Episodes

  • Poems for Company - October 26, 2026

    Poems for Company - October 26, 2026
    Oct 26 2026
    “Bodies from the First World War”: Between 1914 and 1918, British newspapers published poems on a regular basis. Less experienced writers often promoted the war, relying on jingoism. This episode samples one such poem and then shifts to more accomplished poems, all written in the nineteen-teens and all focusing on alterations in the bodies of the soldiers. Jessie Pope, “The Beau Ideal” (1915). Eva Dobell, “In a Soldiers’ Hospital II: Gramophone Tunes” (1919). Siegfried Sassoon, “They” (1917). Wilfred Owen, “Anthem for Doomed Youth” (1920). All of these poems may be found in The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry, George...
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    29 mins
  • Poems for Company - September 28, 2026

    Poems for Company - September 28, 2026
    Sep 28 2026
    “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.
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    29 mins
  • Poems for Company - August 24, 2026

    Poems for Company - August 24, 2026
    Aug 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...
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    29 mins
  • Poems for Company - July 27, 2026

    Poems for Company - July 27, 2026
    Jul 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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    29 mins
  • Poems for Company - June 22, 2026

    Poems for Company - June 22, 2026
    Jun 22 2026
    “Gone Parents“: Poets featured today consider deceased parents, somewhat sentimentally or as mysterious dream figures. Ted Kooser, “Mother” and “Father,” from Delights & Shadows (Copper Canyon Press, 2004). Seamus Heaney, “Uncoupled,” from Selected Poems 1988-2013 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014; originally published in Human Chain (2010). Kathleen Flenniken, “The Sound of a Train,” from Famous (U. of Nebraska Press, 2006), used with the kind permission of the author. I am sorry to report that Philip Aaberg died in late May of this year. When I reached out to him years ago and requested to use his music on my show, he was spontaneously generous. Compelling in concert, he continues to be...
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    29 mins
  • Poems for Company - May 25, 2026

    Poems for Company - May 25, 2026
    May 25 2026
    “What’s So Funny?”: Will any of today’s poems make you laugh? Billy Collins, “To My Favorite 17-Year-Old High School Girl,” from Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems (Random House, 2013). Stephen Dunn, “John & Mary,” from The Not Yet Fallen World: New and Selected Poems (W.W. Norton & Company, 2022). Caroline Bird, “Little Children,” from The Air Year (Carcanet, 2020), https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781784109028/the-air-year/ Would you like to share with me a favorite poem that makes you laugh? If so, please contact me, Brian Dillon, at feedback@kmun,org. The 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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    29 mins
  • Poems for Company - April 27, 2026

    Poems for Company - April 27, 2026
    Apr 27 2026
    “Wake Up: Modern Aubades”: Traditionally, aubades are lyrics announcing the arrival of dawn all too soon for lovers who want the night to be prolonged. The twentieth-century poems featured here take some liberties with that tradition. After an excerpt from John Donne’s “The Sun Rising” (1633), Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, “Aubade,” from Pharaoh’s Daughter (Wake Forest U. Press, 1993; Pharaoh’s Daughter by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill | WFU Press ). Philip Larkin, “Aubade,” from Collected Poems (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2001). The 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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    29 mins
  • Poems for Company - March 16th, 2026

    Poems for Company - March 16th, 2026
    Mar 16 2026
    “Neighbors”: When you recall the places where you lived, do you inevitably reflect on who else was in close proximity? This episode presents three distinct ways of thinking about one’s neighbors. Robert Frost, “Mending Wall.” John Heywood, “A Quiet Neighbour.” Robert Wrigley, “Praise Bob,” from The True Account of Myself as a Bird (Penguin Books, 2022), used with the kind permission of the author. The 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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    29 mins