Shows / The Daily Poem
The Daily Poem
The Daily Poem offers one essential poem each weekday morning. From Shakespeare and John Donne to Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson, The Daily Poem curates a broad and generous audio anthology of the best poetry ever written, read-aloud by David Kern and an assortment of various contributors. Some lite commentary is included and the shorter poems are often read twice, as time permits. The Daily Poem is presented by Goldberry Studios.
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Episodes
The Daily PoemGerard Manley Hopkins' "Binsey Poplars"
Today’s poem owes a strong debt to Cowper’s “The Poplar Field” but also features a few stylistic echoes of Poe’s “Annabel Lee,” all while achieving a…
The Daily PoemWilliam Cowper's "The Poplar Field"
“As for man, his days are like grass.” It isn’t much of a stretch, then, when Cowper sees his own mortality in a grove of felled poplars. Happy reading…
The Daily PoemLarry K. Richman's "The Joys of House Wrecking"
“The work of destruction is quick, easy and exhilarating; the work of creation slow, laborious and dull.” -Roger Scruton Larry Richman (1934-2023) was born in…
The Daily PoemGeoffrey Chaucer's "Prologue" to The Canterbury Tales"
Though J. R. R. Tolkien translated portions of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, he did not live to complete the project. Fortunately another Inkling, Nevill…
The Daily PoemJohn Keats' "This Living Hand"
Today’s poem has a way of reaching out and grabbing you. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get…
The Daily PoemE. E. Cummings' "anyone lived in a pretty how town"
Today’s poem–in which men and women are the two halves of a bell’s tone–voices the rhythms and joys of life in an unconventional way that has to be heard and…
The Daily PoemWalter de la Mare's "Good-bye"
Today’s poem is about (not) getting the last word. Happy reading. Walter de la Mare, born on April 25, 1873 in London, is considered one of modern literature’s…
The Daily PoemScott Cairns' "Coracle"
Today’s poem places us on the frontier of new life. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access…
The Daily PoemT. S. Eliot’s “East Coker IV”
Today, the obligatory Good Friday poem (because it is excellent). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access…
The Daily PoemCarl Sandburg's "Buffalo Dusk"
In today’s poem, Sandburg’s ability to make the same two lines land so differently with so little happening in between is a remarkable feat. Happy reading!…
The Daily PoemJ. R. R. Tolkien's "When Spring Unfolds the Beechen Leaf"
Today’s poem is sometimes known as “Song of the Ent and the Entwife” because, though Tolkien tinkered with it for more than a decade, it did not take its final…
The Daily PoemFranz Wright's "The Raising of Lazarus"
Franz Wright was born in Vienna, Austria and grew up in the Northwest, the Midwest, and California. He earned a BA from Oberlin College in 1977. His…
The Daily PoemRobert Browning's "Home Thoughts from Abroad"
Browning’s 1845 poem captures the affections of every transplant and ex-pat, conjuring the momentary return to a faraway home. Happy reading. This is a public…
The Daily PoemMary Oliver's "Breakage"
Mondays go down easier with Mary Oliver. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus…
The Daily PoemSamuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (selections)
Today’s selections are characteristic passages from (maybe) the greatest and (certainly) strangest poem in Lyrical Ballads–Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner. Happy…
The Daily PoemSamuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Dungeon"
While you can count on one hand the poems Coleridge contributed to Lyrical Ballads, they are some of the most memorable in the collection. Today’s poem uses an…
The Daily PoemWilliam Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey"
We begin a week of selections from Lyrical Ballads with today’s nostalgic and pastoral poem, “Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the…
The Daily PoemHilaire Belloc's "The Scorpion"
What do Hilaire Belloc and a scorpion have in common? Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get…
The Daily PoemOliver Goldsmith's "An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog"
Oliver Goldsmith (born Nov. 10, 1730, Kilkenny West, County Westmeath, Ire.—died April 4, 1774, London) was an Anglo-Irish essayist, poet, novelist, dramatist…
The Daily PoemTwo Poems for the Annunciation
Today’s poems (too lovely to keep behind the paywall) come from Edwin Muir and Denise Levertov and both marvel at different aspects of the same great mystery…
The Daily PoemDavid Wagoner's "For a Student Sleeping in a Poetry Workshop"
As the long, exhausting march toward summer begins for many students, the wise and compassionate David Wagoner takes us to the intersection of love and…
The Daily PoemSarah Lindsay's "Zucchini Shofar"
Sarah Lindsay was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and earned her BA from St. Olaf College and MFA from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. She is the…
The Daily PoemSiegfried Sassoon's "Attack"
Siegfried Sassoon was born on 8 September 1886 in Kent. His father was part of a Jewish merchant family, originally from Iran and India, and his mother part of…
The Daily PoemSeamus Heaney's "Digging"
“The form of the poem, in other words, is crucial to poetry’s power to do the thing which always is and always will be to poetry’s credit: the power to…
The Daily PoemThomas Parnell's "The Book-Worm"
The life of this week’s final Scriblerian, Thomas Parnell, rounds out the picture of the entire Scriblerus club as a fraternity of wildly brilliant men all…
The Daily PoemJonathan Swift's "The Character of Sir Robert Walpole"
Today’s poem throws unambiguous shade on one of 18th-century England’s most divisive politicians, and marks out Swift as one of the gutsiest Scriblerians…
The Daily PoemAlexander Pope's "Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot"
Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was notorious for embroiling himself in literary-political controversy–his sharp pen writing scathing checks his 4’6” frame couldn’t…
The Daily PoemRichard Wilbur's "A Dubious Night"
Great poets write as much by ear as by sight, and often turn to sonic phenomena for inspiration. The ringing of bells is one of the most time-honored of those…
The Daily PoemT. S. Eliot's "Ash Wednesday"
Today’s poem runs the gamut of Italian renaissance poetry, the Book of Common Prayer, and the depths and heights of the human soul. It opens with an allusion…
The Daily PoemScott Cairns' "Possible Answers to Prayer"
Librettist, essayist, translator, and author of ten poetry collections, Scott Cairns is Curators’ Distinguished Professor Emeritus at University of Missouri…
The Daily PoemRudyard Kipling's "The Camel's Hump"
Today’s poem finds the meeting place between the bump on the log and the one on the camel. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss…
The Daily PoemLangston Hughes' "Dreams"
Today’s poem plays nicely against Hughes’ more famous meditation on “dreams” (the deferred kind, in “Harlem”). Rather than emphasizing the danger of a dream…
The Daily PoemRichard Henry Horne's "The Plough"
Today’s poem features a simple but satisfying sleight of hand. Happy reading. Richard Henry Horne (1802-1884), poet, was born on 31 December 1802 at Edmonton…
The Daily PoemEdward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat"
Today’s poem is the best-remembered work of the beloved “nonsense poet” Edward Lear–a silly lyric about a serious love. The episode also features a few guest…
The Daily PoemGary Soto's "Oranges"
Today’s poem will leave you “knowing very well what it was all about.” Happy reading. Gary Soto was born in Fresno, California on April 12, 1952, to…
The Daily PoemMaurice Manning's "A Plank from the Platform"
Today’s poem is a meditation on speech in the voice of a president. Perfect for an obligatory federal holiday. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If…
The Daily PoemWendell Berry's "Loving You Has Taught Me..."
Today’s poem looks back on a lifetime of maturing love. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus…
The Daily PoemW. H. Auden's "Night Mail"
Today’s poem, reminiscent of yesterday’s “From a Railway Carriage,” was written by Auden for use in the 1936 documentary short film, Night Mail, and combines…
The Daily PoemAnne Brontë's "The North Wind"
Today’s poem grew out of an elaborate game of make-believe between the Brontë siblings, and gives some idea of the mature verse that might have been if Anne…
The Daily PoemAlfred, Lord Tennyson's "Ulysses" pt. 2
Today’s poem is the final stanza of Tennyson’s “Ulysses,” in which the hero of the Trojan war persuades his aging compatriots to wring out the last of their…
The Daily PoemZbigniew Herbert's "The Salt of the Earth"
Poet’s don’t typically compete for “coolest book cover,” and it’s probably because Zbigniew Herbert won years ago. Today’s poem is his tender look at poverty…
The Daily PoemTed Kooser's "So This Is Nebraska"
Today’s poem glides, settles, dances, waves, and soars its way through the unassuming comforts of the familiar. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If…
The Daily PoemPhyllis McGinley's "Lament for a Wavering Viewpoint"
Phyllis McGinley (March 21, 1905 – February 22, 1978) was an American author of children's books and poetry. Her poetry was in the style of light verse…
The Daily PoemJohn Keats' "On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer"
As William Shakespeare was putting the final touchers on Hamlet, George Chapman was beginning (arguably) an even more momentous undertaking: introducing the…
The Daily PoemMary Oliver's "First Snow"
Today’s poem was too topical to pass up. Like so many of Oliver’s poems, it is an invitation to attend closely to life’s unexpected gifts. Happy reading. This…
The Daily PoemG. K. Chesterton's "Stilton and Milton"
Today’s poem, whose full title is “Stilton and Milton; Or Literature in the 17th and 20th Centuries,” has something for book lovers and cheese lovers alike to…
The Daily PoemJohn Keble's "The Accession"
Today’s poem, though written for the far more infrequent crowning of monarchs, contains plenty of sentiments fitting for a quadrennial presidential…
The Daily PoemYvor Winters' "At the San Francisco Airport"
Though not yet the Dantesque hells that they are today, airports in 1954 were already places of union, separation, and general existential anxiety. This…
The Daily PoemBilly Collins' "Thesaurus"
If hot takes about synonyms are your cup of tea, favorite, darling, jam, or weapon of choice, then today’s poem is for you. Happy reading. This is a public…
The Daily PoemJohn Davies' "Nosce Teipsum: of Human Knowledge"
We that acquaint ourselves with every zone,And pass both tropics and behold the poles,When we come home, are to ourselves unknown,And unacquainted still with…
The Daily PoemTed Kooser's Blizzard Voices
Today’s poems are selected from Ted Kooser’s The Blizzard Voices, a collection of informal verse commemorating the apocalyptic Great Plains blizzard of 1888…
The Daily PoemKingsley Amis' "A Bookshop Idyll"
Today’s poem is a roller-coaster of machismo and vulnerability in that most singular of places–the poetry section of a small bookstore. Happy reading. Kingsley…
The Daily PoemA. E. Stallings' "Scissors"
Today’s poem offers an incisive analogy for analogies. Happy reading. A.E. (Alicia) Stallings is the Oxford Professor of Poetry. She grew up in Decatur…
The Daily PoemRichard Wilbur's "A Wedding Toast"
Today’s poem draws together marriage and the blessing of water. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers…
The Daily PoemPhilip Appleman's "To the Garbage Collectors in Bloomington, Indiana, the First Pickup of the New Year"
If you can see “a World in a Grain of Sand/And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,” what can you see in the trashcan at the curb? Apparently quite a bit, if you look…
The Daily PoemRobert Service's "The Passing of the Year"
Does today’s poem contain the secret to minimizing regret in 2025? Kinda, sorta. Happy reading. In his youth, Robert Service worked in a shipping office and a…
The Daily PoemHelen Hunt Jackson's "New Year's Morning"
Happy New Year (and Happy Reading) from The Daily Poem! Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to academic Calvinist parents, poet, author, and Native American rights…
The Daily PoemT. S. Eliot's "Journey of the Magi"
…I had seen birth and death, But had thought they were different; this Birth was Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death. Today’s poem seemed an…
The Daily PoemWilliam Butler Yeats' "The Magi"
The repetition of the word “unsatisfied” forms a set of bookends in today’s poem. Inside those bookends: earth, sky, and the riches of this world. Beyond them…
The Daily PoemCecil Day Lewis' "The Christmas Tree"
“the Christmas Tree is a tree of fable,/A phoenix in evergreen” Cecil Day Lewis tackles the leave-taking of Christmas and the emotional upheaval in can work in…