The Beat

About The Beat

In each episode of The Beat, host Alan May introduces a poet and we hear a few poems, usually read and recorded by the poets themselves. The Beat is produced by Knox County Public Library in Knoxville, Tenn. Rate and review The Beat: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-beat-1664614

Publisher

Knox County Public Library

Category

arts · arts · arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

24 Mar 2021

Latest episode

24 Jul 2026

Latest episodes

58 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   24 Jul 2026

   David Baker and Stanley Plumly

   David Baker is a poet, educator, editor, and literary critic. His most recent books are Swift: New and Selected Poems, Whale Fall, and Transit. In 1984, he began teaching at Denison University, in Granville, Ohio, where he now serves as an emeritus professor. He has also taught in writing programs and writers’ workshops around the country, including the Hellbender Gathering of Poets, the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, the MFA program for writers at Warren Wilson College, and others. For many years he was Poetry Editor of The Kenyon Review. Stanly Plumly was born in Barnesville, Ohio in 1939, and he grew up in Virginia and Ohio. He earned a BA from Wilmington College and a PhD from Ohio University. He published numerous books of poetry, and his work won the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Poetry Award, The Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Paterson Poetry Prize, and eight Pushcart prizes. He taught at the University of Iowa, Princeton University, Columbia University, the University of Houston, and the University of Maryland. He was poet laureate of Maryland from 2009 to 2018. Links: David Baker Bio and poems at (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/david-baker)The Poetry Foundation (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/david-baker) Bio and poems at (https://poets.org/poet/david-baker)Poets.org (https://poets.org/poet/david-baker) "Rather Than Nothing: On David Baker’s (https://www.literarymatters.org/18-2-rather-than-nothing-on-david-bakers-transit-poems/)Transit: Poems" (https://www.literarymatters.org/18-2-rather-than-nothing-on-david-bakers-transit-poems/) at (https://www.literarymatters.org/18-2-rather-than-nothing-on-david-bakers-transit-poems/)Literary Matters (https://www.literarymatters.org/18-2-rather-than-nothing-on-david-bakers-transit-poems/) A review of (https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781324117476)Transit (https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781324117476) in (https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781324117476)Publishers Weekly (https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781324117476) Video: "David Baker--Great Writers, Great Readings", a reading at Hofstra University (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT-Dp_HTps8) Stanley Plumly Bio and poems at (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/stanley-plumly)The Poetry Foundation (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/stanley-plumly) Bio and poems at (https://poets.org/poet/stanley-plumly)Poets.org (https://poets.org/poet/stanley-plumly) Stanley Plumly Memorial Digital Archive at (https://www.thegeorgiareview.com/posts/gr2/stanley-plumly/)GR2 (https://www.thegeorgiareview.com/posts/gr2/stanley-plumly/) Video: "Poet Stanley Plumley Reads from His Collection (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGETbDA9f_s)Orphan Hours (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGETbDA9f_s)" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGETbDA9f_s)--PBS News Hour (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGETbDA9f_s)

2. 

   17 Jun 2026

   Jesse Graves Reading (Recorded Live, April 13, 2026)

   In celebration of National Poetry Month, Jesse Graves joined us at Lawson McGhee Library for a reading of his work. Jesse Graves is the author of five poetry collections, including Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine, Basin Ghosts, Specter Mountain, Merciful Days, the forthcoming A Little Light in the Grave, and a book of prose, Said-Songs: Essays on Poetry and Place. His work received the James Still Award for Writing about the Appalachian South from the Fellowship of Southern Writers and the Philip H. Freund Prize for Creative Writing from Cornell University, as well as two Weatherford Awards in Poetry from Berea College and the Appalachian Studies Association. Graves has served as co-editor for several collections of poetry and scholarship, including four volumes of The Southern Poetry Anthology and The Complete Poetry of James Agee. He teaches at East Tennessee State University, where he is Poet-in-Residence and Professor of English. Links: Jesse Grave's website (https://jessegravespoetry.wordpress.com/) "Jesse Graves and the Cosmic Appalachian Boogie," in (https://www.salvationsouth.com/jesse-graves-cosmic-appalachian-boogie/)Salvation South (https://www.salvationsouth.com/jesse-graves-cosmic-appalachian-boogie/) Six Poems by Jesse Graves in (https://www.readporchlight.com/read/poetry-by-jesse-graves/)Porchlight: A Journal of Southern Literature (https://www.readporchlight.com/read/poetry-by-jesse-graves/) "Two Stones" in New Verse Review (https://www.newversereview.com/2-3-jesse-graves) "Above Johnson City" in (https://as-the-crow-flies.pubpub.org/pub/graves-johnson-city/release/1)As the Crow Flies (https://as-the-crow-flies.pubpub.org/pub/graves-johnson-city/release/1) Three poems in (https://cutleafjournal.com/authors/jesse-graves)Cutleaf (https://cutleafjournal.com/authors/jesse-graves)

3. 

   13 May 2026

   Donovan McAbee and Kathleen Jamie

   Donovan McAbee is a poet, songwriter, and essayist. His work has appeared in The New York Times, TIME magazine, The Hudson Review, The Sun, Garden & Gun, Poetry London, and others. McAbee grew up in a small town in South Carolina, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and a PhD in Creative Writing and Contemporary Poetry from the University of St Andrews in Scotland. McAbee lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife and two children. Kathleen Jamie was raised in Currie, Scotland, and she studied philosophy at Edinburgh University. Her awards include the Forward Prize for best poetry collection of the year, a Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, a Paul Hamlyn Award, and a Creative Scotland Award. From 2021 to 2024, Kathleen Jamie served as Scotland’s Makar (a title given to the national poet). "The Whale-watcher," "The Buddleia," and "The Wishing Tree" were recorded with permission from Kathleen Jamie. Links: Donovan McAbee Read "The Tunnel," "Holy the Body," and "Sightings" in (https://www.thesunmagazine.org/authors/11725-donovan-mcabee)The Sun Magazine (https://www.thesunmagazine.org/authors/11725-donovan-mcabee) Read "Coming Back Down" in (https://reflections.yale.edu/article/new-voyages-church-today-and-tomorrow/poem-coming-back-down)Reflections (https://reflections.yale.edu/article/new-voyages-church-today-and-tomorrow/poem-coming-back-down) Donovan McAbee's website (https://www.donovanmcabee.com/) Hear Major Jackson read McAbee's "Desert Sayings" on (https://www.slowdownshow.org/episode/2025/03/24/1318-desert-sayings-by-donovan-mcabee)The Slowdown (https://www.slowdownshow.org/episode/2025/03/24/1318-desert-sayings-by-donovan-mcabee) Kathleen Jamie Read "The Whale-watcher," "The Wishing Tree," and other poems at Scottish Poetry Library (https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/kathleen-jamie/) Bio and poems at The Poetry Foundation (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/kathleen-jamie) Hear 19 poems by Jamie at The Poetry Archive (https://poetryarchive.org/poet/kathleen-jamie/)

Who has been a guest on The Beat

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Matthew Minicucci
• Sara Pirkle
• Anya Krugovoy Silver

Reach and audience

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

YouTube views

168,351

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

8 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 51 / 100

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

Quality

45

Social presence

0

YouTube

82

Engagement

60