Interesting People Reading Poetry

Stermer Brothers
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Interesting People Reading Poetry is a short, sound-rich podcast where artists and luminaries read a favorite poem and share what it means to them. Created by Andy & Brendan Stermer.

  1. 08/14/2025

    Novelist Lisa Ko Reads Tracy K. Smith

    In this episode, novelist Lisa Ko reads “Don’t You Wonder, Sometimes?” by Tracy K. Smith. Ko’s first book, The Leavers, was a 2017 National Book Award finalist. Her most recent book, Memory Piece (Riverhead Books, 2024) was described in Electric Literature as “a poignant meditation on late-stage capitalism: what it means to exist in an age of surveillance and government tracking, what it means to create art in an era where identity itself is commodified, and what it means to find purpose.”  https://open.spotify.com/episode/7mpEGcGLhQnJBeHegGXazZ?si=f6_qq7awTrCne2k5PfCM-A Tracy K. Smith is an American poet born in 1972. “Don’t You Wonder, Sometimes?” was first collected in Life on Mars (Graywolf Press, 2011), winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. The poem is also included in Such Color: New and Selected Poems (Graywolf Press, 2021). Keep up with Lisa Ko at lisa-ko.com. We feature one short listener poem at the end of every episode. To submit, call the Haiku Hotline at 612-440-0643 and read your poem after the beep. For the occasional prompt, follow us on Facebook. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

    19 min

  2. 12/23/2024

    Poetry Playlist: Long Track Blues

    This IPRP Poetry Playlist features a selection of archival recordings from PennSound, a project of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing at the University of Pennsylvania. The PennSound website includes an extensive audio archive with free recordings of hundreds of poets reading their own work. https://open.spotify.com/episode/4LaSIL9xy50Zf8hhFutG7Y?si=rq4P94nZSemjjXV6CWMRtw Tracklist 1. “Long Track Blues” by Sterling Brown appears in The Collected Poems of Sterling A. Brown, published by TriQuarterly. A recording of the poem is included in the Sterling Brown archive on PennSound. 2. “Rails in the Subway” by Charles Reznikoff appears in The Poems Of Charles Reznikoff: 1918-1975, published by Black Sparrow Press. A recording of the poem is included in the Charles Reznikoff archive on PennSound. 3. “At North Farm” by John Ashbery appears in Selected Poems, published by Penguin Books. A recording of the poem is included in the John Ashbery archive on PennSound. This episode uses the sounds “Accordion drone” and “Untuned piano” by adrianorhagen from freesound.org under the Attribution 4.0 license. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

    6 min

  3. 09/16/2024

    Advice Columnist Amy Dickinson Reads Roland Flint

    In this episode, Amy Dickinson reads “Say It” by Roland Flint. Dickinson wrote the beloved daily advice column “Ask Amy,” which appeared in newspapers across the country from 2003 until her retirement in June of 2024. She is also the author of two memoirs and a new Substack newsletter. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Biu5xhk2gBgrbInN0mccP Roland Flint was born in Park River, North Dakota in 1934. “Say It” was first published in Say It (Dryad Press, 1979). It appears in The Complete Poems of Roland Flint, published by Elizabeth Flint in 2022. We feature one short listener poem at the end of every episode. To submit, call the Haiku Hotline at 612-440-0643 and read your poem after the beep. For the occasional prompt, follow us on Facebook. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

    18 min

  4. 04/30/2024

    Poetry Playlist: You Are Here

    In this IPRP Poetry Playlist, U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón reads three selections from the anthology You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, out now from Milkweed Editions. The collection, edited and introduced by Limón, offers “fifty poems reflecting on our relationship to the natural world by our most celebrated contemporary writers.” Click here to learn more about the anthology, including upcoming events and how to share your own “You Are Here” nature poem. https://open.spotify.com/episode/21B1WXPUDJ9WNDH4LMROeD TRACKLIST 1. “Reasons to Live” by Ruth Awad 2. “Lullaby for the Grieving” by Ashley M. Jones 3. “Twenty Minutes in the Backyard” by Alberto Ríos Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

    7 min

  5. 03/17/2024

    Historian Roy Foster Reads William Butler Yeats

    In this episode, Roy Foster reads “Sailing to Byzantium” by William Butler Yeats. Foster is Emeritus Professor of Irish History at the University of Oxford and the author of many books, including his classic, two-volume biography of Yeats, published in 1997 and 2003. In a review of the first volume published in the New York Review of Books, the Irish novelist John Banville wrote: “W.B. Yeats: A Life is a great and important work, a triumph of scholarship, thought, and empathy such as one would hardly have thought possible in this age of disillusion. It is an achievement wholly of a scale with its heroic subject.” https://open.spotify.com/episode/2EPxyqHWa7nQJB5SKB1BDj “Sailing to Byzantium” by William Butler Yeats was first published in 1927 and included in his magnificent collection, The Tower, published in 1928. To learn more about Yeats’ life and work, look no further than Roy Foster’s W.B Yeats: A Life, Vol. I: The Apprentice Mage and Vol. II: The Arch-Poet. We feature one short listener poem at the end of every episode. To submit, call the Haiku Hotline at 612-440-0643 and read your poem after the beep. For the occasional prompt, follow us on Facebook. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

    16 min

  6. 12/15/2023

    Poetry Playlist: Forgotten Frequencies

    In this IPRP Poetry Playlist, our host Brendan Stermer reads three poems from his debut chapbook, Forgotten Frequencies, out now from North Dakota State University Press. The books were printed in a limited edition at The Braddock News Letterpress Museum in Braddock, ND and assembled by hand by students in the publishing program at North Dakota State University in Fargo. Forgotten Frequencies was selected as the winner of the 2023 Poetry of the Plains & Prairies Award and named a 2024 Midwest Book Awards finalist. Purchase a signed copy of Forgotten Frequencies here. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0Brb9k6kD6TMxl5YKT4VZ5 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

    5 min

  7. 10/23/2023

    Rapper Dessa Reads Alan Dugan

    In this episode, musician and writer Dessa reads an excerpt from “Natural Enemies of the Conch” by Alan Dugan. Dessa first gained prominence as a rapper with the Twin Cities hip hop collective Doomtree, but has since worked across many genres and creative disciplines. She has collaborated with the Minnesota Orchestra, published a memoir and poetry collections, and even hosted a BBC science podcast. Her fantastic new album, Bury the Lede, is an embrace of dance floor-ready pop music.  https://open.spotify.com/episode/364PtYtwMXPD85nnksKTN1 Alan Dugan was an American poet born in New York City in 1923. “Natural Enemies of the Conch” appears in Poems Seven: New and Complete Poetry, published by Seven Stories Press. In 2026, Seven Stories Press announced the publication of a new selection of Dugan’s work, Love Poems. The press describes the book as reflecting “the core of his art, blending hurt and hardship with a powerful belief in the driving force that love is.” Keep up with Dessa on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and at dessawander.com.  We feature one short listener poem at the end of every episode. To submit, call the Haiku Hotline at 612-440-0643 and read your poem after the beep. For the occasional prompt, follow us on Facebook. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

    15 min

  8. 08/21/2023

    Poetry Playlist: Think of the Storm

    For each IPRP Poetry Playlist, we curate a selection of three poems, loosely thematically related, presented with musical score, but without any commentary or historical context. We encourage you to approach these short episodes with the same relaxed attitude you might take toward a playlist on a burnt CD, given to you by a friend, which you casually pop in on a long road trip. Don’t worry about perfect comprehension, and steer clear of academic analysis. Just turn up the volume, roll down your windows, and enjoy the ride. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0XtYuu60adGil55h2PhFFw TRACKLIST 1. “Little Exercise” by Elizabeth Bishop appears in Poems, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2. “Love For Other Things” by Tom Hennen appears in Darkness Sticks to Everything, published by Copper Canyon Press. 3. “The Lady Speaks” by William Carlos Williams appears in The Collected Poems: Volume II, 1939-1962, published by New Directions. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

    6 min
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4.8
out of 5
101 Ratings

About

Interesting People Reading Poetry is a short, sound-rich podcast where artists and luminaries read a favorite poem and share what it means to them. Created by Andy & Brendan Stermer.

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