Reading and Writing

Wahmanholm, Redmouth

Sarah, Janaya and I swoon over Claire Wahmanholm's Redmouth, and talk about surprises in poetry, and things like diction, mystery, white space, erasure poetry, how to convey emotions and ideas through images and sounds, how living poets should relate to the tradition, and much more. 

Cervantes, Don Quixote

Brooklyn, Riley, and I chat about parts of Don Quixote, asking questions about the nature of fiction and the novel as a genre, honesty, the imagination, idealism vs realism, why books can be dangerous, why the crazy knight and his squire are among the most famous characters in all literature, how ambitious we should be, the difference between ambition and delusion, and much more. 

Wisława Szymborska, part 2

Torrin and Brooklyn and I swoon over more of our favorite Szymborska poems, and talk about sentimentality in poetry, the importance of surprise, looking at familiar things from new perspectives, the value of the everyday, how to turn anything into a poem, and more. 

King Lear, Act 5

In this final recording about King Lear, I chat with Maile and Reagan about Act 5. We ask ourselves if this play is too sad, if ripeness is all, if the gods are just, what Lear has learned about life and love, what true repentance looks like, whether or not Cordelia is dead, what exactly Lear dies of at the end, and much more. At the end of this recording I offer a few concluding words about the play, and ask one final question about it, maybe the most important and provocative question of all. 

King Lear, Act 4

Noelle and Baylee and I enthuse over Act 4 of King Lear, and chat about whether the gods are cruel or gentle, where heavenly spirits are to be found, the relationship between madness and wisdom, if true forgiveness has to be earned, and much more. 

King Lear, Act 3

Sally and I swoon over the 3rd act of King Lear, and talk about anger, sin, the battle between the generations, "why we maybe should say "OK boomer," what it means to make moral progress in life, the difference between humans and animals, why we act worse than animals sometimes, noble sacrifices, why bad things happen to good people, why small groups of people can often tyrannize majorities, and much more. 

King Lear, Act 2

Anna and Iain and I chat about Act 2 of King Lear, and talk about identity, authority, hospitality, how maybe some "wants" are actually "needs," what makes humans different from other animals, the nature of charity and compassion, and much more. 

Wisława Szymborska, part 1

This time, my wife Claire Akebrand and I celebrate the first half of Wisława Szymborska's collected poems, titled Map. We read a few of our favorites, and talk about "poetic" language vs colloquial language, clarity, humor, irony, punctuation, imagery, how to make your poems appeal to a universal humanity, the importance of not knowing and embracing the unknown, how to push the thinking in your poems farther, and much more. Along the way, Claire reads a Szymborska poem that moves her to tears, and we offer a few Szymborska-inspired writing prompts. 

King Lear, Act 1

In this first of five podcasts about King Lear, Claire and I examine the play's first act, and talk about love, performance, sincerity, authority, parents and children, gratitude, the fool, comedy, nature, what makes a good king, what the past owes the present (and vice versa), and much else. 

How to Read, and Why: Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran

How should we read books? Why should we read them at all? To help us answer these questions, Claire and I turn to Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran, and talk about the freedom to read, reading for pleasure, escapism, why we get joy from reading about horrible things, the relationship between reading and moral instruction, the importance of talking and writing about what you read, and much more.