Listen Now

Jeff discusses Gertrude Stein, her role in the arts movement in France during the World Wars, her status as icon of the "Lost Generation", and her lover, Alice Toklas - brownie baker. The poetry selection is a stream-of-consciousness poem from her collection, "Tender Buttons."

Jeff discusses Persian and Sufi mystic, Rumi, and his influence on the poetry of Islam and how his religion informed his poetry. He then reads 3 selected poems by Rumi about love - love for the creator, love for another person, and the characteristics of love. See how his poems can be read metaphorically and literally.

Jeff discusses one of the great poems in the English canon, John Keats' "Ode to a Nightingale" and talks about Keats short life, including the surprising fact that Keats was a licensed surgeon.

Jeff talks about the dunes around Lake Michigan in winter, as he explores poet, dramatist, and academician, Howard Mumford Jones' poem, "November on the Lake Michigan Dunes."

As a special Halloween bonus, Jeff reads C. Edgar Bolen's creepy poem, Lycanthropus. Have a haunted Halloween!

Jeff discusses the importance of Amy Lowell to American poetry and feminism and reads Lowell's poem "Allies (August 14, 1914)" about men marching off to war during World War I.

Jeff reads a poem by another Hurricane Maria survivor, Parth Patel. This poem expresses not only the destruction of the hurricane, but the poet's hope and belief that Dominica will rise again.

Jeff discusses and reads a poem from one of his medical students, Darian Aboubakare, about surviving the recent Category 5 Hurricane Maria, which devastated Dominica, the island upon which both the poet and Jeff were residing. This is a poem written in real time during the storm and its aftermath.

Jeff discusses Christina Rossetti and her life and poetry. In this episode, he will read Rossetti's poem, Goblin Market, which may seem simple at first blush, but has come to mean a lot of things to a lot of people.

Jeff discusses the history of the limerick and reads a short selection of limericks - most of which are safe for work.

Jeff talks about Stephen Crane, best known for his novel, Red Badge of Courage, though he was a ground-breaking and proliferative poet, as well. Crane's very strange poem, In the Desert is then discussed and read.

Jeff explores the short, but eventful, life of Percy Bysshe Shelley and discusses his sonnet on the ephemera of fame and power, Ozymandius.

Jeff briefly discusses the gothic life of Edgar Allan Poe and then reads Poe's posthumously published poem, The Bells.

Jeff discusses "The Bard of the Yukon", Robert W. Service, and his humorous poem, "The Cremation of Sam McGee."

Jeff discusses Walt Whitman's beautiful elegaic poem on the death of Abraham Lincoln, When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd.

Jeff discusses the life of William Carlos Williams and how his profession as a physician informed his poetry. He also talks about Imagism and his relationship with other Imagist artists of the day.

Jeff discusses the weird, short life of Lord Byron and reads his poem, Prometheus. He discusses the relationship between Byron, the poem, and the novel, Frankenstein. Oh, and Wolverine and Batman make an appearance, too.

Jeff discusses the life and legacy of the first international African-American celebrity, slave and poet, Phillis Wheatley. He then reads her poem, To the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth, etc.

Jeff introduces the podcast and discusses James Whitcombe Riley and his poem, A Summer Afternoon