Interesting People Reading Poetry

This special episode introduces a new ambient album by Andy Stermer, who composes all of our music. Of Modern Poetry is inspired by a selection of poetic masterpieces from the mid-19th through mid-20th centuries, all of which have been featured previously on this show. The seven compositions, arranged chronologically according to the date of each poem’s first publication, offer what we hope you’ll find to be a richly textured sonic meditation on the origins and development of modern poetry. 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5fYJ6JsaMRkNKwPSLaQtZa

Earlier versions of Andy’s compositions were inspired by recitations and remarks made by the following guests: Sheryl Paul, Theo Padnos, Grian Chatten, Hrishikesh Hirway, Krista Tippett, Enrique Martínez Celaya, and Alec Soth.  

The album is accompanied by a limited-edition chapbook anthology featuring each of the poems that inspired Andy’s compositions. The books were designed, printed, and assembled by Brendan Stermer, in collaboration with Salome Hauge. 

Both the album and the book are available for purchase on Bandcamp. All proceeds will be used to support the continued production of this show. 

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In this episode, novelist Lisa Ko reads “Don’t You Wonder, Sometimes?” by Tracy K. Smith. Ko’s first book, The Leavers, was a 2017 National Book Award finalist. Her most recent book, Memory Piece (Riverhead Books, 2024) was described in Electric Literature as “a poignant meditation on late-stage capitalism: what it means to exist in an age of surveillance and government tracking, what it means to create art in an era where identity itself is commodified, and what it means to find purpose.” 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7mpEGcGLhQnJBeHegGXazZ?si=f6_qq7awTrCne2k5PfCM-A

Tracy K. Smith is an American poet born in 1972. “Don’t You Wonder, Sometimes?” was first collected in Life on Mars (Graywolf Press, 2011), winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. The poem is also included in Such Color: New and Selected Poems (Graywolf Press, 2021).

Keep up with Lisa Ko at lisa-ko.com.

We feature one short listener poem at the end of every episode. To submit, call the Haiku Hotline at 612-440-0643 and read your poem after the beep. For the occasional prompt, follow us on Facebook.

Dig the music in this episode? Check out Of Modern Poetry by Andy Stermer – an album of ambient music initially composed for the podcast. All proceeds support the continued production of this show.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

This IPRP Poetry Playlist features a selection of archival recordings from PennSound, a project of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing at the University of Pennsylvania. The PennSound website includes an extensive audio archive with free recordings of hundreds of poets reading their own work.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4LaSIL9xy50Zf8hhFutG7Y?si=rq4P94nZSemjjXV6CWMRtw

Tracklist

1. “Long Track Blues” by Sterling Brown appears in The Collected Poems of Sterling A. Brown, published by TriQuarterly. A recording of the poem is included in the Sterling Brown archive on PennSound.

2. “Rails in the Subway” by Charles Reznikoff appears in The Poems Of Charles Reznikoff: 1918-1975, published by Black Sparrow Press. A recording of the poem is included in the Charles Reznikoff archive on PennSound.

3. “At North Farm” by John Ashbery appears in Selected Poems, published by Penguin Books. A recording of the poem is included in the John Ashbery archive on PennSound.

This episode uses the sounds “Accordion drone” and “Untuned piano” by adrianorhagen from freesound.org under the Attribution 4.0 license.

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In this episode, Amy Dickinson reads “Say It” by Roland Flint. Dickinson wrote the beloved daily advice column “Ask Amy,” which appeared in newspapers across the country from 2003 until her retirement in June of 2024. She is also the author of two memoirs and a new Substack newsletter.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Biu5xhk2gBgrbInN0mccP

Roland Flint was born in Park River, North Dakota in 1934. “Say It” was first published in Say It (Dryad Press, 1979). It appears in The Complete Poems of Roland Flint, published by Elizabeth Flint in 2022.

We feature one short listener poem at the end of every episode. To submit, call the Haiku Hotline at 612-440-0643 and read your poem after the beep. For the occasional prompt, follow us on Facebook.

Dig the music in this episode? Check out Of Modern Poetry by Andy Stermer – an album of ambient music initially composed for the podcast. All proceeds support the continued production of this show.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

In this IPRP Poetry Playlist, U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón reads three selections from the anthology You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, out now from Milkweed Editions. The collection, edited and introduced by Limón, offers “fifty poems reflecting on our relationship to the natural world by our most celebrated contemporary writers.” Click here to learn more about the anthology, including upcoming events and how to share your own “You Are Here” nature poem.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/21B1WXPUDJ9WNDH4LMROeD

TRACKLIST

1. “Reasons to Live” by Ruth Awad

2. “Lullaby for the Grieving” by Ashley M. Jones

3. “Twenty Minutes in the Backyard” by Alberto Ríos

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