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 PoemW. H. Auden's Conclusion to For the Time Being
“To those who have seen/The Child, however dimly, however incredulously,/The Time Being is, in a sense, the most trying time of all.” This is a public episode…
The Daily PoemW. H. Auden's "Chorus of Angels"
Christ is born! Merry Christmas and happy reading! Today’s poem is a selection from Auden’s superb long poem, For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio. This is…
The Daily PoemJ. R. R. Tolkien's "Noel"
J. R. R. Tolkien loved Christmas–we can find ample proof of this in his Letters From Father Christmas, but also in his choosing December 25 as the day the…
The Daily PoemGeorge Herbert's "Love (III)"
Today’s selection may not be traditionally recognized as a holiday poem, but it interprets the Christmas mystery as well or better than many poems written for…
The Daily PoemTwo Christmas Poems from G. K. Chesterton
In today’s poems-“The Inn at the End of the World” and “The House of Christmas”–Chesterton imagines Christmas as a cosmic waystation for weary pilgrims. Happy…
The Daily PoemDonald Hall's "Christmas Eve in Whitneyville"
Don’t be fooled by the lack of Dickensian drama: melancholy, materialism, regret, a graveyard–today’s poem is A Christmas Carol for the modern man. This is a…
The Daily PoemJames Merrill's "Christmas Tree"
Today’s selection is an ideal poem for Advent–a bittersweet shape poem that expresses the “hopes and fears of all the years.” Poet and critic John Hollander…
The Daily PoemMary Jo Salter's "Home Movies: A Sort of Ode"
Are home movies the grecian urns of the twentieth century? Today’s poem says, “sort of.” Poet, editor, essayist, playwright, and lyricist Mary Jo Salter was…
The Daily PoemJohn Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn"
Today’s poem is, in may ways, the ode of odes. It has inspired volumes upon volumes of poetry and scholarship alike. And yet, it remains nothing more and…
The Daily PoemMalcolm Guite's "Launde Abbey on Saint Lucy's Day"
Today’s poem for St. Lucy’s day is a remembrance of a light “too bright for our infirm delight” dawning in the deepest darkness of the year. The poem is…
The Daily PoemChristina Rossetti's "A Christmas Carol"
Today’s poem–known to many as the musical setting, “In the Bleak Midwinter”–contemplates unprecedented act of loves in the darkest days of the year. Happy…
The Daily PoemEzra Pound's "The White Stag"
Ezra Pound had his own complicated relationship with fame, exercising a profound influence upon 20th-century literature but being tried for treason in the U.S…
The Daily PoemEmily Dickinson's "In this short Life that only lasts an hour"
Today is the birthday of Emily Dickinson, and to mark the occasion we have selected a poem that manages to sum up the entire paradox of the human condition in…
The Daily PoemMark Strand's "The New Poetry Handbook"
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…
The Daily PoemMalcolm Guite's "St. Nicholas"
Today’s poem pays tribute to the great lover of children and the poor, whose day serves as a festive waystation on the journey to Christmas. Happy reading!…
The Daily PoemWilliam Carlos Williams' "The Hunters in the Snow"
Today’s poem from Williams’ late collection, Pictures from Brueghel, is an ekphrasis on the painting by the same name, and a lesson in disciplined observation…
The Daily PoemAnne Bradstreet's "Verses upon the Burning of our House"
“We only live, only suspire/ Consumed by either fire or fire.”…are not lines from today’s poem, but one gets the feeling Bradstreet understood their meaning as…
The Daily PoemHenry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Snow-Flakes"
New-fallen snow can be a kind of blank canvas for the poet. In yesterday’s poem, Stevenson wrote over it in whimsical metaphor and simile; in today’s…
The Daily PoemRobert Louis Stevenson's "Winter-Time"
Today’s poem is a master-class in elementary poetic instruction. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers…
The Daily PoemCraig Arnold's "Meditation on a Grapefruit"
Craig Arnold, born November 16, 1967 was an American poet and professor. His first book of poems, Shells (1999), was selected by W.S. Merwin for the Yale…
The Daily PoemAnna Kamieńska's "Small Things"
Anna Kamienska was a poet, translator, critic, essayist, and editor. She published numerous collections of her own work and translated poetry from several…
The Daily PoemJacqueline Woodson's "lessons"
Today’s poem punctuates the precious value of time spent with family around food. Happy reading. Jacqueline Woodson received a 2023 Guggenheim Foundation…
The Daily PoemBlaise Cendrars' "Menus"
Sometimes a list is much more than a list. Happy reading. Blaise Cendrars (1887–1961) was the pseudonym of Frédéric Sauser, the Swiss son of a French…
The Daily PoemBill Holm's "Bread Soup: An Old Icelandic Recipe"
Today’s poem opens a week of poetry about food. Happy eating reading. Bill Holm was born in 1943 on a farm outside Minneota, Minnesota. He received a BA from…
The Daily PoemJames Matthew Wilson's "Agricola: A Song for Planting
Today’s poem, from Wilson’s 2018 The Hanging God, takes a candid look at all the ways we overestimate, misunderstand, misrepresent, and undervalue our own…
The Daily PoemWendell Berry's "The Thought of Something Else"
Today’s poem, from Berry’s 1969 collection, Openings, doubles as a tribute to one of the loveliest and homiest bookstores in the world. Happy reading. This is…
The Daily PoemJohn Masefield's "Cargoes"
Today’s poem evokes entire worlds of vivid images and complex emotions with little more than a carefully-crafted list. Happy reading. This is a public episode…
The Daily PoemEmily Dickinson's "I fear a Man of frugal Speech"
Today’s poem was written by Dickinson when she was thirty-three and old enough to know. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this…
The Daily PoemWilliam Blake's "The Tyger"
Today’s poem, one of English literature’s most extracted and anthologized, is still best appreciated when read in light of the momentous collection it belongs…
The Daily PoemJessica Greenbaum's "A Poem for S."
Today’s poem is also a poem for “ABC”–which is to say, it’s a brilliantly executed example of the alphabetic form known as the abecedarian. Happy reading…
The Daily PoemRhina P. Espaillat's "Changeling"
Rhina P. Espaillat was born in the Dominican Republic under the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. After Espaillat’s great-uncle opposed the regime, her family…
The Daily PoemSylvia Plath's "Gold Mouths Cry"
In today’s poem, Plath (who died at 30) contrasts the transience of youth and nature with the seeming permanence of art and artifice. (I even make time for a…
The Daily Poemfrom Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Hiawatha's Wooing"
Today’s poem is a selection from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s American epic, The Song of Hiawatha. The passage is structured beautifully so that two divergent…
The Daily PoemCharles Wolfe's "The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna"
Today's poem is an enduring memorial for a hastily interred hero. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access…
The Daily PoemKenneth Grahame's "A Song of Mr. Toad"
Kenneth Grahame (8 March 1859 – 6 July 1932) is best remembered for the classic of children's literature The Wind in the Willows (1908). Scottish by birth, he…
The Daily PoemCharlotte Perkins Gilman's "A Common Inference"
Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860-1935) wrote fiction and nonfiction works including several collections of poetry and her most famous short story, “The Yellow…
The Daily PoemRobert Morgan's "Bellrope"
“The line through the hole in the dark…trembling/with its high connections.” Robert Morgan (born 1944) is an American poet, short story writer, non-fiction…
The Daily PoemGwendolyn Brooks' "First fight. Then fiddle."
Today’s poem is about politics (but this, too, shall pass). Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or…
The Daily PoemThomas Hardy's "The Shadow on the Stone"
Today’s poem is a reluctant reckoning with the present absence created by grief. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers…
The Daily PoemLuci Shaw's "Judas, Peter"
Luci Shaw was born in 1928 in London, England, and has lived in Canada, Australia and the U.S.A. A graduate of Wheaton College, she became co-founder and later…
The Daily PoemJonathan Swift's "A Beautiful Young Nymph Going to Bed"
In today’s poem, while everyone else is dressing up to become something terrible, the acerbic Jonathan Swift gives us a domestic horror story in reverse. Happy…
The Daily PoemKenn Nesbitt's "Halloween Party"
Today’s poem is the stuff real nightmares are made of. Happy reading. Nesbitt’s poetry for children is “irrepressible, unpredictable, and raucously popular,”…
The Daily PoemWilliam Shakespeare's "Advice to Laertes" (from Hamlet I.3)
Today’s poem is some of the greatest ironic advice ever offered on the stage–do as Polonius says, not as he does, and you’ll be just fine. Happy reading. This…
The Daily PoemBob Hicok's "O My Pa-Pa"
Bob Hicok was born in 1960 in Michigan and worked for many years in the automotive die industry. A published poet long before he earned his MFA, Hicok is the…
The Daily PoemJ. R. R. Tolkien's "When winter first begins to bite"
Today’s poem commemorates the Council of Elrond, testifies to the love (and fussiness) of hobbits, and even boasts a possible Shakespearean connection. Happy…
The Daily PoemHenry Taylor's "Somewhere Along the Way"
Poet and translator Henry Taylor was born in Lincoln, Virginia on June 21, 1942. He earned a BA from the University of Virginia and an MA from Hollins…
The Daily PoemAmy Lowell's "Trades"
Today’s poem is a particularly novel example of an ancient writerly tradition: writing about how hard it is to write. Happy reading. On February 9, 1874, Amy…
The Daily PoemGerard Manley Hopkins' "Heaven-Haven"
Today’s poem, subtitled “a nun takes the veil,” is one of Hopkins’ earliest surviving works. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss…
The Daily PoemErnest Lawrence Thayer's "Casey at the Bat"
Though its author remained otherwise undistinguished, today's poem–with all its ecstasy, agony, and irony–has become almost as essential to the American…
The Daily PoemBilly Collins' "Shoveling Snow With Buddha"
Today’s poem is an appreciation of little things. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access…
The Daily PoemJames Whitcomb Riley's "When the Frost is on the Punkin"
Today’s poem celebrates the crisp, cool days of early Autumn as the most hospitable season of the year. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like…
The Daily PoemJohn Masefield's "Laugh and Be Merry"
The world-wandering John Masefield waxes Solomonic in today’s poem. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other…
The Daily PoemDonald Hall's "My Son, My Executioner"
Today’s poem is for everyone who knows that children keep you young, but also know how old you feel while it’s happening. Hall, taken aback by the success of…
The Daily PoemSamuel Taylor Coleridge's "Sonnet: On Receiving a Letter Informing Me of the Birth of a Son"
The title of today’s poem is a mouthful, but it is fittingly emblematic of the poet’s full heart. Happy reading! This is a public episode. If you'd like to…
The Daily PoemBen Jonson's "On My First Sonne"
Never have rhyming couplets been so full of pathos as in today’s poem, where they symbolize the bond between father and son, tragically cut short. This is a…
The Daily PoemJohn Keats' "To Autumn"
If pumpkin-spice-everything or the sea of puffy vests and Ugg boots at the cider stand are getting you down, let today’s poem remind you of all that is great…
The Daily PoemDavid McCord's "Mr. Macklin's Jack O'Lantern"
Today’s poem offers a folksy look at the subtleties of terror. Happy reading. David Thompson Watson McCord was born on December 15, 1897, in New York. A poet…
The Daily PoemOgden Nash's "A Word to Husbands"
Today’s poem offers a recipe for domestic bliss. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to…
The Daily PoemWalter Savage Landor's "To Robert Browning"
Though we remember Browning far more readily than we do Landor, this poem dates from a period when their fortunes were reversed and the latter was eager to…
The Daily PoemJ. R. R. Tolkien's "Mythopoeia"
Today’s poem is a defense of myths and myth-making, inspired by an argument with C. S. Lewis. Happy reading! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss…