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Poetry in America

This Is Just to Say, by William Carlos Williams

Season 2 Episode 7 | 26m 49s

Just 28 words and in the form of a refrigerator note, is “This is Just to Say” simply a short apology or something more subtle and passive-aggressive? Join actor John Hodgman, poet and physician Rafael Campo, poet Jane Hirshfield, a chorus of couples, and host Elisa New as they consider what may or may not lie beneath the surface of William Carlos Williams’s brief tribute to marital relations.

Aired: 05/15/20 | Expires: 06/20/20
Support for Poetry in America is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Dalio Family Fund, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Deborah Hayes Stone and Max Stone, Nancy Zimmerman and Walmart. Seasons 4 & 3 are distributed to PBS stations nationwide by PBS Plus, with Seasons 1 & 2 distributed nationally by American Public Television.
Extras
Watch • 0:30
Poetry in America
Season 4 Preview
Performers, politicians, preachers and more join Elisa New to celebrate American poems.
Preview: S4 | 0:30
Watch • 25:21
Poetry in America
Phillis Wheatley: To the University
Poems by Wheatley with Amanda Gorman, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Richard Blanco, and more.
Episode: S4 E1 | 25:21
Watch • 25:41
Poetry in America
Sonnet IV; I shall forget you presently, my dear, by Millay
Leslie Jamison, Olivia Gatwood, & more read a sonnet by Millay with host Elisa New.
Episode: S3 E8 | 25:41
Watch • 25:14
Poetry in America
Two poems, by Linda Hogan and Alberto Ríos
Linda Hogan & Alberto Ríos explore their poems with host Elisa New, Jeff Corwin & more.
Episode: S3 E7 | 25:14
Watch • 25:38
Poetry in America
Poems about Motherhood by Sharon Olds and Bernadette Mayer
Elisa New, Emily Oster, Sharon Olds, & Bernadette Mayer explore poems on motherhood.
Episode: S3 E6 | 25:38
Watch • 25:21
Poetry in America
Mending Wall, by Robert Frost
Caroline Kennedy, Tracy K. Smith & more read Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” with Elisa New.
Episode: S3 E5 | 25:21
Watch • 25:22
Poetry in America
you can say that again, billie, by Evie Shockley
Cassandra Wilson, Elisa New & more read Evie Shockley’s “you can say that again, billie.”
Episode: S3 E4 | 25:22
Watch • 25:21
Poetry in America
Cascadilla Falls, by A. R. Ammons
DJ Spooky, Joshua Bennett, & more discuss A.R. Ammon’s “Cascadilla Falls” with Elisa New.
Episode: S3 E3 | 25:21
Watch • 25:02
Poetry in America
Looking for The Gulf Motel, by Richard Blanco
Gloria Estefan & more read Richard Blanco’s "Looking for The Gulf Motel" with Elisa New.
Episode: S3 E2 | 25:02
Watch • 25:11
Poetry in America
The Wound-Dresser, by Walt Whitman
Tony Kushner, David Strathairn & more read Whitman’s “The Wound-Dresser” with Elisa New.
Episode: S3 E1 | 25:11
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Play hooky with Frank O’Hara’s “Lunch Poems.” Poets and NYC-lovers join host Elisa New.
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Poet Martín Espada worked manufacturing legal pads, and the job is burned into his memory.
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Episode: S4 E6 | 25:43
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Drive through West Texas with Tracy K. Smith, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and host Elisa New.
Episode: S4 E5 | 25:21
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July in Washington
David Axelrod, Bill Kristol and Andrea Mitchell read Robert Lowell with Elisa New.
Episode: S4 E4 | 25:21
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Poetry in America
Mushrooms, Weakness and Doubt
Consider the poetics, and politics, of fungi with poems by Sylvia Plath and Kay Ryan.
Episode: S4 E3 | 25:21
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Six Years Later, Epitaph for a Centaur
Read the elegiac poetry of Joseph Brodsky, a Cold War Russian exile, with host Elisa New.
Episode: S4 E2 | 25:21
Watch • 25:21
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Phillis Wheatley: To the University
Poems by Wheatley with Amanda Gorman, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Richard Blanco, and more.
Episode: S4 E1 | 25:21
Watch • 25:41
Poetry in America
Sonnet IV; I shall forget you presently, my dear, by Millay
Leslie Jamison, Olivia Gatwood, & more read a sonnet by Millay with host Elisa New.
Episode: S3 E8 | 25:41
Watch • 25:14
Poetry in America
Two poems, by Linda Hogan and Alberto Ríos
Linda Hogan & Alberto Ríos explore their poems with host Elisa New, Jeff Corwin & more.
Episode: S3 E7 | 25:14