MPR has had a keen ear for capturing the words and meter of poetry. Minnesota is home to many nationally renowned poets, city and state poet laureates, spoken word artists, and individuals young and old that have simply created work for the sake of the form. The state is also a magnet for poets all throughout the world. Here is a wonderful breadth of those readings, speeches, thoughts, and histories of the poet.
November 15, 1996 - Voices from the Heartland presents poet Diane Glancy reading "Snow," which is a reflection on the Halloween blizzard of 1991.
November 20, 1996 - MPR’s Mary Stucky reports on local poetry book "The Palm of My Heart," which collects vivid poetry by African American children who live in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
January 1, 1997 - Mainstreet Radio’s Leif Enger visits Mille Lacs, and reports on the perplexing nature of ice fishing.
January 17, 1997 - On this Voices of the Heartland segment, Duluth poet Barton Sutter provides a commentary on the late Minneapolis poet John Engman in a reading of “Citizen of the Milky Way: Eulogy to John Engman.”
January 31, 1997 - As part of the Voices from the Heartland series, Minnesota poet Diane Glancy reads her poem "The Back Porch of the Country."
April 11, 1997 - Midday’s Gary Eichten has a conversation with former Senator Eugene McCarthy during a visit to the Twin Cities for a couple of public book readings. During the program, McCarthy reads from his publication, Selected Poems, and answers listener call-in questions.
April 16, 1997 - MPR’s John Rabe talks with poet/writer Bill Holm about stoicism and exhaustion of Midwesterners during regional floods.
September 18, 1997 - Jane Kenyon was an essayist and poet who published several collections of work and contributed to the New Yorker and Atlantic magazines. Kenyon wrote about many things including her own battle with depression. MPR's Steven Smith talked with Kenyon in 1994 for his documentary "A Suffering Mind". During that interview, she read poem "Woodthrush."
September 18, 1997 - MPR’s Greta Cunningham talks with poet Donald Hall about his wife and fellow poet Jane Kenyon, who passed away in 1995. Hall reads Kenyon’s poem “The Needle.”
February 13, 1998 - A Westminster Town Hall Forum address by former U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove. Rita Dove's speech is entitled "The Poet's Voice."