On this theme-based show, host Brian Dillon reads and comments on poems from the ancient world to the present. Topics include Unlived Lives, Inanimate Objects, Swimming, Advice, and Unrequited love, among many others.
“Unrequited Love (Part Three)”: Three poems written by men reveal curious responses to the phenomenon of being rejected in love. Then we close with a female poet witnessing the consequences of romantic rejection for various men she knows. Michael Drayton, Sonnet #61–“Since there’s no help” (1619). Ben Jonson, “My PIcture Left in Scotland” (1640-41). Sir John Suckling, Song–“Why So Pale and Wan” (1646). Ellen Bass, “I Love the Way Men Crack,” from Mules of Love (BOA Editions, 2002). Our show’s theme music is Philip Aaberg’s “Going-to-the-Sun,” from Live from Montana (available at sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with the kind permission of Mr. Aaberg.
24 Aug 2026
Poems for Company - August 24, 2026
“Insects Among Us”: All four poems place insects on center stage. Our first opens with a question: “Don’t you remember them?” These are poems of memory and poems of the present, with speakers who are descriptive and very curious. Danusha Lameris, “The Bugs of Childhood,” from Blade By Blade (Copper Canyon Press, 2024). Robert Wrigley, “I Want to Praise Her Parts,” from The True Account of Myself as a Bird (Penguin Books, 2022), and used with the kind permission of the poet. Pedro Pietri, “Ode to a Grasshopper,” from Selected Poetry (City Lights Books, 2015), used with the permission of the Estate of Pedro Pietri. Thomas...
27 Jul 2026
Poems for Company - July 27, 2026
“Stephen Dunn’s Dilemmas”: All three poems are by the late contemporary poet Stephen Dunn. In each poem, the speaker faces a concern that challenges his sense of who he is and what he thinks he knows. The circumstance may seem mundane, but the concern is profound. If, that is, we are inclined to empathize with the speaker. “At the Smithville Methodist Church,” “Ambush at Five O’Clock,” “On the Death of a Colleague,” all from Stephen Dunn, The Not Yet Fallen World: New and Selected Poems (Norton, 2022). Our show’s theme music is Philip Aaberg’s “Going-to-the-Sun,” from Live from Montana (available at sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with the kind permission of Mr. Aaberg.
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