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Poetry Unbound

Short and unhurried, Poetry Unbound is an immersive exploration of a single poem, hosted by Pádraig Ó Tuama. Pádraig Ó Tuama greets you at the doorways of brilliant poems and walks you through — each one has wisdom to offer and questions to ask you. Already a listener? There’s also a book (Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World), a Substack newsletter with a vibrant conversation in the comments, and occasional gatherings.

Stephanie Burt — Prayer for Werewolves

13 mins; October 31, 2022

Fiona Benson — Mama Cockroach, I Love You

15 mins; October 28, 2022

Saddiq Dzukogi — Learning about Constellations

14 mins; October 24, 2022

Adam Zagajewski — Transformation

12 mins; October 21, 2022

Carolina Ebeid — Reading Celan in a Subway Station

14 mins; October 17, 2022

Molly Twomey — The Drop Off

14 mins; October 14, 2022

Hinemoana Baker — if i had to sing

14 mins; October 10, 2022

Jennifer Huang — Departure

14 mins; October 07, 2022

Gabeba Baderoon – The pen

12 mins; October 03, 2022

Michael Kleber-Diggs — Gloria Mundi

13 mins; September 30, 2022

David Wagoner — Lost

12 mins; September 26, 2022

Poetry Unbound — Season 6 Trailer

2 mins; September 19, 2022

Yu Xiuhua — Crossing Half of China to Sleep with You

14 mins; June 03, 2022

Andy Jackson — The change room

13 mins; May 30, 2022

Tiana Clark — My Therapist Wants to Know about My Relationship to Work

16 mins; May 27, 2022

Joshua Bennett — Owed to Your Father’s Gold Chain

14 mins; May 23, 2022

Abigail Chabitnoy — If You’re Going to Look Like a Wolf They Have to Love You More Than They Fear You.

11 mins; May 20, 2022

M. Soledad Caballero — Someday I Will Visit Hawk Mountain

15 mins; May 16, 2022

Rafiq Kathwari — Mother Writes to President Eisenhower

15 mins; May 13, 2022

Caroline Bird — Little Children

15 mins; May 09, 2022

Marilyn Nelson — The Truceless Wars

14 mins; May 06, 2022

Richard Blanco — Looking for The Gulf Motel

17 mins; May 02, 2022

Yusef Komunyakaa — Praising Dark Places

12 mins; April 29, 2022

Hannah Emerson — Keep Yourself at the Beginning of the Beginning

14 mins; April 25, 2022

Kyle Carrero Lopez — Ode to the Crop Top

11 mins; April 22, 2022

Divya Victor — First Petition

14 mins; April 18, 2022

Denise Low — Walking with My Delaware Grandfather

11 mins; April 15, 2022

Rita Dove — Eurydice, Turning

14 mins; April 11, 2022

Poetry Unbound — Season 5 Trailer

1 min; April 04, 2022

BONUS: An Invitation from Pádraig and Krista

16 mins; March 28, 2022

Danez Smith — i’m going back to Minnesota where sadness makes sense

14 mins; December 17, 2021

Craig Santos Perez — Rings of Fire

14 mins; December 13, 2021

Alberto Ríos — December Morning in the Desert

15 mins; December 10, 2021

Yehoshua November — 2AM, and the Rabbinical Students Stand in their Bathrobes

15 mins; December 06, 2021

Aria Aber — The Only Cab Service of Farmington, Maine

18 mins; December 03, 2021

Donika Kelly — In the Chapel of St. Mary’s

14 mins; November 29, 2021

Linda Hogan — Song for the Turtles of the Gulf

15 mins; November 26, 2021

Lory Bedikian — On the Way to Oshagan

17 mins; November 22, 2021

Nico Amador — Flower Wars

12 mins; November 19, 2021

Darrel Alejandro Holnes — Amending Wall

17 mins; November 15, 2021

Elizabeth Bishop — Sestina

15 mins; November 12, 2021

Major Jackson — Blunts

16 mins; November 08, 2021

Andrés Cerpa — Seasonal without Spring: Autumn

16 mins; November 05, 2021

Kaveh Akbar — How Prayer Works

15 mins; November 01, 2021

Gail McConnell — Worm

14 mins; October 29, 2021

Romeo Oriogun — Pink Club

16 mins; October 25, 2021

Kathleen Flenniken — Married Love

16 mins; October 22, 2021

Imtiaz Dharker — Don’t Miss Out! Book Right Now for the Journey of a Lifetime!

11 mins; October 18, 2021

No’u Revilla — Smoke Screen

18 mins; October 15, 2021

BONUS: A Conversation with No’u Revilla

33 mins; October 15, 2021

Jake Skeets — Daybreak

17 mins; October 11, 2021

Tishani Doshi — Species

15 mins; October 08, 2021

Jason Allen-Paisant — Right now I’m Standing

16 mins; October 04, 2021

Jacob Shores-Argüello — Make Believe

16 mins; October 01, 2021

Margaret Atwood — All Bread

15 mins; September 27, 2021

Poetry Unbound — Season 4 Trailer

1 min; September 20, 2021

Katie Manning — What to Expect

19 mins; June 18, 2021

Ilya Kaminsky — We Lived Happily during the War

16 mins; June 14, 2021

BONUS: A Conversation with Margaret Noodin

24 mins; June 11, 2021

Margaret Noodin — Gimaazinibii’amoon (A Message to You)

16 mins; June 11, 2021

Martín Espada — After the Goose that Rose Like the God of Geese

16 mins; June 07, 2021

Roshni Goyate — Coconut Oil

16 mins; June 04, 2021

b: william bearhart — When I Was in Las Vegas and Saw a Warhol Painting of Geronimo

14 mins; May 31, 2021

Esteban Rodríguez — 22 La Bota

16 mins; May 28, 2021

Reginald Dwayne Betts — Essay on Reentry

17 mins; May 24, 2021

Li-Young Lee — From Blossoms

15 mins; May 21, 2021

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo — Battlegrounds

15 mins; May 17, 2021

Matthew Olzmann — Mountain Dew Commercial Disguised as a Love Poem

16 mins; May 14, 2021

Vievee Francis — How Delicious to Say It

15 mins; May 10, 2021

Eavan Boland — Eviction

15 mins; May 07, 2021

Jónína Kirton — Reconciliation

13 mins; May 03, 2021

Lorna Goodison — Reporting Back to Queen Isabella

12 mins; April 30, 2021

Hanif Abdurraqib — When We Were 13, Jeff’s Father Left The Needle Down On A Journey Record Before Leaving The House One Morning And Never Coming Back

16 mins; April 26, 2021

Poetry Unbound — Season 3 Trailer

2 mins; April 19, 2021

Christian Wiman — All My Friends Are Finding New Beliefs

11 mins; December 18, 2020

Carlos Andrés Gómez — Father

17 mins; December 14, 2020

Ellen Bass — Bone of My Bone and Flesh of My Flesh

15 mins; December 11, 2020

R.A. Villanueva — Life Drawing

14 mins; December 07, 2020

Zaffar Kunial — The Word

11 mins; December 04, 2020

Dilruba Ahmed — Phase One

15 mins; November 30, 2020

Layli Long Soldier — WHEREAS my eyes land on the shoreline

17 mins; November 27, 2020

Chen Chen — I Invite My Parents to a Dinner Party

18 mins; November 23, 2020

Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill — Ceist na Teangan (The Language Issue)

12 mins; November 20, 2020

Aracelis Girmay — Consider the Hands that Write this Letter

12 mins; November 16, 2020

Tayi Tibble — Our Nan Lets Us Smoke Inside

13 mins; November 13, 2020

Paul Tran — The Cave

11 mins; November 10, 2020

Philip Metres — One Tree

15 mins; November 06, 2020

Roger Robinson — A Portable Paradise

11 mins; November 02, 2020

Seán Hewitt — Suibhne is wounded, and confesses

13 mins; October 30, 2020

Meleika Gesa-Fatafehi — Say My Name

14 mins; October 26, 2020

Lucille Clifton — song at midnight

12 mins; October 23, 2020

Chris Abani — The New Religion

12 mins; October 19, 2020

Molly McCully Brown — Transubstantiation

12 mins; October 16, 2020

Natalie Diaz — Of Course She Looked Back

15 mins; October 12, 2020

Natasha Trethewey — Miscegenation

10 mins; October 09, 2020

James Wright — A Blessing

12 mins; October 05, 2020

Gregory Pardlo — Wishing Well

15 mins; October 02, 2020

Ada Limón — Wonder Woman

16 mins; September 28, 2020

Poetry Unbound — Season 2 Trailer

1 min; September 14, 2020

Leanne O'Sullivan — Leaving Early

11 mins; April 03, 2020

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Poetry Unbound

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