Samyak Shertok curates poems that shift between image and narrative, between sound, silence, and simile as they create something wholly new. He introduces Joy Harjo testing the line between being an eyewitness and witnessing to (“Deer Dancer”), Li-Young Lee looking for the beloved everywhere (“Echo and Shadow”), and John Murillo braiding a complex tapestry from memory and remembering (“Upon Reading That Eric Dolphy Transcribed Even the Calls of Certain Species of Birds,”). To close, Shertok invites us to walk through the portals of his poem “One Hundred and Eight Doors.”

You can find the full recordings of Harjo, Lee, and Murillo on Voca:
Joy Harjo (September 16, 1987)
Li-Young Lee (September 10, 2003)
John Murillo (March 14, 2024)

Full transcripts of every episode are available on Buzzsprout. Look for the transcript tab under each episode.

Voca is now fully captioned, with interactive transcripts and captions available for all readings! Read more about the project here, or try out this new feature by visiting Voca.

Dawn Lundy Martin selects poems of urgency, tension, and devotion. She shares Daniel Borzutzky responding to massacres with a poem that must be written (“Written after a Massacre in the Year 2018”), francine j. harris negotiating what can be contained and what cannot (“in case”), and Ada Limón choosing astounding devotion ("State Bird"). Martin closes with an excerpt from “A Fable of the Regime,” which engages with the present, long moment of American history.

Watch the full recordings of Borzutzky, harris, and Limón on Voca:
Daniel Borzutzky (January 10, 2019)
francine j. harris (September 3, 2015)
Ada Limón (April 5, 2018)

You can also enjoy Lundy’s performance as part of Black Took Collective and her participation in a panel discussion at the Poetry Center, part of the Poetry Off the Page Symposium from 2012.

Full transcripts of every episode are available on Buzzsprout. Look for the transcript tab under each episode.

Voca is now fully captioned, with interactive transcripts and captions available for all readings! Read more about the project here, or try out this new feature by visiting Voca.

Leila Chatti chooses poems illuminated by a heart left often to life here on Earth. She introduces us to Linda Gregg’s fierce and incandescent honesty (“There She Is”), Lucille Clifton’s embrace of lightness amidst struggle (“sorrows”), and Jane Hirshfield’s distillation of silence and attention (“The World Loved by Moonlight”). To close, Chatti reads her poem “I went out to hear”—an affirmation for choosing a life that includes both beauty and pain.

Find the full recordings of Gregg, Clifton, and Hirshfield on Voca:
Linda Gregg (April 22, 1981)
Lucille Clifton (November 1, 2007)
Jane Hirshfield (November 29, 1995)

Full transcripts of every episode are available on Buzzsprout. Look for the transcript tab under each episode.

Voca is now fully captioned, with interactive transcripts and captions available for all readings! Read more about the project here, or try out this new feature by visiting Voca.