighlowshow@gmail.comTweet@thehighlowshowThe Salt Path by Raynor WinnYears and Years, on BBC iPlayerMothers, by Jacqueline RoseHadley Freeman on the pro-life lobby, for The Guardian https://bit.ly/2HFQmjg Eva Wiseman on why life is shades of grey, for The Observer magazine https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/may/26/why-are-arguments-always-so-black-and-white-reality-televisionTerri Gross on not having kids, on The Longest Short podcast https://longestshortesttime.com/episode-79-terry-gross-on-not-having-kids/The C Word on Luminary: https://bit.ly/2HHhVsz The Scarcity Mindset by Octavia Bright: https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/a27527675/scarcity-mindset-competition-women/ Laura Snapes reviews The Spice Girls reunion show: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/may/25/spice-girls-review-nostalgia-live-croke-park-dublinNina Stibbe on The Adam Buxton podcast: https://soundcloud.com/adam-buxton/podcast-ep90-nina-stibbe Wait by Galway Kinnell: https://poets.org/poem/wait Grace Dent and Sian Harries on not having children: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09jd32d Arwa Mahdawi on Moby and nice-guy misogyny: https://bit.ly/2HDM7op See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

What's left when the communication between a poet and his reader is finished? Understanding? Compassion? No, loneliness, the beating heart of every work of art that seeks to bridge the gap between its creator and its audience.

Happy holidays! In this wholesome edition of This is Just To Say poet and novelist Carrie Fountain joins Girl Scout Troop 42607 from Lee Elementary School to discuss the meaning of “Crying” by Galway Kinnell.

Happy holidays! In this wholesome edition of This is Just To Say poet and novelist Carrie Fountain joins Girl Scout Troop 42607 from Lee Elementary School to discuss the meaning of “Crying” by Galway Kinnell.

Happy holidays! In this wholesome edition of This is Just To Say poet and novelist Carrie Fountain joins Girl Scout Troop 42607 from Lee Elementary School to discuss the meaning of “Crying” by Galway Kinnell.

This is what we came up with for the Galway Kinnell Poetry Festival. Make sure you check out our website for details about this session and the upcoming class with Frequency Writers! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/endlessbeautiful/support

| email morningpoemsradio@gmail.com to participate |

Rachel Zucker talks to acclaimed, award winning poet Sharon Olds about dope, talking nicely to yourself when you’re alone, noticing one’s tiniest thoughts, the advantages of being an “ordinary enough” person, Brenda Hillman and Community of Writers (formerly known as Squaw Valley), teaching, the rhythm of writing, Odes, sharing poems, being truthful, Galway Kinnell, how to deal with bad reviews, how to deal with praise, envy, talent, self-esteem, jealousy, heteromania, eros, intimacy, anger, dancing, parent-child separation and so much more.

Kinnell's much-anthologized poem about blackberries from his 1980 collection "Mortal Acts, Mortal Words" takes us out into the New England blackberry thickets, bursting with fruit as the year winds down--and bursting, apparently, with words, big "lumps" as he calls them, that burst on the tongue like those blackberries. It's an allegory of writing poetry, sure. But it's also a hymn to enjoying the extravagant pleasures of the world while you can.

Kinnell's honest, quiet, private poem about sex--and its constant reminder in the physical world in the body of the child you create. A gorgeously realized meditation in the finest transcendental fashion from this burly New England poet.  

Over the course of 30 years, Raymond Danowski amassed what was likely the largest private collection of poetry. In 2004, he decided to place his library at Emory University. In 2008, he reflected back on what motivated him to start collecting poetry and why he chose Emory. Since fall 2005, The Raymond Danowski Poetry Library's curator Kevin Young has directed a reading series that has already boasted some of the best poets from America and abroad, from Sonia Sanchez and Simon Armitage to National Book Award-winner Lucille Clifton, Inaugural Poet Elizabeth Alexander, and Pulitzer Prize–winners Galway Kinnell, Rita Dove, and Emory’s own Natasha Trethewey.

Over the course of 30 years, Raymond Danowski amassed what was likely the largest private collection of poetry. In 2004, he decided to place his library at Emory University. In 2008, he reflected back on what motivated him to start collecting poetry and why he chose Emory. Since fall 2005, The Raymond Danowski Poetry Library's curator Kevin Young has directed a reading series that has already boasted some of the best poets from America and abroad, from Sonia Sanchez and Simon Armitage to National Book Award-winner Lucille Clifton, Inaugural Poet Elizabeth Alexander, and Pulitzer Prize–winners Galway Kinnell, Rita Dove, and Emory’s own Natasha Trethewey.

Over the course of 30 years, Raymond Danowski amassed what was likely the largest private collection of poetry. In 2004, he decided to place his library at Emory University. In 2008, he reflected back on what motivated him to start collecting poetry and why he chose Emory. Since fall 2005, The Raymond Danowski Poetry Library's curator Kevin Young has directed a reading series that has already boasted some of the best poets from America and abroad, from Sonia Sanchez and Simon Armitage to National Book Award-winner Lucille Clifton, Inaugural Poet Elizabeth Alexander, and Pulitzer Prize–winners Galway Kinnell, Rita Dove, and Emory’s own Natasha Trethewey.

Over the course of 30 years, Raymond Danowski amassed what was likely the largest private collection of poetry. In 2004, he decided to place his library at Emory University. In 2008, he reflected back on what motivated him to start collecting poetry and why he chose Emory. Since fall 2005, The Raymond Danowski Poetry Library's curator Kevin Young has directed a reading series that has already boasted some of the best poets from America and abroad, from Sonia Sanchez and Simon Armitage to National Book Award-winner Lucille Clifton, Inaugural Poet Elizabeth Alexander, and Pulitzer Prize–winners Galway Kinnell, Rita Dove, and Emory’s own Natasha Trethewey.

Over the course of 30 years, Raymond Danowski amassed what was likely the largest private collection of poetry. In 2004, he decided to place his library at Emory University. In 2008, he reflected back on what motivated him to start collecting poetry and why he chose Emory. Since fall 2005, The Raymond Danowski Poetry Library's curator Kevin Young has directed a reading series that has already boasted some of the best poets from America and abroad, from Sonia Sanchez and Simon Armitage to National Book Award-winner Lucille Clifton, Inaugural Poet Elizabeth Alexander, and Pulitzer Prize–winners Galway Kinnell, Rita Dove, and Emory’s own Natasha Trethewey.

John's about to head Ed-ward (Edwardward?) on his book tour, and Oscar's about to enjoy his first fully cognizant Halloween, on which he will watch his father eat candy. Ed and John talk about writing habits and whether John's peculiar manuscript is a book, and Ed tells the joke about the hog and reads a Galway Kinnell poem.

Galway Kinell was the sixth poet to read in the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library Reading Series and read in 2007. American poet Galway Kinnell's writing career spans more than five decades. In 1983 he received both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for Selected Poems (1982). His other volumes of poetry include: The New Selected Poems (2000), a finalist for the National Book Award; Imperfect Thirst (1996); When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone (1990); Mortal Acts, Mortal Words (1980); and Body Rags (1968). In 2002 he was awarded the Frost Medal for Lifetime Achievement by the Poetry Society of America.

2012-03-14 - Flowering, From Within, of Self-Blessing - This line from poet Galway Kinnell reminds us of the possibility of meeting our inner life with a loving, healing presence. When we do, we loosen the trance of unworthiness and reconnect with our intrinsic goodness. In turn, we can offer our blessings to others--serving as reminders of the awareness and love that can blossom in all beings. Please support this podcast by donating at www.tarabrach.com or www.imcw.org. Imagine if even 10% of listeners gave $10 a month? The audio could be self-supporting!

Galway Kinnell was born February 1, 1927 in Providence, Rhode Island. He has been hailed as one of the most influential American poets of the latter half of the 20th century. Educated at Princeton and Rochester Universities, he served in the United States Navy, after which he spent several years traveling, in Europe and the Middle East. His first book of poems, What a Kingdom It Was, was published in 1960, followed by Flower Herding on Mount Monadnock (1964). Upon his return to the United States, Kinnell joined CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) as a field worker and spent much of the 1960s involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Social activism during this time found its way into his work – Body Rags (1968), and especially The Book of Nightmares (1971), a book-length poem concerned with the Vietnam War. Other books of poetry include Selected Poems (1980), for which he received both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, Imperfect Thirst (1996); When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone (1990) and A New Selected Poems (2000), a finalist for the National Book Award; He has also published translations of works by Yves Bonnefroy, Yvanne Goll, François Villon, and Rainer Maria Rilke. Honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Rockefeller Grant, the 1974 Shelley Prize of the Poetry Society of America, and the 1975 Medal of Merit from National Institute of Arts and Letters. He has served as poet-in-residence at numerous colleges and universities, and as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 2001 to 2007. We met recently at his home in Vermont to talk about his work. 

Recordings of poet Galway Kinnell, with an introduction to his life and work. Recorded September 19, 2007, New York, NY.

Internationally renowned as a performance poet, Patricia Smith is four-time national individual champion of the notorious and wildly popular poetry slam, an energized competition where poets are judged on the content and performance of their work. She is also regarded as one of the few performance poets whose work translates effortlessly to the page. Indeed, the Small Press Review declares, "Smith writes the way Tina Turner sings." Smith's most recent collection, Teahouse of the Almighty , was chosen by Ed Sanders for the 2005 National Poetry Series, and was published by Coffee House Press in 2006. Her three previous books of poetry are, Close to Death (Zoland Books), Big Towns, Big Talk (Zoland Books), and Life According to Motown (Tia Chucha). She has won the prestigious Carl Sandburg Award, as well as a literary award from the Illinois Arts Council and an honorary degree from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. In 2006, she was inducted into the International Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent, putting her in the company of Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Alice Walker, and others. She was featured in the nationally-released film "Slamnation", and was a featured poet on the award-winning HBO series "Def Poetry Jam." Smith has shared the stage with Adrienne Rich, Rita Dove, Joyce Carol Oates, Allen Ginsburg, Walter Mosley, Ntozake Shange, Gwendolyn Brooks, Galway Kinnell and Viggo Morgensen. An author of prose as well poetry, Smith wrote Africans in America (Harcourt Brace), a chronicle of slavery in this country and the companion volume to the groundbreaking four-part PBS series.

In the 2003 National Book Award judges' citation for his New Selected Poems, Kinnell was called "America's preeminent visionary," with work in 12 collections that, "greets each new age with rapture and abundance ... [and] sets him at the table with his mentors: Rilke, Whitman and Frost."

Today's episode is dedicated to pigs - how wonderful they are, how we misrepresent them in our society, and what affect that has on our treatment of them. Pigs are exploited and used by humans in a variety of ways: as research tools, as "food animals," in high school science classes, as entertainment in a blood sport called "hog-baiting" or "hog dogging," as victims of hunting. We also talk about how our language shapes our perception of them and, thus, our treatment of them, and we examine the cycle of violence inherent in hiring men to work in slaughterhouses, desensitizing them to violence, and then essentially supporting abusive and sadistic behavior - just because we like bacon. The cycle of violence makes its final stop in the homes of these slaughterhouse workers, where alcoholism and domestic abuse is commonplace. Finally, we end on a positive note with a beautiful poem by Pulitzer-prize winning poet, Galway Kinnell - who pays homage to our porcine friends in "St Francis and the Sow."

In celebration of National Poetry Month, we are delighted to bring you a special April episode of The Poetic Voice. This episode includes selections from The Poetic Voice's inaugural year and features eight poets - both modern masters and fresh voices - reading from their work. Contents: Donald Hall reads "Affirmation" from White Apples and the Taste of Stone; David Tucker reads "The Dancer" from Late for Work; Michael Collier reads "Birds Appearing in a Dream" from Dark Wild Realm; Ron Slate reads "The Final Call" from The Incentive of the Maggot; Natasha Trethewey reads "Self" from Native Guard; Galway Kinnell reads "Middle Path" from Strong Is Your Hold; Glyn Maxwell reads "Harry In The Dark" from The Sugar Mile; and Alan Shapiro reads the first and second sections of "Tantalus In Love" from Tantalus In Love.

In celebration of National Poetry Month, we are delighted to bring you a special April episode of The Poetic Voice. This episode includes selections from The Poetic Voice's inaugural year and features eight poets - both modern masters and fresh voices - reading from their work. Contents: Donald Hall reads "Affirmation" from White Apples and the Taste of Stone; David Tucker reads "The Dancer" from Late for Work; Michael Collier reads "Birds Appearing in a Dream" from Dark Wild Realm; Ron Slate reads "The Final Call" from The Incentive of the Maggot; Natasha Trethewey reads "Self" from Native Guard; Galway Kinnell reads "Middle Path" from Strong Is Your Hold; Glyn Maxwell reads "Harry In The Dark" from The Sugar Mile; and Alan Shapiro reads the first and second sections of "Tantalus In Love" from Tantalus In Love.

This episode features Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Galway Kinnell reading from and discussing his eleventh collection, Strong Is Your Hold. In conversation with Houghton Mifflin's Janet Silver, Vice President and Publisher of Adult Trade Books, Galway Kinnell discusses his influences, his revision process, and how the events of 9/11 shaped this work. Strong Is Your Hold includes a CD recording of Galway Kinnell reading the entire collection.

This episode features Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Galway Kinnell reading from and discussing his eleventh collection, Strong Is Your Hold. In conversation with Houghton Mifflin's Janet Silver, Vice President and Publisher of Adult Trade Books, Galway Kinnell discusses his influences, his revision process, and how the events of 9/11 shaped this work. Strong Is Your Hold includes a CD recording of Galway Kinnell reading the entire collection.

When One Has Lived A Long Time Alone The poet discusses the solitude necessary for poetry and the ways in which the imagination keeps us from suicide.