Best Goldberry Studios Podcasts (2024)

1
Thomas Merton's "The Quickening Of St. John The Baptist" 5:28

39m ago5:28

5:28

In today’s poem Thomas Merton, 20th-century author and mystic, comes to an understanding of his monastic vocation through a contemplation of John the Baptist’s prenatal gymnastics. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Ted Hughes' "The Thought-Fox" 7:02

40m ago7:02

7:02

Ted Hughes, one of the giants of twentieth-century British poetry, was born in Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire. After serving in the Royal Air Force, Hughes attended Cambridge, where he studied archeology and anthropology and took a special interest in myths and legends. In 1956, he met and married the American poet Sylvia Plath, who encouraged him to submi…

1
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont: Chapters 1-6

3h ago

—

We’re on to a new book here on Close Reads! So join us as we discuss the particular mix of melancholy and humor that Elizabeth Taylor manages to offer to readers, the subtleties of the book’s central relationships, the crisis of loneliness in the story, and why this is one of David’s favorite kinds of book. Also, Heidi makes predictions. Happy read…

1
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont: Chapters 1-6 56:25

30m ago56:25

56:25

We’re on to a new book here on Close Reads! So join us as we discuss the particular mix of melancholy and humor that Elizabeth Taylor manages to offer to readers, the subtleties of the book’s central relationships, the crisis of loneliness in the story, and why this is one of David’s favorite kinds of book. Also, Heidi makes predictions. Happy read…

1
Mark Strand's "The Prediction" 5:09

1d ago5:09

5:09

Mark Strand was born on Canada’s Prince Edward Island on April 11, 1934. He received a BA from Antioch College in Ohio in 1957 and attended Yale University, where he was awarded the Cook Prize and the Bergin Prize. After receiving his BFA degree in 1959, Strand spent a year studying at the University of Florence on a Fulbright fellowship. In 1962 h…

1
John Keats' "On the Sonnet" 7:11

3d ago7:11

7:11

Today’s poem is a meta-reflection on the constraints of poetic form that has something to say about all of life’s formal constraints. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Emily Dickinson's "Wild nights - Wild nights!" 8:48

2h ago8:48

8:48

Today’s poem–perfect for a Friday–gives us a less familiar (PG-13) Emily Dickinson, dreaming of letting her hair down. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
John Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" 7:45

2h ago7:45

7:45

Today’s poem is a classic staple with Literature teachers for its expressive metaphors; it is a classic staple with me because it’s such a cracking-good poem. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Langston Hughes' "Theme For English B" 7:25

34m ago7:25

7:25

Today’s poem captures one of the universal challenges of education: recognizing the distinctions and distances between all human souls, and then bridging them without erasing them. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" 6:13

2h ago6:13

6:13

As the school year begins, today’s poem goes out to all of those everyday saints performing the unseen and unsung acts of love that make life possible for rest of us! Born Asa Bundy Sheffey on August 4, 1913, Robert Hayden was raised in the Detroit neighborhood Paradise Valley. He had an emotionally tumultuous childhood and lived, at times, with hi…

1
A Programming Update for Late August

12d ago

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Panel 58 by Jacob Lawrence (1941) Hey everyone, This is going to be one of those updates that comes with an apology. It’s back-to-school time (you don’t need me to tell you that, of course) which means that scheduling has become temporarily very difficult. Sean is both a teacher and an administrator (plus a parent, choir member, etc., beyond his du…

1
Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" 6:04

1h ago6:04

6:04

If a picture is worth 1,000 words, sometimes a portrait of your last wife who died under suspicious circumstances is as good as a confession. Happy(?) reading! Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Even More Limericks 2:14

1h ago2:14

2:14

Hopefully five days of limericks has made this week a little lighter and a little brighter. See you next week for more of our regularly programming. Till then, happy reading! Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
More Limericks 2:16

16h ago2:16

2:16

Today’s limericks are all about unexpected consequences. Happy reading. Children’s poet and educator Constance Levy earned degrees at Washington University and currently lives in St. Louis, Missouri. Known for its careful attention to external and internal rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, and assonance, Levy’s work frequently takes encounters with the …

1
Help Us Choose One Book for 2025's Schedule!

11d ago

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Hey Close Readers, Early next month we will be sharing the official book list for 2025 here on the show. The “Great Winnowing” episode has been recorded and we’re prepping the release. But we need your help! One title will be determined by you, the audience. It’s the audience choice award, if you will. The full list will be released the first week …

1
Beard Limericks 2:36

22m ago2:36

2:36

Things are getting hairy. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Two "Practical" Limericks 1:44

10m ago1:44

1:44

While limericks can be plenty nonsensical, today’s are downright sensible–especially that of Leigh Mercer, famous for his mathematical wordplay and best known for creating the enterprising palindrome, “A man, a plan, a canal: Panama!". Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe…

1
Sing, Unburied, Sing: Final Chapters

13h ago

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We’ve come to the end of another book and this time we are discussing the supernatural and spiritual implications of the final pages, the modern vision of hope the book seems to hew close to, Kayla’s role in the final scenes, and much more. Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!

1
Sing, Unburied, Sing: Final Chapters 1:14:15

19d ago1:14:15

1:14:15

We’ve come to the end of another book and this time we are discussing the supernatural and spiritual implications of the final pages, the modern vision of hope the book seems to hew close to, Kayla’s role in the final scenes, and much more. Thanks for tuning in and happy listening! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other …

1
Edward Lear's "There was an Old Man of Thermopylæ" 4:48

19h ago4:48

4:48

It’s another weekly gimmerick here on the Daily Poem. Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an English artist, illustrator, musician, author and poet, who is known mostly for his literary nonsense in poetry and prose and especially his limericks, a form he popularised. His principal areas of work as an artist were threefold: as a draughts…

1
Nazim Hikmet's "On Living" 11:56

19d ago11:56

11:56

Nâzim Hikmet was born on January 15, 1902, in Salonika, Ottoman Empire (now Thessaloníki, Greece), where his father served in the Foreign Service. He was exposed to poetry at an early age through his artist mother and poet grandfather, and had his first poems published when he was seventeen. Raised in Istanbul, Hikmet left Allied-occupied Turkey af…

1
Does Comic Literature Matter?

12d ago

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“There is no surer foundation for a beautiful friendship than a mutual taste in literature.” ― P.G. Wodehouse Hey friends, Comedy is a complicated thing. On the one hand, it’s incredibly hard to be genuinely funny. On the other hand, genuinely funny people make it look easy. And, while we all like to laugh and it’s said that laughter is the best me…

1
Billy Collins' "Forgetfulness" 5:46

5d ago5:46

5:46

Maybe you remember the experiences recounted in today’s poem—maybe you don’t. Happy reading! Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
T. S. Eliot's "Old Deuteronomy" 5:20

6d ago5:20

5:20

T. S. Eliot is remembered as a great poet, but he is surpassingly underrated as a namer of cats. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Robert Penn Warren's "Bearded Oaks" 9:27

9d ago9:27

9:27

Warren (1905-1989) was born in Kentucky and educated at Vanderbilt University and the University of California, Berkeley. Though perhaps best known for his 1946 novel All the King’s Men, he was the author of over a dozen books of poetry in addition to his prose work. He is the only writer to have won Pulitzer Prizes for both fiction (in 1947) and p…

1
Sing, Unburied, Sing: Chapters 8-11 1:06:14

7d ago1:06:14

1:06:14

“What’s with all of the vomit?”, Heidi asked, and thus we were off. But, dear listener, we talked about so much more than that. We discussed the degree to which this novel offers signs of hope (and where they show up), the purpose of the supernatural in the story, the collison of generations at the heart of the narrative, and much more. Happy liste…

1
Sing, Unburied, Sing: Chapters 8-11

7d ago

—

“What’s with all of the vomit?”, Heidi asked, and thus we were off. But, dear listener, we talked about so much more than that. We discussed the degree to which this novel offers signs of hope (and where they show up), the purpose of the supernatural in the story, the collison of generations at the heart of the narrative, and much more. Happy liste…

1
Bruce Lansky's "Confession" 5:07

23d ago5:07

5:07

Bruce Lansky is an internationally known poet and anthologist. He has a passion for getting children excited about reading and writing poetry. Lansky’s poetry books—including A Bad Case of the Giggles (2013), Peter, Peter, Pizza-Eater (2006), Mary Had a Little Jam (2004), If Kids Ruled the School (2004), and Rolling in the Aisles (2004)—are among A…

1
Two by Ogden Nash 2:59

19d ago2:59

2:59

Today’s poems from Ogden Nash, “The Ant” and “The Ostrich,” are the perfect marriage of wit and attention. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Oliver Herford's "The Platypus" 6:14

12d ago6:14

6:14

Oliver Herford (2 December 1860 – 5 July 1935), regarded as “the American Oscar Wilde,” was an Anglo-American writer, artist, and illustrator known for his pithy bon mots and skewed sense of humor. His obituary in The New York Times nicely sums up his unique brilliance: "His wit…was too original at first to go down with the very delectable highly r…

1
Gerard Manley Hopkins' "As Kingfishers Catch Fire" 10:33

27d ago10:33

10:33

Today’s poem begins with humble beasts but wings its way to the loftiest mysteries of existence. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Margaret Wise Brown's "Wild Black Crows" 3:24

14d ago3:24

3:24

Margaret Wise Brown (May 23, 1910 – November 13, 1952) was an American writer of children's books, including Goodnight Moon (1947) and The Runaway Bunny (1942), both illustrated by Clement Hurd. She has been called "the laureate of the nursery" for her achievements. Brown was born in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, the middle child of three …

1
Sing, Unburied, Sing: Chapters 4-7 55:24

1M ago55:24

55:24

Welcome back to Close Reads as we discuss justice, point-of-view, ghosts (and much more) in Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing! Happy listening! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribeBy David Kern, Sean Johnson, and Heidi White

1
Sing, Unburied, Sing: Chapters 4-7

14d ago

—

Welcome back to Close Reads as we discuss justice, point-of-view, ghosts (and much more) in Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing! Happy listening!

1
Katherine Craster's "The Centipede's Dilemma" 5:27

18d ago5:27

5:27

Today’s poem, written in 1871, actually gave the name to the since-codified psychological phenomenon known as the “centipede effect” or “centipede syndrome.” Psychologist George Humphrey (for whom the condition is alternatively named “Humphrey’s Law”) said of the poem, "This is a most psychological rhyme. It contains a profound truth which is illus…

51
Gerard Manley Hopkins' "Morning, Midday, and Evening Sacrifice" 7:33

1M ago7:33

7:33

G. K. Chesterton wrote: “Oscar Wilde said that sunsets were not valued because we could not pay for sunsets. But Oscar Wilde was wrong; we can pay for sunsets. We can pay for them by not being Oscar Wilde.” Perhaps Hopkins was anticipating that sentiment in today’s poem. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.subst…

1
Tonight: July's Live Poetry Hour!

26d ago

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The Sower, Vincent Van Gogh, 1888 Hey friends, It’s time for another edition of the Close Reads Poetry Hour! Tonight at 9 eastern we’ll be discussing Louise Gluck’s “Vespers.” Gluck, who died last autumn, was the winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize for literature, among many others awards. These live poetry hours have been delightful and I’m anticipatin…

1
"The Lady of Shalott" Pt. 4 5:35

22d ago5:35

5:35

Today’s poem is the fourth and final section of Tennyson’s Arthurian ballad. I have been reading his 1842 version and (I think) the final stanza is where it differs most from the 1832 original. You can compare both below to see for yourself how Tennyson’s alteration ramps up the pathos. Happy reading! 1832 conclusion: They cross'd themselves, their…

1
"The Lady of Shalott" Pt. 3 3:45

20d ago3:45

3:45

Today we come to the turning point for the Lady of Shalott. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
"The Lady of Shalott" Pt. 2 2:36

24d ago2:36

2:36

In part two, the “Lady” sits, weaving, in a world of images but pines for the world of solid realities. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Sing, Unburied, Sing: Chapters 1-3

21d ago

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Jesmyn Ward’s 2017 novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing, has quickly emerged as one of the most highly regarded books of our young century, so on this episode we dig into what makes it so interesting. Plus we discuss why it’s a fruitful double feature alongside To Kill a Mockingbird. As always, happy reading!…

1
Sing, Unburied, Sing: Chapters 1-3 54:06

1M ago54:06

54:06

Jesmyn Ward’s 2017 novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing, has quickly emerged as one of the most highly regarded books of our young century, so on this episode we dig into what makes it so interesting. Plus we discuss why it’s a fruitful double feature alongside To Kill a Mockingbird. As always, happy reading! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discu…

1
Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" Pt. 1 5:47

22d ago5:47

5:47

Today is the first of four in which we’ll wend our way through Tennyson’s tragic Arthurian ballad. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

51
John Hollander's "A Watched Pot" 9:35

1M ago9:35

9:35

Today’s poem is a shape poem dedicated to chefs, but (surprise?) it might be about more than cooking. John Hollander, one of contemporary poetry’s foremost poets, editors, and anthologists, grew up in New York City. He studied at Columbia University and Indiana University, and he was a Junior Fellow of the Society of Fellows of Harvard University. …

1
William Blake's "The Divine Image" 8:10

26d ago8:10

8:10

In today’s poem, from Songs of Innocence, we meet William Blake struggling to sort out his theological analogies. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
John Milton's "When I consider how my light is spent" 12:22

27d ago12:22

12:22

In today’s poem, also known as “Sonnet 19,” Milton offers a pious alternative to “raging” against the dying of the light. Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "A Musical Instrument" 6:56

28d ago6:56

6:56

Today’s poem muses on the sweet and awful creation of the poet. Happy reading! Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
To Kill a Mockingbird: Q&A Episode

1M ago

—

You’ve got questions about To Kill a Mockingbird, we’ve got conversation. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions and happy listening!

1
To Kill a Mockingbird: Q&A Episode 1:14:58

2M ago1:14:58

1:14:58

You’ve got questions about To Kill a Mockingbird, we’ve got conversation. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions and happy listening! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit closereads.substack.com/subscribeBy David Kern, Sean Johnson, and Heidi White

1
Ben Jonson's "Though I be young" 8:05

1M ago8:05

8:05

Today’s poem is a song from Ben Jonson’s final play, The Sad Shepherd (1641). Happy reading. Get full access to The Daily Poem Podcast at dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

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