WXXI Poetry Moments 2013

A partnership with BOA Editions, celebrating more than 35 years of independent publishing

WXXI will celebrate poets and their beautiful words during the month of April, which is National Poetry Month. Once again this year, we will have a special series of Poetry Moments, created in collaboration with Rochester-based BOA Editions. These WXXI / BOA Poetry Moments will be broadcast April 18 – 30 on Classical 91.5, 90.3 and 91.5 HD. 

Listen to the series:

Wishes for Sons by Lucille Clifton, read by Peter Conners

Airs Thursday, April 18

National Book Award-winning poet Lucille Clifton, who died in 2010, served as a Distinguished Professor of Humanities at St. Mary's College in Maryland. She was appointed a Fellow of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences and elected as Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets in 1999.

Flickr photo by mahem

Astronomy by David Mura, read by Jonathan Everitt

Airs Friday, April 19

Poet David Mura, a Japanese American, has written intimately about his life as a man of color and the connections between race, sexuality, and history. His books include After We Lost Our Way from Carnegie Mellon University Press, which won the 1989 National Poetry Series Contest, and Angels for the Burning from BOA Editions. Mura teaches at Hamline University, Voices of the Nation Association, and the Stonecoast MFA program.

Flickr photo by AndyRobertsPhotos

The Crow by Adrie Kusserow, read by Anne Coon

Airs Sunday, April 21

Poet Adrie Kusserow is an associate professor of cultural anthropology and chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at St. Michael's College in Vermont. Kusserow lives in Underhill Center, Vermont, with her husband and two children. Her poems have been published widely in literary journals, and she has been a finalist for the "Discovery"/The Nation award. Her latest poetry collection is Refuge, published by BOA Editions in 2013.

Flickr photo by quinet

The Day Biggie Smalls Died by Sean Thomas Dougherty, read by Adam Goldfeder

Airs Monday, April 22

Sean Thomas Dougherty is the author of nine books including Sasha Sings the Laundry on the Line, and Broken Hallelujahs, both from BOA Editions, and Nightshift Belonging to Lorca, from Mammoth Books, which was a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize. His awards include two Pennsylvania Council for the Arts Fellowships in Poetry. He received an MFA in poetry from Syracuse University and lives in Erie, Pennsylvania. In spring 2014, BOA will publish Dougherty’s new collection, All You Ask for Is Longing: New and Selected Poems.

Google image by grudge03 

Hag Riding by Lucille Clifton, read by Jane Schuster

Airs Tuesday, April 23

Two of Lucille Clifton's BOA books were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in 1988, a singular achievement among authors. The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010 (BOA Editions, 2012) was co-edited by Kevin Young and Michael S. Glaser and includes a Foreword by Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison.

Flickr photo by naturalturn

Impressions by Anthony Tognazzini, read by Steve Smock

Airs Wednesday, April 24

Anthony Tognazzini's work has appeared in numerous literary journals. His first book, I Carry A Hammer In My Pocket for Occasions Such As These, from BOA Editions, features 57 short pieces ranging from compressed paragraphs to 10-page stories. Tognazzini was born in California and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY, where he works as a teacher and freelance journalist, and practices and performs with his band Sky Eats Man. His awards include an AWP Award, an Academy of American Poets prize, a Greer Artist Foundation Fellowship, and a Hemingway Fellowship.

Google photo by wallsave

Cave Dwellers by A. Poulin Jr., read by Boo Poulin

Airs Thursday, April 25 

Poet, translator and editor, A. Poulin, Jr. (1938-1996) was the founding publisher and president of BOA Editions. He was also the editor of the celebrated anthology Contemporary American Poetry. For his poetry and translations, Poulin received both a creative writing fellowship and a translator’s grant from the NEA, among many other honors. In 1971 Poulin joined the faculty at SUNY Brockport where he was Professor of English. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters by the University of New England.

Flickr photo by pocaagua 

Love Song of the Autodidact by Christopher Kennedy, read by Bernadette Catalana

Airs Friday, April 26

Christopher Kennedy is Director of the M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing at Syracuse University. Kennedy has published four collections of poetry, including the Isabella Gardner Award-winning collection, Encouragement for a Man Falling to His Death, and, most recently Ennui Prophet, both from BOA Editions. His writing has appeared in print and electronic journals including Ploughshares, The Threepenny Review, Double Room, and Del Sol Review, among many others. He is a founding editor of the literary journal 3rd Bed.

Flickr photo by bhakti-amsterdam

Small Letter by Aracelis Girmay, read by Cindy Rogers

Airs Sunday, April 28

Winner of the 2011 Isabella Gardner Award and 2012 Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Girmay is the author of Kingdom Animalia, published in fall 2011 from BOA Editions. She is assistant professor of poetry at Hampshire College, and also teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Drew University in New Jersey. Girmay is a Cave Canem Fellow and an Acentos board member.

Flickr photo by Clover1

Satchmo by Lucille Clifton, read by Jack Garner

Airs Monday, April 29

Lucille Clifton (born Thelma Lucille Sayles) grew up in Buffalo, New York, and graduated from Fosdick-Masten Park High School in 1953. Her poetry celebrates her African American heritage, feminist themes, and real life social problems.

Google image by fineartamerica

 


My Mother at Swan Lake by Barton Sutter, read by Carla Giambrone

Airs Tuesday, April 30

The only author to win the Minnesota Book Award in three different categories, Sutter has written for public radio and regularly performs as one half of The Sutter Brothers. Sutter recently retired from the University of Wisconsin, Superior, and lives in Duluth. His newest poetry collection, The Reindeer Camps, was published by BOA in spring 2012.

Flickr photo by BLcarnut