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.
April 11, 2005 - MPR’s Tom Crann interviews U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser. They discuss Kooser winning the Pulitzer Prize. Segment also includes Kooser reading two poems.
April 28, 2005 - MPR’s Tom Crann interviews Dr. Jon Hallberg about the intersection of poetry and medicine. Segment includes Halberg reading a William Carlos Williams poem. Williams, sustained his medical practice throughout his writing career.
May 17, 2005 - Minnesota poet Robert Bly reads the poem "Driving toward the Lac Qui Parle River."
May 17, 2005 - The Current’s Mary Lucia talks with Native American poet and saxophonist Joy Harjo who shares thought about her work. Segment includes excerpt of “Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window.”
May 31, 2005 - MPR’s Tom Crann interviews North Dakota poet Larry Woiwode on his dismay over Minneosta Governor Pawlenty’s decision to veto bill that would have established a poet laureate for Minnesota. At least 34 states have poet laureates. Like the majority of those writers, a Minnesota poet laureate would have received no tax dollars. But it wasn't the money that concerned Governor Pawlenty. Instead, he feared that naming a state poet would lead to requests for a Minnesota mime or state interpretive dancer.
August 8, 2005 - MPR’s Euan Kerr sits down with poet Robert Bly, who discusses his book of ghazals called "My Sentence was a Thousand Years of Joy," as well as his varied and colorful career.
September 15, 2005 - Dudley Voigt, co-founder of Teens Rock the Mic, comments on developing young people. The Twin Cities based youth poetry group is trying to raise money for their organization and they're getting some help from several reknowned writers and poets.
September 15, 2005 - Dudley Voigt, co-founder of Teens Rock the Mic, comments on writer benefit.
December 9, 2005 - MPR’s Stephanie Hemphill reports on Cheng-Khee Chee, one of Minnesota's best-known watercolor artists, who has published a book for children. It's called "Noel," and it's a free-flowing poem by Tony Johnston about the sights and sounds of an old-fashioned Christmas. Hemphill talked with the artist about the technique he used to convey the magic of an evening full of snow and Christmas bells.
December 12, 2005 - MPR’s Tom Crann interviews Emerson College literature professor Daniel Tobin about Eugene McCarthy’s poetry.