Poetry Centered

Linger in the space between a poem being spoken and being heard. Poetry Centered features curated selections from Voca, the University of Arizona Poetry Center’s online audiovisual archive of more than 1,000 recordings of poets reading their work during visits to the Center between 1963 and today. In each episode, a guest poet introduces three poems from Voca, sharing their insights about the remarkable performances recorded in our archive. Each episode concludes with the guest poet reading a poem of their own.

Poetry Centered is a arts podcast hosted by University of Arizona Poetry Center, with 69 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

University of Arizona Poetry Center hosts Poetry Centered, a arts show with 69 episodes published.

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  Episode #65

  Acts of Attention: Elizabeth Bradfield

  Sep 9, 202642 min

  Elizabeth Bradfield brings together recordings of poets connected to Provincetown, Massachusetts, but linked more deeply by their acts of attention—to human community and to the more-than-human world. She shares Olga Broumas’s meditation on grief in the body (“The Massacre”), Mark Doty’s simultaneous engagement with the real and the metaphoric (“Description”), and Mark Wunderlich’s tongue-in-cheek exploration of myth and monstrosity (“Milking the Minotaur”). Bradfield closes with “Considering the Hadal Zone,” a poem that circles through ocean deeps and memory. Find the full recordings of Broumas, Doty, and Wunderlich reading for the Poetry Center on Voca: Olga Broumas (October 26, 1988) Mark Doty (October 13, 1993) Mark Wunderlich (September 12, 2024) Full transcripts of every episode are available on Buzzsprout . Look for the transcript tab under each episode. Voca is now fully captioned, with interactive transcripts and captions available for all readings! Read more about the project here , or try out this new feature by visiting Voca .

  ListenShow Notes
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  Episode #64

  The Lyric You: Soham Patel

  Aug 26, 202626 min

  Soham Patel shares poems that each speak to “you,” finding in the second-person pronoun a way to explore difficult subjects. She introduces Mark Strand asking questions of his deceased father (“Elegy for My Father”), Kazim Ali addressing a past self in a time of transformation (“Gallery”), and Yanyi considering the fragmentary world alongside the beloved (“Beginning of Spring”). Patel closes with her poem “Beloved Writes a Letter,” a direct address to one of seven characters in her book The Daughter Industry . Find the full recordings of Strand, Ali, and Yanyi reading for the Poetry Center on Voca: Mark Strand (May 4, 1971) Kazim Ali (February 24, 2011) Yanyi (September 28, 2023) Full transcripts of every episode are available on Buzzsprout . Look for the transcript tab under each episode. Voca is now fully captioned, with interactive transcripts and captions available for all readings! Read more about the project here , or try out this new feature by visiting Voca .

  ListenShow Notes
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  Episode #63

  Richard Blanco: A Home in Language

  Aug 12, 202627 min

  Richard Blanco curates poems that look to language as a spiritual and psychological home, a center from which we make sense of reality. He introduces Ada Limón confronting the limits of what a poem can do (“The End of Poetry”), Robert Hass balancing lyric with narrative to reveal how language helps us understand our lives (“Meditation at Lagunitas”), and Heather McHugh demonstrating a way to conclude a poem with a leap into another universe (“What He Thought”). Blanco closes with his poem “The Splintering,” a piece that inhabits the blessing and curse of first becoming aware of language. Find the full recordings of Limón, Hass, and McHugh reading for the Poetry Center on Voca: Ada Limón (December 4, 2024) Robert Hass (September 19, 1979) Heather McHugh (April 19, 1995) Full transcripts of every episode are available on Buzzsprout . Look for the transcript tab under each episode. Voca is now fully captioned, with interactive transcripts and captions available for all readings! Read more about the project here , or try out this new feature by visiting Voca .

  ListenShow Notes
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  Episode #62

  Eduardo Martínez-Leyva: Being a Good Ancestor

  Jul 29, 202626 min

  Eduardo Martínez-Leyva considers what it means to be a good ancestor, to live and work with the desire to comfort those who will follow us in their own trying times. He shares Gloria Anzaldúa modeling the mixed languages of the border (“mujer cacto”), Rigoberto González leading the gaze to strange beauty (“Walking by the Panteón San Franciscano”), and Adrienne Rich showing the way to walk away from comfort (“August”). Martínez-Leyva closes with his “Learning the Language,” a poem that springs from the ground broken open and prepared by those before him. Listen to the full recordings of Anzaldúa, González, and Rich reading for the Poetry Center on Voca: Gloria Anzaldúa (October 23, 1991) Rigoberto González (September 22, 1999) Adrienne Rich (January 31, 1974) Full transcripts of every episode are available on Buzzsprout . Look for the transcript tab under each episode. Voca is now fully captioned, with interactive transcripts and captions available for all readings! Read more about the project here , or try out this new feature by visiting Voca .

  ListenShow Notes
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  Episode #61

  Laura Da’: No Easy Thing to See Deeply

  Jul 15, 202627 min

  Laura Da’ selects poems that report back to us with forthright courage She introduces James Welch speaking with a ringing sense of sovereignty (“In My First Hard Springtime”), Saretta Morgan crossing thresholds of space and perspective (“Consequences upon arrival (i)”), and Lena Khalaf Tuffaha resolving to speak and continue speaking (“To Be Self-Evident”). Da’ closes with “A High Bank to Spare the Flood,” a poem of returning to Shawnee homelands. Find the full recordings of Welch, Morgan, and Tuffaha reading for the Poetry Center on Voca: James Welch (November 10, 1971) Saretta Morgan (March 28, 2024) Lena Khalaf Tuffaha (February 19, 2026) Full transcripts of every episode are available on Buzzsprout . Look for the transcript tab under each episode. Voca is now fully captioned, with interactive transcripts and captions available for all readings! Read more about the project here , or try out this new feature by visiting Voca .

  ListenShow Notes

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