Poems for Company

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On this theme-based show, host Brian Dillon reads and comments on poems from the ancient world to the present. Topics include Unlived Lives, Inanimate Objects, Swimming, Advice, and Unrequited love, among many others.

  1. May 25

    Poems for Company - May 25, 2026

    “What’s So Funny?”: Will any of today’s poems make you laugh?  Billy Collins, “To My Favorite 17-Year-Old High School Girl,” from Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems (Random House, 2013).  Stephen Dunn, “John & Mary,” from The Not Yet Fallen World: New and Selected Poems (W.W. Norton & Company, 2022).  Caroline Bird, “Little Children,” from The Air Year (Carcanet, 2020), https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781784109028/the-air-year/   Would you like to share with me a favorite poem that makes you laugh?  If so, please contact me, Brian Dillon, at feedback@kmun,org.  The show’s theme music is Philip Aaberg’s “Going-to-the-Sun,” from Live from Montana (available at sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with the kind permission of Mr. Aaberg.

    29 min

  2. Apr 27

    Poems for Company - April 27, 2026

    “Wake Up: Modern Aubades”: Traditionally, aubades are lyrics announcing the arrival of dawn all too soon for lovers who want the night to be prolonged.  The twentieth-century poems featured here take some liberties with that tradition.  After an excerpt from John Donne’s “The Sun Rising” (1633), Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, “Aubade,” from Pharaoh’s Daughter (Wake Forest U. Press, 1993; Pharaoh’s Daughter by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill | WFU Press ).  Philip Larkin, “Aubade,” from Collected Poems (Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2001). The show’s theme music is Philip Aaberg’s “Going-to-the-Sun,” from Live from Montana (available at sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with the kind permission of Mr. Aaberg.

    29 min

  3. Mar 16

    Poems for Company - March 16th, 2026

    “Neighbors”: When you recall the places where you lived, do you inevitably reflect on who else was in close proximity?  This episode presents three distinct ways of thinking about one’s neighbors.  Robert Frost, “Mending Wall.”  John Heywood, “A Quiet Neighbour.”  Robert Wrigley, “Praise Bob,” from The True Account of Myself as a Bird (Penguin Books, 2022), used with the kind permission of the author.  The show’s theme music is Philip Aaberg’s “Going-to-the-Sun” from Live from Montana (available at sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with the kind permission of Mr. Aaberg.

    29 min

  4. Feb 23

    Poems for Company - February 23rd, 2026

    “Revised Bible Stories”: Poets give voice to characters who are silent in the Bible, and they speculate on what the Bible left out.  They allow us to imagine less conventional roles for certain characters, as these three poems suggest.  Molly Twomey, “Noah’s Wife,” from Raised Among Vultures, and used by kind permission of the author and The Gallery Press, 2022 (www.gallerypress.com).  J. Estanislao Lopez, “Alternate Ending: The Escape of Jephthah’s Daughter,” from We Borrowed Gentleness (Alice James Books, 2022).  Brian Doyle, “The Second Letter of Lazarus to His Sisters,” from A Shimmer of Something, copyright by Brian Doyle (Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 2014), and...

    29 min

  5. Jan 26

    Poems for Company - January 26th, 2026

    “Parents Viewed Unconventionally”: Three contemporary female poets comment on one or more parents in somewhat unexpected ways.  Molly Twomey, “The Drop Off,” from Raised Among Vultures, and used by kind permission of the author and The Gallery Press, 2022 (www.gallerypress.com).  Kathleen Flenniken, “Married Love,” from Post Romantic, used by kind permission of the author (U. of Washington Press, 2020).  Ada Limon, “Joint Custody,” from The Hurting Kind (Milkweed, 2022).  Our theme music is Philip Aaberg’s “Going-to-the-Sun” from Live from Montana (available at sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with the kind permission of Mr. Aaberg.

    29 min

  6. 12/22/2025

    Poems for Company - December 22nd, 2025

    “Friendship”: Three poems consider the shared activities, the camaraderie, the tensions, and the goofiness of friendships.  Ada Limon, “Blowing on the Wheel,” from The Hurting Kind (Milkweed, 2022).  Delmore Schwartz, “Do the Others Speak of Me Mockingly, Maliciously?” from Selected Poems, copyright 1959 by Delmore Schwartz.  Used by permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.  Sharon Olds, “Best Friends,” from The Dead and the Living (Knopf, 1991), and used with the kind permission of the poet.  Our theme music is Philip Aaberg’s “Going-to-the-Sun” from Live from Montana (available at sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with the kind permission of Mr. Aaberg.

    29 min

  7. 11/24/2025

    Poems for Company - November 24th, 2025

    “Narrative Poems”: These poems offer at least an outline of a story, with a plot and some time references.  Like many successful stories, substantial relevant questions may remain unanswered, requiring some speculation on our part.  John Greenleaf Whittier, “Telling the Bees.”  Edwin Arlington Robinson, “Mr. Flood’s Party.”  Our theme music is Philip Aaberg’s “Going-to-the-Sun” from Live from Montana (available at sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with the kind permission of Mr. Aaberg.

    29 min

  8. 10/27/2025

    Poems for Company - October 27th, 2025

    “Remembering the First World War”: Our first poem details the life of a veteran who managed to survive the carnage and reflects on–or tries not to reflect on–his specific experiences during the war.  The next two poems depict civilians beginning to come to terms with their memories of the suffering shared throughout England.  Edmund Blunden, “The Veteran.”  Ursula Roberts, “The Cenotaph.”  Philip Johnstone, “High Wood.”  Our theme music is Philip Aaberg’s “Going-to-the-Sun” from his CD Live from Montana (available at sweetgrassmusic.com) and used with the kind permission of Mr. Aaberg.

    29 min
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About

On this theme-based show, host Brian Dillon reads and comments on poems from the ancient world to the present. Topics include Unlived Lives, Inanimate Objects, Swimming, Advice, and Unrequited love, among many others.

Information

  • Creator
    KMUN
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    25
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2024 KMUN
  • Show Website
    Poems for Company