“Poems About Writing”: When you were a student, did you find joy in the writing tasks required of you? Did self-disclosure make you uncomfortable, or did you welcome the opportunity to express your individuality? Poems in this episode may take you back to the classroom, with reflections from some students and instructors. Today’s show features these poems: Langston Hughes, “Theme for English B,” from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes, Arnold Rampersad, ed. and David Roessel, Associate ed. (Vintage, a Division of Random House, Inc., 1994). Naomi Shihab Nye, “Please Describe How You Became a Writer,” from Everything Comes Next: Collected and New Poems (Greenwillow Books, 2020), read with kind permission of the author. Naomi Shihab Nye, “Mountains,” from Voices in the Air: Poems for Listeners (Greenwillow Books, 2018), read with kind permission of the author. Robert Wrigley, “Careers,” from Anatomy of Melancholy and Other Poems (Penguin, 2013), read with kind permission of the author. William Matthews, “A Poetry Reading at West Point,” from Search Party: Collected Poems, Sebastian Matthews and Stanley Plumly, eds. (Houghton Mifflin (2004), read with kind permission of the William Matthews estate. The show’s theme music is Philip Aaberg’s “Going-to-the-Sun,” from his CD Live from Montana (Sweetgrassmusic.com).
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