The Long Goodbye

One writer follows the trail of venerated poet Frank Stanford, searching his origins and papers to better understand Stanford’s dense work, one of a kid poetry, and separate fact from mythology.

Published: Jan 18, 2008
Length: 25 minutes (6,439 words)

Everything I Needed to Know about Poetry I Learned from K-Pop

A poet muses on growing up between cultures, the birth of K-pop, and authenticity.

Author: Mia You
Published: Oct 13, 2015
Length: 12 minutes (3,000 words)

Teachings

On poetry and dying: Win Bassett reflects on a summer spent working as a hospital chaplain.

Published: May 29, 2015
Length: 15 minutes (3,773 words)

Working Girl

Remembering poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, who became a literary sensation during the first half of the 20th century:

“Millay’s reach was remarkable, particularly in an age before television. Biographer Nancy Milford recounts how, after winning the Pulitzer, Millay started traveling around the country giving readings to packed auditoriums, and for her audiences, whatever line may have existed between her life and her art was completely obscured by these performances. Onstage she appeared an astonishing creature, a real live New Yorker and honest-to-god poetess who looked and played the part: loose velvet robes dwarfed her pale, tiny frame, making her resonant voice with its clipped consonants and plummy vowels seem all the more dramatic in comparison. By then she was bobbing her hair, and after her visit to Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the campus newspaper noted that the percentage of bobbed hairstyles among students shot up from 9 percent to 63 percent.”

Published: Feb 12, 2013
Length: 9 minutes (2,347 words)