I appreciated the courage of this young man's voice as he looked at himself from a safe distance to tell his truth. If I were still a PD, I'd air it. As a listener I enjoyed it. I didn't listen to the cleaned up version

Poetry is a hard proposition on the radio. It’s such an inherently conversational medium and sometimes, in trying to decipher the riddles of poetic language, you can be pushed away rather than pulled in—which radio, at its best, should do. Just the same, Dima'api’s poem is full of images that the listener can latch onto easily, and it’s personal and intimate enough to make you feel like you’re being addressed one-on-one, not orated to off a stage. Dima'api’s experience of balancing a new language with an old one feels suited to poetry—as well as poetry being spoken to you across the airwaves.