MPR has had a keen ear for capturing the words and meter of poetry. Minnesota is home to many nationally renowned poets, city and state poet laureates, spoken word artists, and individuals young and old that have simply created work for the sake of the form. The state is also a magnet for poets all throughout the world. Here is a wonderful breadth of those readings, speeches, thoughts, and histories of the poet.
April 25, 2007 - MPR’s Sea Stachura reports on new poetry collection "Where One Voice Ends Another Begins: 150 Years of Minnesota Poetry." Stachura interviews a poet and editor of collection.
April 26, 2007 - MPR’s Tom Crann interviews poet Donald Hall on the campus of St. John's University. Hall is in Minnesota for a reading at the College of Saint Benedict.
April 26, 2007 - MPR’s Dan Gunderson reports on Mark Vinz, a well-known Minnesota poet, retiring from the classroom.
August 15, 2007 - MPR’s Stephanie Hemphill talks with poet Louis Jenkins about writing poetry and his book "North of the Cities." Jenkins reads a few poems, including "Uncle Axel."
August 27, 2007 - Now, another scene in poetry from the Minnesota State Fair... The butter-head sculptures remain one of the Fair's most visited features, attracting new-comers and old-timers alike. Minneapolis writer Leslie Ball made it there today and was moved to write us this poem.
August 29, 2007 - One sight you'll find EVERY day of the fair is the State Fair parade. Minneapolis writer Leslie Ball watched the parade today and found her fellow parade watchers just as interesting.
August 31, 2007 - The Fair generates a lot of garbage -- cups and plates -- of course many many sticks. But writer Leslie Ball found that garbage is brought in as its own special display.
October 16, 2007 - MPR Midmorning host Kerri Miller sits down with the author Maya Angelou in Bloomington. Angelou says writing to be understood isn't easy.
December 16, 2007 - On this episode of Speaking of Faith, host Krista Tippet profiles the 13th-century Muslim mystic and poet Rumi, who has long shaped Muslims around the world and has now become popular in the West. Rumi created a new language of love within the Islamic mystical tradition of Sufism.
December 20, 2007 - BIll Holm speaks at the Minneapolis Library series Talk of the Stacks. Holm talks about what living in Iceland teaches you about America in his book "Windows of Brimnes: An American In Iceland."