{"id":3246,"date":"2021-04-28T14:16:29","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T14:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/farefwd.com\/?p=3246"},"modified":"2021-04-28T14:16:32","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T14:16:32","slug":"poetry-unbound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/2021\/04\/28\/poetry-unbound\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry Unbound"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Poetry Today<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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In fifteen-minute episodes, the Poetry Unbound podcast brings poetry into our daily routines\u2014and opens our eyes along the way.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Review by <\/em>Kathleen Hartsfield Spicer<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Poetry gives language to our lives when our everyday prose is lacking. It allows us to hold up a mundane piece of existence to the light and see it in a new way.\u00a0 Too often we relegate those transformative moments to whatever time we can set aside to sit down with a poetry book. On Being\u2019s podcast, Poetry Unbound, invites us to include poetry in our routines by sharing a poem and commentary on that poem each week, along with a guiding question for the week posted on their website. Having completed their second season last fall, there are now forty-one episodes of Poetry Unbound available, with more on the way April 26th.\u00a0<\/p>

When I first listened to Poetry Unbound, it was because my friend shared the episode on Christian Wiman\u2019s \u201cAll My Friends Are Finding New Beliefs.\u201d I love podcasts and poetry (particularly that poem), so I immediately started listening. Normally when I experience poetry, I like to read it aloud to myself to hear how the words fit together while seeing it on the page. Hearing poetry without the text to reference was a little disorienting at first, but after listening to all of Season 2 of Poetry Unbound, I\u2019ve found host P\u00e1draig \u00d3 Tuama\u2019s readings to be grounding. On Being makes all of the poems featured on the show available for reading online, so there is always the option to read along, too.<\/p>

The format of Poetry Unbound provides space to experience the poem and form your own thoughts while also guiding the listener through the reading. \u00d3 Tuama begins each episode with a quick thought about why he loves poetry that gives a rough context for why he chose that poem and goes into the first reading of the poem. After that, he reflects on what the poet is doing in the poem, giving the listener a mini poetry workshop along with some personal anecdotes. The episodes end on a second and final reading of the poem.<\/p>

As I have listened to Poetry Unbound almost every day for the last month, I\u2019ve found the routine to be almost devotional. This is similar to how On Being advertises it. The fifteen-minute episodes drop the listener into the world of the poem and can reframe their mindset of the everyday. In the malaise of routine, Poetry Unbound descends into each poem with such care that I emerged wanting to give the same care and wonder to the customs of my own life. The best example of this is the episode on Gregory Pardlo\u2019s \u201cWishing Well.\u201d As \u00d3 Tauma explains, \u201cPoetry bows down to unexpected human encounters, to unexpected moments, to meetings with strangers that we have\u2014something surprising that comes out of nowhere, that we want to hold and honor and bow down to.\u201d This was probably my favorite episode of the season. In \u201cWishing Well,\u201d Pardlo tells the story of meeting a stranger outside the Met Museum. It\u2019s a scenario we\u2019ve all experienced\u2014unwanted conversation and uncertainty of what the stranger will do or say next. This stranger asks if the water fountain is a wishing well and then takes out two pennies and pulls Pardlo into making a wish.<\/p>

\u201c. . . hey my man I\u2019m going<\/p>

to make a wish for you too.<\/p>

I am laughing now so what you want<\/p>

me to sign a waiver? He laughs along ain\u2019t<\/p>

say all that he says but you do have to<\/p>

hold my hand.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 And close your eyes.\u201d<\/p>

The poem goes on to describe an otherworldly experience after the poet closes his eyes: \u201cI hear the coins blink against \/ the surface and I cough up daylight like I\u2019ve just \/ been dragged ashore.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

Pardlo\u2019s experience with this stranger brought him out of his own private pain because he was willing to step into that moment, however skeptically. This episode made me want to look for small treasures like this in my daily life. Poetry, as with any meditation or prayer practice, can slice open your day to reveal new possibilities, and that\u2019s what I have loved so much about Poetry Unbound.<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Poetry is for everyone. Poetry Unbound is making it possible for more people to access and engage poetry in the everyday.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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For me, poetry is as much about the sounds of the words as the words themselves. In \u201cCeist na Teangan\u201d (\u201cThe Language Issue\u201d) by Nuala N\u00ed Dhomhnaill, this is demonstrated by initially getting to hear the poem read in its original form in the Irish language. To simply meditate on the sounds without the word association reveals how poetry can transcend language, which was a good primer for the English version. The central theme of the poem is trusting one\u2019s life work to another as Moses was placed in the basket in the river and nurtured by Pharaoh\u2019s daughter: \u201cI place my hope on the water \/ in this little boat \/ of the language.\u201d N\u00ed Dhomhnaill\u2019s work is preserving the Irish language, and she knows that the work must outlive her. This episode explores what poetry can accomplish as language shifts over time.\u00a0<\/p>

\u00d3 Tauma has also done an excellent job of curating poems from a diverse set of poets. From Lucille Clifton\u2019s \u201csong at midnight\u201d to Layli Long Soldier\u2019s \u201cWHEREAS my eyes land on the shoreline\u201d to Meleika Gesa-Fatafehi\u2019s \u201cSay My Name,\u201d Poetry Unbound has centered marginalized, non-white voices. Most piercing for me was Zaffar Kunial\u2019s \u201cThe Word,\u201d which tells the story of being an awkward teenager growing up with immigrant parents and having a better grasp on the language of their adopted country. It\u2019s a poem about shame and embarrassment as an adolescent, but this goes deeper:<\/p>

\u201c….Ashamed. Aware.<\/p>

That I knew better, though was stuck inside<\/p>

while the sun was out. That I\u2019m native here.<\/p>

In a halfway house…\u201d<\/p>

This poem illustrates many difficulties of growing up, but Kunial\u2019s experience also includes the question of being able to speak English fluently. He\u2019s whiling away his summer indoors, and his dad says, \u201cWhatever is matter, \/ must enjoy the life.\u201d The first time I listened, I started thinking about physical matter and turning that phrase around in my head. Kunial takes us beyond the grammatical rules of the English language and shows us how his father\u2019s care for him transcends language.\u00a0<\/p>

Poetry Unbound functions as a text to return to. I\u2019ve returned to \u201cWishing Well,\u201d \u201cWonder Woman,\u201d and \u201cAll My Friends Are Finding New Beliefs\u201d several times because walking through the park or taking a drive with those episodes as companions imbues my day with a new willingness to observe my life. This is how poetry functions in general, and Poetry Unbound makes this form of art that much easier to engage. It adds new depth and dimension to poetry by presenting it in auditory form.<\/p>

Simply by being an accessible and welcoming podcast, Poetry Unbound shows us that poetry isn\u2019t just an artistic or academic pursuit. Poetry is for everyone. Poetry Unbound is making it possible for more people to access and engage poetry in the everyday. As \u00d3 Tuama describes it in the intro of episode seven, poetry \u201cis not an escape from the world, but an embrace of it\u2026[it] is a way to open [oneself] up to being alive in the world.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Kathleen Hartsfield Spicer<\/strong> is a former coffee professional working in the Nashville tech industry. Lately, she hosts a wine show called JuiceBox and spends as much time as possible in her backyard.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Poetry Unbound<\/strong> is produced by On Being and hosted by P\u00e1draig \u00d3 Tuama. You can listen to past episodes and the current season on their website here<\/a>. <\/em>
<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Poetry Today In fifteen-minute episodes, the Poetry Unbound podcast brings poetry into our daily routines\u2014and opens our eyes along the way. Review by Kathleen Hartsfield Spicer Poetry gives language to our lives when our everyday prose is lacking. It allows us to hold up a mundane piece of existence to the light and see it 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