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.
February 15, 1979 - Poets Joe and Nancy Paddock share their impressions on the sale of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, located in Taunton Minnesota. Segment also includes comments from Vickie Sturgeon and church members.
March 21, 1979 - This Poets-In-Residence Series segment profiles The Plains Bookbus, which carries the titles of books printed by small presses to many communities in our region. The book bus driver and some of its patrons talk about the books and their life on the plains.
March 28, 1979 - MPR’s Nancy Fushan talks with feminist Black poet Audre Lorde about the power in her poetry. Segment also includes Lorde reading her poetry.
March 29, 1979 - MPR’s Tom Meersman talks with poet Lisel Mueller about her work. Segment includes Mueller reading her poetry.
March 30, 1979 - MPR’s Tom Meersman profiles poet Edward Dorn. Segment includes Dorn speaking and reading at Macalester College as part of this week's Midwestern Writers Festival.
April 11, 1979 - Midday presents a Poets-in-Residence Series profile of Minnesota poet and writer Paul Grukow. Program examines his work The Tramp. It also includes commentary and music elements.
May 15, 1979 - This MPR Special Coverage presents acclaimed poet Robert Bly reading at Southwest State University in Marshall. This appearance includes occasional dulcimer accompaniment as Bly performs and dissects his own works as well as the works of others. This is an edited excerpt from his Marshall appearance.
May 29, 1979 - Joe and Nancy Paddock presents South Dakota Penitentiary inmates who write poetry. The prison program is called Poets at the Pen.
June 18, 1979 - Minnesota poet Joe Paddock reads Frogs, a raucous small-town happening in a narrative poem style. Frogs was written by a native of Southwest Minnesota.
June 19, 1979 - ‘Polka Power,’ a report and poetic response to the polka festival subculture in the Upper Midwest with local poets Joe and Nancy Paddock.