Human Voices Wake Us

About Human Voices Wake Us

The poem says, "Human voices wake us, and we drown." But I’ve made this podcast with the belief that human voices are what we need. And so, whether from a year or three thousand years ago, whether poetry or prose, whether fiction or diary or biography, here are the best things we have ever thought, written, or said.

Publisher

Human Voices Wake Us

Category

arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

8 Oct 2020

Latest episode

12 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

238 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   12 Oct 2026

   #243 - Looking out the window with Van Gogh

   An episode from 10/12/26: Tonight, I read a letter than Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother in the spring of 1883, when Van Gogh was in his early thirties. It can stand in for many of his letters in how it documents what he saw that day, the joy that it gave him, and his plans to transform the people and landscapes he observed into numerous studies and then a final, larger work. After thinking aloud about this letter, though, I ask the broader question about creativity: why did Van Gogh choose to make this his life... and why do creative people anywhere do the things that they do... and why, for thousands of years, has it been essential to human life to seek out the experience of art and culture? The best way to support the podcast is by leaving a review on Apple or Spotify, sharing it with others, or sending me a note on what you think. You can also order any of my books: Time and the River: From Columbine to the Invention of Fire (https://www.amazon.com/Time-River-Columbine-Invention-Fire/dp/B0FPR4TJXN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5BNBF31GN5UA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.HfZ7aRSXP_b7JUGv4gaucy4eY79P9Wz0kmDA2OVc_6bGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.OKMbXAJFOPZUHiyE63jNdO6gMw7oRXAfmYcnDxHCmcM&dib_tag=se&keywords=tim+miller+columbine&qid=1757422557&sprefix=tim+miller+columbin%2Caps%2C137&sr=8-1), Notes from the Grid (https://www.amazon.com/Notes-Grid-Tim-Miller/dp/B0BRZ4J8X2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2EEYEW1BXXQMU&keywords=tim+miller+notes+from+the+grid&qid=1674612199&sprefix=tim+miller+notes+from+the+grid%2Caps%2C69&sr=8-1), To the House of the Sun (https://www.amazon.com/House-Sun-Tim-Miller/dp/0979870747/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3BEZS8YCB3S27&keywords=to+miller+to+the+house+of+the+sun&qid=1674611985&sprefix=to+miller+to+the+house+of+the+sun%2Caps%2C78&sr=8-1), The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old (https://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Young-Old/dp/1938349792/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X7C9ELCRYWSG&keywords=tim+miller+lonely+young+lonely+old&qid=1674612086&sprefix=tim+miller+lonely+young+lonely+old%2Caps%2C74&sr=8-1), and Bone Antler Stone (https://www.amazon.com/Bone-Antler-Stone-Tim-Miller/dp/B0DLR4845Y/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3Q3E496LLJUMU&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.e9kfk4cZuC9Pdt06HZTWUg.5T-JcjmZs_CWYf4f2i06StpBQECYB6nNm0mZtoam1fo&dib_tag=se&keywords=tim+miller+bone+antler+stone&qid=1730765641&sprefix=tim+miller+bone+antler+ston%2Caps%2C121&sr=8-1). I've also edited a handful of books in the S4N Pocket Poems (https://www.amazon.com/s?k=s4n+pocket+poems&crid=ZIYS31DL6T50&sprefix=s4n+pocke%2Caps%2C270&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_9) series. I also have a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvY0UegTyL-oAIBIifPYf5g) where I share poems and excerpts from these books, mostly as YouTube shorts. Email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com (mailto:humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com).

2. 

   28 Sept 2026

   #242 - Anthology: poems on being a parent

   An episode from 1/31/24: Tonight, as a companion to last episode of poems on being a child, I read a handful of poems about being a parent: ⁠“Morning Song,”⁠ (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49008/morning-song-56d22ab4a0cee) by Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) ⁠“Child Crying Out,”⁠ (https://apoemaday.tumblr.com/post/739336305327161344/child-crying-out) by Louise Glück (1943-2023) ⁠“First Snow”⁠ (https://griffinpoetryprize.com/poem/first-snow-gluck/) read by Louise Glück (⁠audio from here⁠ (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/louise-gl%C3%BCck-revenge-against-circumstance/id1025864075?i=1000390483409&ign-itscg=30200&ign-itsct=podcast_box)) ⁠“This Be the Verse,”⁠ (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48419/this-be-the-verse) by Philip Larkin (1922-1985) ⁠“Lucinda Matlock,”⁠ (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45935/lucinda-matlock) by Edgar Lee Masters (1868-1950) ⁠“On My First Sonne”⁠ (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44455/on-my-first-son) (Epigrammes XLV), by Ben Jonson (1572-1637) ⁠“The Pomegranate,”⁠ (https://poets.org/poem/pomegranate) by Eavan Boland (1944-2020) ⁠“Surprized by joy – impatient as the wind,”⁠ (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50285/surprised-by-joy) by William Wordsworth (1770-1850) ⁠“Eden Rock,”⁠ (https://poetryarchive.org/poem/eden-rock/) by Charles Causley (1924-2007) ⁠“My Young Mother,”⁠ (https://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2012/12/08/a-poem-for-whenever/) by Jane Cooper (1924-2007) ⁠“Waiting,”⁠ (https://allpoetry.com/poem/8501061-Waiting-by-William-Carlos-Williams) by William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) ⁠from King Lear,⁠ (https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/king-lear/read/5/3/) by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) ⁠“Life after Death,”⁠ (https://www.babelmatrix.org/works/en/Hughes%2C_Ted-1930/Life_after_Death) by Ted Hughes (1930-1998) The best way to support the podcast is by leaving a review on Apple or Spotify, sharing it with others, or sending me a note on what you think. You can also order any of my books: Time and the River: From Columbine to the Invention of Fire (https://www.amazon.com/Time-River-Columbine-Invention-Fire/dp/B0FPR4TJXN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5BNBF31GN5UA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.HfZ7aRSXP_b7JUGv4gaucy4eY79P9Wz0kmDA2OVc_6bGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.OKMbXAJFOPZUHiyE63jNdO6gMw7oRXAfmYcnDxHCmcM&dib_tag=se&keywords=tim+miller+columbine&qid=1757422557&sprefix=tim+miller+columbin%2Caps%2C137&sr=8-1), Notes from the Grid (https://www.amazon.com/Notes-Grid-Tim-Miller/dp/B0BRZ4J8X2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2EEYEW1BXXQMU&keywords=tim+miller+notes+from+the+grid&qid=1674612199&sprefix=tim+miller+notes+from+the+grid%2Caps%2C69&sr=8-1), To the House of the Sun (https://www.amazon.com/House-Sun-Tim-Miller/dp/0979870747/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3BEZS8YCB3S27&keywords=to+miller+to+the+house+of+the+sun&qid=1674611985&sprefix=to+miller+to+the+house+of+the+sun%2Caps%2C78&sr=8-1), The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old (https://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Young-Old/dp/1938349792/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X7C9ELCRYWSG&keywords=tim+miller+lonely+young+lonely+old&qid=1674612086&sprefix=tim+miller+lonely+young+lonely+old%2Caps%2C74&sr=8-1), and Bone Antler Stone (https://www.amazon.com/Bone-Antler-Stone-Tim-Miller/dp/B0DLR4845Y/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3Q3E496LLJUMU&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.e9kfk4cZuC9Pdt06HZTWUg.5T-JcjmZs_CWYf4f2i06StpBQECYB6nNm0mZtoam1fo&dib_tag=se&keywords=tim+miller+bone+antler+stone&qid=1730765641&sprefix=tim+miller+bone+antler+ston%2Caps%2C121&sr=8-1). I've also edited a handful of books in the S4N Pocket Poems (https://www.amazon.com/s?k=s4n+pocket+poems&crid=ZIYS31DL6T50&sprefix=s4n+pocke%2Caps%2C270&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_9) series. I also have a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvY0UegTyL-oAIBIifPYf5g) where I share poems and excerpts from these books, mostly as YouTube shorts. Email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com (mailto:humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com).

3. 

   22 Sept 2026

   #241 - London, Cleveland, Poland: Some new poems

   An episode from 9/22/26: Tonight, I read three new poems that were just published over at The Brazen Head: “London, 1943,” “Shtetl, 1803,” and “Cleveland, 1988.” You can read the poems here (https://brazen-head.org/2026/09/15/three-poems-by-tim-miller/). Since I’ve spent so much time writing longer narrative poems, earlier this year I suddenly wanted to see what it would be like writing smaller narratives—anything from fifty to a few hundred lines. These three poems are each attempts, in their own way—stories about love, war, childhood, religion and loneliness—to discover how that might be done. I end the episode reading the first part of a much longer poem (unpublished and unfinished) on the seventeenth-century English witch, Liz Mollard. Mollard lived in London during the plague and fire of 1665-1666. I hope through all four pieces listeners can hear a through-line to something new. Many thanks to Liam Guilar, the poetry editor at The Brazen Head, for taking the three poems he did; he has written a trilogy of narrative poems himself, which you can find here (https://www.liamguilar.com/). The best way to support the podcast is by leaving a review on Apple or Spotify, sharing it with others, or sending me a note on what you think. You can also order any of my books: Time and the River: From Columbine to the Invention of Fire (https://www.amazon.com/Time-River-Columbine-Invention-Fire/dp/B0FPR4TJXN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=5BNBF31GN5UA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.HfZ7aRSXP_b7JUGv4gaucy4eY79P9Wz0kmDA2OVc_6bGjHj071QN20LucGBJIEps.OKMbXAJFOPZUHiyE63jNdO6gMw7oRXAfmYcnDxHCmcM&dib_tag=se&keywords=tim+miller+columbine&qid=1757422557&sprefix=tim+miller+columbin%2Caps%2C137&sr=8-1), Notes from the Grid (https://www.amazon.com/Notes-Grid-Tim-Miller/dp/B0BRZ4J8X2/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2EEYEW1BXXQMU&keywords=tim+miller+notes+from+the+grid&qid=1674612199&sprefix=tim+miller+notes+from+the+grid%2Caps%2C69&sr=8-1), To the House of the Sun (https://www.amazon.com/House-Sun-Tim-Miller/dp/0979870747/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3BEZS8YCB3S27&keywords=to+miller+to+the+house+of+the+sun&qid=1674611985&sprefix=to+miller+to+the+house+of+the+sun%2Caps%2C78&sr=8-1), The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old (https://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Young-Old/dp/1938349792/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X7C9ELCRYWSG&keywords=tim+miller+lonely+young+lonely+old&qid=1674612086&sprefix=tim+miller+lonely+young+lonely+old%2Caps%2C74&sr=8-1), and Bone Antler Stone (https://www.amazon.com/Bone-Antler-Stone-Tim-Miller/dp/B0DLR4845Y/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3Q3E496LLJUMU&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.e9kfk4cZuC9Pdt06HZTWUg.5T-JcjmZs_CWYf4f2i06StpBQECYB6nNm0mZtoam1fo&dib_tag=se&keywords=tim+miller+bone+antler+stone&qid=1730765641&sprefix=tim+miller+bone+antler+ston%2Caps%2C121&sr=8-1). I've also edited a handful of books in the S4N Pocket Poems (https://www.amazon.com/s?k=s4n+pocket+poems&crid=ZIYS31DL6T50&sprefix=s4n+pocke%2Caps%2C270&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_9) series. I also have a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvY0UegTyL-oAIBIifPYf5g) where I share poems and excerpts from these books, mostly as YouTube shorts. Email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com (mailto:humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com).

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

9 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

10 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 60 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

87

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

82

Contact Human Voices Wake Us

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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