"The Cruelest Month" 2011
Series: New Letters on the Air
From: New Letters on the Air
Length: 00:29:00
Also in the New Letters on the Air series
Poet and aphorist James Richardson
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From: New Letters on the Air
Poet James Richardson has called himself an "accidental aphorist," but his well-crafted works are no accident. He reads from his 2010 book, BY THE NUMBERS: POEMS AND ...
Alaska's State Writer Laureate, 2010-2012, Peggy Shumaker
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From: New Letters on the Air
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PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist Lorraine Lopez
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From: New Letters on the Air
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From: New Letters on the Air
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National Book Award-winning poet and translator, Robert Bly
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From: New Letters on the Air
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Poet, editor, and translator, Wayne Miller
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From: New Letters on the Air
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Poet and fiction writer, Sapphire
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Poet and fiction writer Sapphire, best-known for her novel PUSH, which became the award-winning film PRECIOUS, reads from her 2011 novel, THE KID, which follows the son of ...
When She Named Fire
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From: New Letters on the Air
The title our Clarion Award-winning show, "WHEN SHE NAMED FIRE," is taken from an anthology of contemporary poetry by American women. Edited by poet Andrea Hollander Budy, ...
Japanese poet and fiction writer, Mariko Nagai
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From: New Letters on the Air
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Missouri poet William Trowbridge
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Unafraid of incorporating pop culture in his work, poet William Trowbridge, the author of five poetry collections, including THE COMPLETE BOOK OF KONG, shares poems from his ...
Related Pieces
Piece Description
"April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirring Dull roots with spring rain." The famous words of poet T.S. Eliot prompted us to mix this anthology of American poets, who examine the mysteries of love in various forms. Listen to former Poets Laureate Billy Collins, Charles Simic, Rita Dove, and Kay Ryan, who offer their poetic insights and reflections into the ambiguous and enticing world of love, on The Cruelest Month, a finalist for the New York Festivals International Radio Award.
Broadcast History
Originally uplinked to PRSS' Content Depot on 4/2/2010. An updated version uplinked to Content Depot on 4/1/2011. This piece was also a finalist for the New York Festivals International Radio Award.
Timing and Cues
PROMO: Next time on NEW LETTERS ON THE AIR... we recall the lines from T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" as we begin National Poetry Month: April is the Cruellest Month. To look at its cruelity, we look at love in its many forms with former U.S. Poet Laureates Billy Collins, Charles Simic, Rita Dove and others on "The Cruelest Month," next time on NEW LETTERS ON THE AIR...
UPLINK DATE: 04/01/2011
PROGRAM LENGTH: 29:00 minutes
INCUE: (music) "'April is the cruelest month..."
OUTCUE: "...thanks for listening to NEW LETTERS ON THE AIR."
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Good Layabout | Kevin MacLeod | royalty free production music. | incompetech.com | 00:00 | |
| Sonatina | Kevin MacLeod | royalty free production music. | incompetech.com | 00:00 | |
| Orange Parade | The Bone People | 00:00 | |||
| Night on the Docks | Kevin MacLeod | royalty free production music. | incompetech.com | 00:00 | |
| Kerr Hall | Studio Cutz Production Library | Jazz Guitar. | Studio Cutz | 00:00 | |
| Sweet Tones | Studio Cutz Production Library | Light and Bright Classical Guitar. | Studio Cutz | 00:00 | |
| The Long Road Ahead | Kevin MacLeod | royalty free production music. | incompetech.com | 00:00 | |
| Somewhere Sunny | Kevin MacLeod | royalty free production music. | incompetech.com | 00:00 | |
| Funkorama | Kevin MacLeod | royalty free production music. | incompetech.com | 00:00 | |
| Human Beat | Kevin MacLeod | royalty free production music. | incompetech.com | 00:00 |
Additional Credits
New Letters on the Air is a production of the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the quarterly literary magazine NEW LETTERS. Partial financial support also comes from the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.
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What's the Word? Poetry in Performance (00:29:48)
James Reiss
Posted on April 08, 2010 at 08:40 PM | Permalink
The Love Poems that Bloom in the Spring
This mixed bouquet of ten poets, courtesy of Kansas City, comes in time for National Poetry Month. If everyone loves a lover, you’ll enjoy listening to various poets’ takes on matters of the heart. Angela Elam hosts another half-hour “New Letters on the Air” piece with musical interludes mainly by Kevin MacLeod, featuring her own signature TLC.
Naturally, I have certain faves among the ten love poems. I particularly like Charles Simic’s “The Beloved,” which begins with sass:
In the fine print of her face
Her eyes are two loopholes.
No, let me start again.
Her eyes are flies in milk.
Her eyes are baby Draculas.
And then there’s Billy Collins’s outrageous takeoff of Jacques Crickillon, “Litany,” which starts:
You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are the dew on the morning grass
and the burning wheel of the sun.
Love poems by two other Poets Laureate, Rita Dove and Kay Ryan, are also terrific.
Elsewhere, the intensity ebbs a bit, for me at least. Unfortunately, Elam refers to The Academy of American Poets with a slightly botched phrase. Plus, she mistakes the phrasing of the original title that preceded the current term for the United States Poet Laureate.
Hey, no big deal! Ninety-nine and forty-four one-hundredths of one percent of Americans couldn’t care a figleaf about such nitpicky issues.
Overall, this bouquet of poets will have plenty of flower power on public radio now that spring has sprung, tra-la.