Poems for Company

“Children Thinking”: This episode features the voices of children–filtered through adult poets–in three poems that express a variety of insights.  These poems may prompt you to wonder, did you once think like these three children?  The poems are read in this order: William Wordsworth, “We Are Seven” (originally published in 1798).  Elizabeth Bishop, “In the Waiting Room,” from The Complete Poems 1927-1979 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1979, 1983).  Seamus Heaney, “Death of a Naturalist,” from Opened Ground: Selected Poems 1966-1996 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998).  The show’s theme music is Philip Aaberg’s “Going-to-the Sun,” from his CD Live from Montana (available at Sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with kind permission of Philip...

“Desk Jobs”: Did you ever have a job you abruptly quit soon after it began?  Why did you do that?  The first three lines of our first poem refer to a job the speaker quit after just one shift.  The next two poems feature office interactions between the speaker and a work colleague and boss.  Dorianne Laux, “What I Wouldn’t Do,” from What We Carry (BOA Editions, 1994), and used with the kind permission of the author.  Deborah Garrison, “Superior,” from A Working Girl Can’t Win (Random House, 1998), and used with kind permission of the author.  Stephen Dunn, “The Last Hours,” from Different Hours (Norton,...

“Manual Labor”: What do you remember from your first paid job? Did you develop any work-habits that you carried into adulthood? From your twenties on, has much of your identity been shaped by your work? Poems on this and next month’s episodes offer a variety of perspectives on work. Three poems are featured: Jericho Brown’s “Labor”, from The New Testament (Copper Canyon Press, 2016). Seamus Heaney’s “Thatcher,” from  Opened Ground: Selected Poems 1966-1996 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998). Mary Robinson, “London’s Summer Morning.” The show’s theme music is Philip Aaberg’s “Going-to-the-Sun,” from his CD Live from Montana (available at sweetgrassmusic.com) and used...

“Swimming”: We dive in with two action-packed excerpts from ancient poetic narratives. Both depict heroic swimmers moving through dangerous waters. This episode concludes with a contemporary American poet’s solitary naked swim in a pond in the early morning mist. Homer, The Odyssey (trans. Robert Fitzgerald), from Book V, lines 403-408, 415-437, 441-486. Beowulf (trans. Seamus Heaney), lines 506-510, 515-518, 532-581 (Norton, 2000). Maxime Kumin, “Morning Swim,” from Selected Poems 1960-1990 (Norton), used by kind permission of the Maxine Kumin Literary Trust. {Splash!, by Howard Means, provided useful, entertaining context.} The show’s theme music is Philip Aaberg’s “Going-to-the-Sun,” from his CD Live from Montana (available at sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with kind permission of...

“Meta-Verse”: The four poems on this episode make a virtue out of being self-conscious.  Each poem comments on the very poem we’re reading.  The poem pulls back the curtain and reveals the composing process.  Or at least that’s what the poem pretends to do.  Billy Collins, “The Suggestion Box,” from Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems (Random House, 2013).  Stephen Dunn, “Bad,” from The Not Yet Fallen World: New and Selected Poems (Norton, 2022).  W. B. Yeats, “When You Are Old.”  Lawrence Raab, “Request,” from Visible Signs (Penguin, 2003) and used with kind permission of the author.  The show’s theme music is Philip Aaberg’s “Going-to-the-Sun,” from...

“Where Is My Home?” (Part 2): The four poems on this episode address this question from a variety of perspectives: home as an imaginary place; home valued for the quality of one’s neighbors; home as a portable existence, a van; and home as the indoor / outdoor zone where multiple generations in a family live together over many years.  W. B. Yeats, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree.”  T’ao Ch’ien, “Moving House,” from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, translated by Arthur Waley (Knopf, 1919).  Linds Sanders, “Those Places We Melt Into,” from Quibble Lit, Issue 4: Muddle, Summer 2022 (see lindssanders.com), and used...

“Where Is My Home?”: Do you carry in your mind images of a former landscape you lived in, an extended area you called home?  The first poem is spoken in the voice of Robinson Crusoe as a old man back in England, wondering if this island of his origin, the place where his life will come to a close, is truly his home.  Or was he more at home when cast away on his other unnamed, totally remote island?  Elizabeth Bishop, “Crusoe in England,” from The Complete Poems 1927-1979 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1979, 1983).  Our second poem depicts Irish expatriates in...

"Frederick and Anna Murray Douglass": Though Frederick Douglass grew up not knowing his exact birthdate and even uncertain just how old he was, historians presume he was born in February 1818.  Douglass wrote, "I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell of his birthday."  His master "deemed all such inquiries on the part of a slave improper and impertinent, and evidence of a restless spirit."  The first poem sampled on this episode, Paul Dunbar's 1896 "Frederick Douglass," depicts the former slave turned writer, orator, and powerful force for a wide range of civil rights in a heroic light.  The following two poems lower the pedestal on which Dunbar had placed him and offer insights into the private lives of Frederick and his first wife Anna Murray Douglass.  What would it have been like to be the overlooked wife to a man so frequently absent from home and so immersed in the historical moment?  Both are persona poems, the first in the voice of Anna: M. Nzadi Keita, "Stirring," from Brief Evidence of Heaven: Poems from the life of Anna Murray Douglass (Whirlwind Press, 2014), available at spdbooks.org and used with kind permission of the author.  The second poem is in the voice of Frederick Douglass himself: Evie Shockley, "from The Lost Letters of Frederick Douglass," from the new black (Wesleyan UP, 2011), and used with kind permission of the author.  (The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the Sun," from his CD Live from Montana, available at sweetgrassmusic.com, and used with kind permission of Philip Aaberg.)

"Imagining Our Parents Before We Were Born": What do you know about the life of either of your parents before you were born?  The three contemporary poems featured on this episode suggest the poets knew just a few facts, perhaps derived from family lore.  Then they speculated or fabricated the rest to achieve some coherent understanding of who their parents were before they became parents.  The poems are read in this order: Philip Levine, "The Mercy," from The Mercy: Poems (Knopf, 2000).  Evan Boland, "The Black Lace Fan My Mother Gave Me," from Outside History: Selected Poems 1980-1990 (W. W. Norton and Company, 1991).  Sharon Olds, "I Go Back To May 1937," from Strike Sparks: Selected Poems 1980-2002 (Knopf, 2004), read with kind permission of the author.  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (available at Sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with kind permission of Philip Aaberg.

"Some Horses, Some Oxen": Four poems are featured on this show, three about horses and one about oxen.  All of the horse poems tell us as much about the speaker as they do about the horses, and the final poem details a most curious Christmas folk belief.  What are all these animals thinking?  The poems are read in this order: Walt Whitman, from Song of Myself, section 32 (first published in 1855).  Maxine Kumin, "Jack," from Jack and Other Poems (W. W. Norton and Company, 2005), used by kind permission of the Maxine Kumin Literary Trust.  Robert Wrigley, "Horse Heaven," from The True Account of Myself as a Bird (Penguin, 2022), used by kind permission of the author.  Thomas Hardy, "The Oxen" (first published in 1915).  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (available at Sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with kind permission of Philip Aaberg.

"Responding to Loss": All three poems in this episode reflect on the loss of a person, when loss is final.  Perhaps one or more of these poems speak to feelings you have experienced but could not define quite like these poets do.  Are poems and songs useful for facing one's own demise or for dealing with the loss of one close to us?  You might think about that while listening to these poems.  Tony Hoagland, "In the Waiting Room with Leonard Cohen," from Priest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God (Graywolf Press, 2018).  Maxine Kumin, "Oblivion," from Where I Live: New and Selected Poems, 1990-2010 (W. W. Norton and Company), used by permission of the Maxine Kumin Literary Trust.  Kevin Young, "Charity," from Book of Hours (Knopf, 2014).  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (available at Sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with kind permission of Philip Aaberg.

"Civilians in the First World War": All four poems on today's episode focus on civilians in the First World War, particularly women: how were they affected?  Jessie Pope, "War Girls."  Siegfried Sassoon, "Glory of Women."  May Wedderburn Cannan, "Rouen."  E. E. Cummings, "my sweet old etcetera."  There are many fine anthologies that present poetry from this era.  I'll recommend two distinct versions of The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry.  The first, published in 1979, is edited and with an introduction by Jon Silkin.  The second, published in 2006, is edited and with an introduction by George Walter.  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with kind permission of Philip Aaberg.

"Advice": Have you ever urged anyone to procreate?  If so, what motivated you to do that?  Today's episode presents poems that offer direct advice, not only about when to have children and why, but also about what to eat, how to interact with others, and additional concerns.  Shakespeare, Sonnet # 3.  Catherine Tufariello, "Useful Advice," from Keeping My Name (Texas Tech UP, 2004).  A passage from Book 15 of Metamorphoses by Ovid, translated and notes by Charles Martin (Norton, 2004), and read with kind permission of the translator.  Rudyard Kipling, "If."  Elizabeth Lincoln Otis, "An 'If' for Girls."  Naomi Shihab Nye, "To Manage," from Voices in the Air (Harper Collins, 2018), and read with kind permission of the author.  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with kind permission of Philip Aaberg.

Ancient Chinese Poetry: This show features the work of two poets.  Do they express concerns many of us think about in the 21st century?  Do they suggest how to adjust certain of our attitudes?  All the poems are from A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, translated by Arthur Waley (Knopf, 1919).  (Many poems by these same authors may be found in a variety of translations.)  T'ao Ch'ien (362-427): "Returning to the Fields," "Moving House," "In the quiet of the morning I heard a knock at my door," "Reading the Book of Hills and Seas."  Po-Chu-I (772-846): "The Letter," "Being Visited by a Friend During Illness," "A Dream of Mountaineering."  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com).

"Inanimate Objects": Have you inherited an inanimate object that carries emotional weight?  Have you bestowed a name on your bicycle or your car?  The poems featured in this episode respond in a variety of ways to inanimate objects.  Leigh Stein, "What Happens If You Click It," from What To Miss When (NY: Soft Skull Press, 2021).  Richard Polt, "The Typewriter Manifesto," from The Typewriter Revolution: A Typist's Companion for the 21st Century (Woodstock, VT: The Countryman Press, 2015).  Robert Wrigley, "Box," from Box (Penguin Books, 2017), read with kind permission of the author.  Stephen Dunn, "The Sacred," from The Not Yet Fallen World: New and Selected Poems (W.W. Norton, 2022).  Sharon Olds, "Adolescence," from The Wellspring (NY: Knopf, 1996), read with kind permission of the author.  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com).

"Lust or Love": In your own life, have you always been able to distinguish which powerful emotional response to another person grips you?  In the four poems featured on this episode, can you determine whether it's lust or love that directs the poem's speaker?  Ellen Bass, "Gate C22," from The Human Line (Copper Canyon Press, 2007).  Frank O'Hara, "Having a Coke with You," from The Selected Poems of Frank O'Hara, ed. Mark Ford (Knopf, 2009), used with kind permission from the Estate of Frank O'Hara.  Edna St. Vincent Millay, "I shall forget you presently, my dear."  "The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter," by Ezra Pound, original by Rihaku, from PERSONAE, copyright 1926 by Ezra Pound, reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com).

"Posing Questions": "Who hangs a birdhouse from a sapling?"  How would you answer that question?  One poem featured on today's episode places that question in a startling context.  Questions shape all of the poems on today's episode.  Some are addressed; others are left for us to sort out.  Today's episode features these poems: Christina Rossetti, "Up-Hill."  Phillis Levin, "Unsolicited Survey," from Mercury (Penguin Books, 2001), read with kind permission of the author.  Terrance Hayes, "I'm not sure how to hold my face when I dance," from American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin  (Penguin Random House, 2018).  Langston Hughes, "Harlem," from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, Arnold Rampersad, ed. and David Roessel, Associate ed. (Vintage, a Division of Random House, Inc., 1994).  Carrie Etter, "A Birthmother's Catechism" ("How did you let him go?"), from Imagined Sons (Seren [www.serenbooks.com], 2014, rpt. 2019), read with kind permission of the author.  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com).

"Poems About Writing": When you were a student, did you find joy in the writing tasks required of you?  Did self-disclosure make you uncomfortable, or did you welcome the opportunity to express your individuality?  Poems in this episode may take you back to the classroom, with reflections from some students and instructors.  Today's show features these poems: Langston Hughes, "Theme for English B," from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, Arnold Rampersad, ed. and David Roessel, Associate ed. (Vintage, a Division of Random House, Inc., 1994).  Naomi Shihab Nye, "Please Describe How You Became a Writer," from Everything Comes Next: Collected and New Poems (Greenwillow Books, 2020), read with kind permission of the author.  Naomi Shihab Nye, "Mountains," from Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners (Greenwillow Books, 2018), read with kind permission of the author.  Robert Wrigley, "Careers," from Anatomy of Melancholy and Other Poems (Penguin, 2013), read with kind permission of the author.  William Matthews, "A Poetry Reading at West Point," from Search Party: Collected Poems, Sebastian Matthews and Stanley Plumly, eds. (Houghton Mifflin (2004), read with kind permission of the William Matthews estate.  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun," from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com).

"Unrequited Love," Part One: Poets respond in a variety of ways when their strong desires for another are not returned: from anger to bewilderment to resignation.  Over time, a number of episodes of Poems for Company will focus on this theme.  Today's show features these poems: Sappho, Poem # 94, translator Michael R. Burch (thehypertexts.com/Sappho Longer Poems in Translations by Michael R. Burch.htm), read with kind permission of the translator.  Catullus, Poem # 8.  Edna St. Vincent Millay, Sonnet 47 ("Well, I have lost you; and I lost you fairly").  W. B. Yeats, "When You Are Old."  Sharon Olds, "Unspeakable," from Stag's Leap (Knopf, 2012), read with kind permission of the author.  The show's theme music is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun" from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com).

"Unlived Lives": What prompted you to make personal life-altering choices?  Do you believe a sky-god or some other cosmic force oversees your personal choices?  Has your life unfolded due to random events?  The three contemporary poems in this episode reflect on our personal choices that at times lead us to fantasize about how it all could have been different.  Tony Hoagland, "Happy and Free," from Priest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God (Graywolf Press, 2018).  Ellen Bass, "Indigo," from Indigo (Copper Canyon Press, 2020).  Carl Dennis, "The God Who Loves You," from Practical Gods (Penguin Books, 2001) and reprinted in New and Selected Poems, 1974-2004 (Penguin Books, 2004).  The theme music for Poems for Company is Philip Aaberg's "Going-to-the-Sun" from his CD Live from Montana, available at Sweetgrassmusic.com