The Poets Weave
Indiana Public MediaThe Poets Weave
A weekly program of poetry reading hosted by Romayne Rubinas Dorsey and produced by WFIU Public Media from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
The Trustees of Indiana University
A weekly program of poetry reading hosted by Romayne Rubinas Dorsey and produced by WFIU Public Media from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
The Trustees of Indiana University
Patsy Rahn reads "The Roots of Kindness," "A Contemplation of Death," and "Reverie."
Laurie Higi reads "Your Eye in My Mind!," "Dolly Parton and the Backs of My Ears," "The Burn Hidden by the Horizon," "A Task Without Praise," and "Just What I Could Fit in My Pockets."
Josh Brewer reads "Roll Jordon," “Suspended Bluegill,” “When a calendar,” “When words are data,” and “When she feigned appetite.”
Patsy Rahn reads "Honey Bunny" and "Fences."
Daniel Lassell reads "Lyme," "On the Fellowship of Rabies," and "Blood Lungs.
Antonia Matthew reads “Taraxacum officinale,” “Evening coming on,” “Unfurled,” and “Matisse’s Studio.”
Lori Hoevener reads "The List," "Eclipsed," and "Kasey."
Shana Ritter reads "In these New Times," "Mapping," and "the tides of my heart."
Eric Rensberger reads "Words," "It Started to Rain," "A Cursing," and "Attention."
Tony Brewer reads "Tea Party of Grief," "Maximum Dog," "Strong Female Character," "Seeing Things," "What Would Thoreau Do?," and "Manual for Fixing."
Antonia Matthew reads "Rabbit Mysteries," "Come outside into the sunshine," and "March 23rd, 2020."
Michael Luis Dauro reads selections from the "Woman With No Name."
Hiromi Yoshida reads "Icarus Superstar," "Icarus Ekphrasis," and "Icarus | Epicanthus."
Austin Davis reads from his book Compulsive Swim: "Layla and Her Kids" and "Act 3 poem VI," plus a new poem "healing is lonely."
Shana Ritter reads "Poems from the other side," "A sad dusk," and "Wildflowers."
Josh Brewer reads “When I place talismans,” “Dying Mantis,” “This Week in Northern Ireland,” and “The Bakeries of Warsaw.”
Eric Rensberger reads "Reading," "A Deity," and "Historical Imagination."
Erica Anderson-Senter reads "Qualifications for a Lover," "This is How a Poet Gets Over Heartbreak," and "To the Red-Bellied Woodpecker in my Neighborhood."
Shana Ritter reads "Day Light Savings Time," "avenoir," "Branches," and "Redemption."
Lori Hoevener reads "Risk," "A Bracelet of Memories," and "Family Pictures."
Laurie Higi reads "You, moon!," "A Little Less Gravity," "This Constellation Life," and "Chasing Venus."
Austin Davis reads from his latest book Compulsive Swim: "Act 1 poem I," "Act 1 poem VII," and "Act 2 poem III."
Tony Brewer reads "Our Solemn Debris," "Elon Musk is not vegan but Teslas are," "O Bury Me Not," and "Our Origin."
Josh A. Brewer reads “Grounds,” “Reincarnation is Broken,” “Interpolation,” “When is a will, whether,” and “The Moving Walkway is Coming to an End.”
Patsy Rahn reads "Books," "Evolution," "Ode to Joy," "In this Moment of Good Night," and "The Package."
Indiana-based poet Eric Rensberger reads a medley of poems about winter.
Shana Ritter reads "Let us consider how we live," "Making soup while sheltering in place," "Summer 2020," and "There was a time in which we touched."
Emily Bobo reads her poem "The Sweet Porridge," a modern retelling of a 19th-century Brothers Grimm fairy tale.
Eric Rensberger reads "Prayer for the Long Nights," "Writing for No One," "Lazarus Laughs," "Flowers on the Graves of the Overdosed," and "Time-Sensitive Materials."
Lori Hoevener reads her poems "Extremes," "The Stockyards," "Crimes," and "Disappearances."
Antonia Matthew reads "Seascapes," "The evening Ark," and "Hearing aid."
Erica Anderson-Senter reads "In the Naked Night," "The One Where a Small Horse Eats the Heart of a Man Who Left," and "Notes on Being a Ghost."
Rachel Ronquillo Gray reads "On Crying in Public," "My Americana," and "Half Face Song."
Laurie Higi reads "The Voice," "This is Yours," and "Mixing With the Quiet."
Bronislava Volkova reads "Poetry Festival in Shchelkino (Crimea)" and "Variation on the Theme of Weariness."
Michael Luis Dauro reads more selections from his poem "Woman With No Name."
Hiromi Yoshida reads her poems "Say Her Asian Name" and "Icarus Obverse."
Tony Brewer reads "Curators of a Sort," "Snow Days," and "They Always Come Back."
Bronislava Volkova reads "Old women are invisible in our spheres," "Another end has come to visit my home," and "The soft pliancy of water."
Antonia Matthew reads "My backyard is empty and silent" and "Sonnet in the time of plague."
Patsy Rahn reads "A History Lesson," "Into Life," "After All," and "Living As If."
Austin Davis reads "Lotus and Insomnia," "Morning Swim," and poem VIII from Act 3 of his book Compulsive Swim.
Bronislava Volkova reads "Love, I no longer recognize you," "Don’t leave me," "When I think of it how my relatives," and "I fly like a bird with no place to land."
Erica Anderson-Senter reads "Portrait of a Summer Night: A Mother Highlighted," "A Glossary of River Words - A story of loss," and "How to Leave a Chicago Bar after a Panic Attack Around 11 AM."
Laurie Higi reads "Butterflies and Empty Books," "Open to Your Dew," "Canada in Common," "More Vulnerable than Me," and "Infinite Navy Blue Ocean."
Tony Brewer reads "Lethal Aid," "Fractured," and "Byproduct of Divorce #87: The Laundromat."
Lisa Kwong reads "Childhood Fade in Litany," "I Sing to Myself While Driving to Indianapolis Airport," and "S'mores and Smoke."
Michael Luis Dauro reads selections from his poem "Woman With No Name."
Rachel Ronquillo Gray reads "Girl as Teenage Rebellion," "Good Girl Gone Rogue," "Girl As Full Moon," and "Girl as America the Beautiful."
Austin Davis reads "Lotus and Hallucinations" from his book Lotus and the Apocalypse.
Patsy Rahn reads "Books," "Evolution," "Ode to Joy," "In this Moment of Good Night," and "The Package."
Hiromi Yoshida reads "Mother of Icarus" and "Lunch Hour."
Emily Bobo reads "The Tale about the Land of Cockaigne." The original version of this tale is a brag where each line is a bigger lie about how great the Land of Cockaigne was.
Bronislava Volkova reads "Dog" and "Farewell to My Sweet Kushi" from her 2023 book Where Everyone Leaves Never to Return.
Lisa Kwong reads "An AppalAsian Finds Home in Bloomington, Indiana" and "Searching for Wonton Soup."
Michael Luis Dauro reads selections from the "Woman With No Name."
Carrie Newcomer reads "What You Won't Hear on Cable News" and "I'm Learning to Sit with Not Knowing."
Emily Bobo reads her re-telling of a fairytale about how some children watched their father slaughter a pig, then imitated him in play.
Rachel Ronquillo-Gray reads "Kelly Kapowski Unplans a Pregnancy," "Kelly Kapowski Gets an Abortion," and "Kelly the Killer Kapowski."
Austin Davis reads from his book Compulsive Swim: "Layla and Her Kids" and "Act 3 poem VI," plus a new poem "healing is lonely."
Hiromi Yoshida reads "Icarus Superstar," "Icarus Ekphrasis," and "Icarus | Epicanthus."
Nancy Chen Long reads “Your Brain Doesn’t Contain Memories—It is Memories,” "Narrative is the Native Tongue of the Brain," and "Echo."
Lisa Kwong reads "Poem for My Mother Who Dared Beyond Tai Shan."
Austin Davis reads from his latest book Compulsive Swim: "Act 1 poem I," "Act 1 poem VII," and "Act 2 poem III."
Erica Anderson-Senter reads "Midwestern Poet's Incomplete Guide to Symbolism,"** "Something I Might Say," and "The Definition of Prayer."
Patsy Rahn reads "The Roots of Kindness," "A Contemplation of Death," and "Reverie."
Lisa Kwong reads "On the 42nd Anniversary of My Father’s Swim from China, 10/17/2015" and "The Baby Behind the Cash Register at Canton Restaurant."
Erica Anderson-Senter reads "Qualifications for a Lover," "This is How a Poet Gets Over Heartbreak," and "To the Red-Bellied Woodpecker in my Neighborhood."
Emily Bobo reads "The Sweet Porridge," which is based on a 19th-century German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm.
Patsy Rahn reads "Honey Bunny" and "Fences."
Joe Betz reads "Cannon in the Bean Field," "Having Been Called Dirt," "Farmer Suicide Wherein a Proclamation on Parenting Enters," and "Gratitude with Mixed Religious Metaphors."
Erica Anderson-Senter reads "In the Naked Night," "The One Where a Small Horse Eats the Heart of a Man Who Left," and "Notes on Being a Ghost."
Austin Davis reads "Lotus & Depression," "Lotus & Another Day," "Lotus & Holidaze," and "Lotus..."
Beth Lodge-Rigal reads "Another Country," "Landing," and "Dear Daughter-."
Steve Henn reads his poems "Columbia, Misery," "Poem for the Mother of My Children," and "Dissociation."
Joe Betz reads "Knuckle Up," "Against the Wind," and "Sweet Corn."
Bronislava Volkova reads "Dawn spreads its transparent fingers," "It is time," "Human love sails forth," "I love the quiet," "Once upon a Time," "I have arrived," and "To be caught up in a briar-patch can suddenly become."
Steve reads his poems from his book American Male: "Loss or One for Josh Wildman," "How in God’s Holy Name is This Boy Ever Going to Survive?," "The Dad Rules," "The Spirit Moving Through Me."
Austin Davis reads "Lotus and the Meteors" and "Lotus and Loss."
Bronislava Volkova reads "When I meander into the groves," "I hear," "Steep streams of water," "You are leaving, you will leave, you have left," "An invitation to be," and "I am the moon."
Austin Davis reads "The World Will End Tonight," "Lotus & Fear," and "Lotus & Love.
Joe Betz reads "Soot," "Portage, IN," and "Red-Winged Blackbird."
Via Zoom from Prague, Bronislava Volková reads "There is no intermediary," "There is no time, only water," "Thre is a way of Chestnut trees," "We are the orphans of the meadows and drink," "Dear Fufi," and "The deaf and dumb hand."
Steve Henn reads his poems "The Dawning," "Father's Day, Fishing," "Perfectly Natural."
Doug Paul Case reads "Pink Confetti," "Sorry the Plant You Gave Me Is Dead," and "Is A Cabin in the Middle of Nowhere Still in the Middle of Nowhere."
Carrie Newcomer reads "Even Then" and "A Million-Mile Tail."
Samandar Ghaus reads their poem "Coming Out Day."
Doug Paul Case reads "Buck," "Selfhood," "Inaccuracy Because Either Can Be Either," and "I Saw the Ghost."
Carrie Newcomer reads "Liminality" and "Sing."
Samandar Ghaus reads their poems "EARTH WANTS US HERE" and "RAMADAN DASTARKHAN."
Doug Paul Case reads "I Have No Idea How Tall I Am," "Hyacinthos," and "New Decade Poem."
Samandar Ghaus reads their poem "Elegy for Queer Muslims Partying It Up in the Afterlife."
Rose Zinnia reads her poem "nonmonogamous poem / poem ending w a line by gwendolyn brooks."
Rose Zinnia reads their poem "Earth Hurt, Earthhurt, Earth Hurt, Earth/Hurt."
Rose Zinnia reads their poem "Joi in Our Birthroot (Nonbinary)."
PDVNCH [Pee-dove-inch] is a Bloomington, Indiana-based poet, and on this edition of the Poets Weave he reads, "Beads by DVNCH."
Bloomington, Indiana-based poet PDVNCH reads "PDVNCH IS."
PDVNCH [Pee-dove-inch] is a “dramatic poetic storyteller" based in Bloomington, Indiana. On this edition of the Poets Weave, PDVNCH reads "Who is PDVNCH?"
Austin Araujo reads "Back on Her Feet," "The Window," "Reading," "Watching Him Cross," and "Driftwood."
Austin Araujo reads "Within Earshot of 1991," "Patience," and "Aperture."
Denise Breeden-Ost reads "Mom's Front Porch," "Like Catching a Glimpse of Love," and "You Used to Crochet Just for This."
L. Renée reads "Becoming" and "Some Nights We Have the Moon."
Janan Alexandra reads "return (ii)," "visit," and "body parts: a golden shovel."
Nancy Chen Long reads “Reverberation” and "Anniversary," both from her new book Wider than the Sky.
L. Renée reads "Fish Fry" and "Ghazal: Hog Killing Time."
Denise Breeden-Ost reads "Head on Arms on Table," "The Lake Above," "Ritual," and "September Night."
Alberto Sveum reads "Compendium for a Room of Childhood Musings," "Compendium for New and Returning Online Gamers," and "Discard."
Janan Alexandra reads "return" (a poem in seven parts).
Austin Araujo reads "Irapuato, Guanajuato" and "At the Park on the Edge of the White River."
This week on the Poets Weave, L. Renée reads "Genealogical Trip to Pulaski, Virginia," "Ars Poetica: As Archaeologist," and "negroes auctus weather, block auction."
Denise Breeden-Ost reads "One Hand," "The Stacks," "Painting," "Three Haiku for Gabe," and "Supply List for the Writer Mother."
On this edition of the Poets Weave, Alberto Sveum reads "Duplex," "Idle," and "Compendium for Leaving Work at 11pm, the Summer I Move Out."
This week on the Poets Weave, Janan Alexandra reads "elementary arabic" and "dream, or, poem to the tongue."
This week on the Poets Weave, Nancy Chen-Long reads "Altered State at the Grocery Store" and "Umbra."
On this edition of the Poets Weave, Adrianne Embry reads "I May Have Dreamt of You Last Night," "TT and Oil Sheen," "6 a.m.," and "Same Drugs."
On this edition of the Poets Weave, Adrianne Embry reads "The Danger of My Kin," "The Color Purple," "Freeze Frame," and "The Beekeeper."
On this edition of the Poets Weave, Adrianne Embry reads "After Ari Lennox," "Pretty Things," and "28 Short Lectures on Touch."
This week on the Poets Weave, Adrianne Embry reads "Cicadas," "Tooth Fairy," "Responses to 'You Good?'," and "Manifesto."
On this edition of the Poets Weave, Amy Cornell reads "The Birth of Love," "Orgins of origin," and "Dandelion."
On this edition of the Poets Weave, Amy Cornell reads "Happy's Tale," "Big Bad and the Littles," and "The Empresses New Clothes."
Amy Cornell reads "The Library of Lost Books," "Transferable Skills for Poets," and "Instructions for telling your left hand from your right."
Torie DiMartile reads "Black Hole," "An I'm Sick of Race Poem," and "No Apologies" on this edition of The Poets Weave.
On this edition of The Poets Weave, Torie DiMartile reads "White Girls."
Margaret Fisher Squires reads "Twice Warmed, "Graduation," and "Interview with an Old Biddy" on this edition of the Poets Weave.
Antonia Matthew reads poems that sing the unsung on this edition of the Poets Weave.
On this edition of the Poets Weave, Torie DiMartile reads "if i have a daughter, what I will tell her of men," "Walking Heart," and "Who Says."
Beth Lodge-Rigal reads "Mysterious," "Ft. Steuben," and "Sandbreak" on the is edition of The Poets Weave. This set of poems is dedicated to her father.
On this edition of The Poets Weave, Torie DiMartile reads "Mythology of Mantedea."
Margaret Fisher Squires reads "January, 2017," "Final Judgment," and "Fat Tuesday at Player's Pub (02-05-08)."
Antonia Matthew reads "Desert Under a Full Moon," "And Then Beyond" "Eclipse," "Mars Up Close," "3 AM," and "A Jet Trail."
Beth Lodge-Rigal reads "Elegy for the Gregerson Barn" and "Fences" this week on The Poets Weave.
Margaret Squires reads "Jigsaw," "Remodeling," "Morning Routine," and "Indianapolis Canal; or, Species-Specific."
Antonia Matthew reads "For Eamon," "Nothing is Safe," "Morning with Eamon," "Circling for Peace," and "A Gift."
Alex Chambers reads "To Buffy, Vampire Slayer," "And Together," "Epithalamion," and "Late High Modernism."
On this edition of The Poets Weave, Alex Chambers reads "The Sandhill Cranes," "After the Chicken, Before the Peach," and "Among Deciduous Hardwoods."
Alex Chambers reads "Dreams of Perennial Wheat" and "Wrought."
Joseph Kerschbaum reads "Invention of Light (astyanax mexicanus)," "One of Us Has Changed (atmospheric convection)," "Endless Echoes (watching me watch you)," and "Let the Boat Go, Take My Hand (dry drowning)."
Joseph Kerschbaum reads "I Don't Look Like Myself Today," "We Forgive You," and "Still Waiting."
Joseph Kerschbaum reads “Clara, You Won’t See Spring,” “Living With and Without You,” “How the Years Pass Until It’s You,” and “Children Lost in Traffic.”
Adam reads "April 7," "April 19" and haiku from "Image Journal."
Anni Liu reads "Open Letter to the Boy in the Car," "Additionally, What Freedoms Have I Been Trained to Deny Myself?," and "Summer Aubade."
Anni Liu reads "Ars Poetica in a Dream Language," "Lian Qiao, Forsythia suspensa or weeping forsythia," and "Finding Fruit."
Jasper Wirtshafter reads "In gender neutral bar bathroom" and "Happiness Lessons."
Jasper Wirtshafter reads "Snow Globe," "Where I learned to play with fire," "Beatrice," "The Clerk at the Birth Certificate Office," and "Free Coffee: Can I be ethically consumed by capitalism?"
Adam reads "A Grad School Friend Chastises Me" and "Mother Bears, Our Golden Shovel."
Emily Bobo reads "Ode to My Mother and Our Little Breasts," "lying in the MRI like lying on a guillotine," "Postcard to my aunt who died of breast cancer,” and “Our Lady of Wheat.”
Jasper Wirtshafter reads "The quiet work," "Probably what love looks like," and "(Not) all men."
Adam reads "Conveyance," "Pseudo-Rondeau for a Prison Classroom," and "The Creature Notches Haiku on Tree Bark."
Emily Bobo reads "Normal," "What the Bones Said," and "Half-Hearted Ghazal at the Half-Way Point."
Christine Brandel reads "Biting the Rind," "The Worst Thing in the World That Could Have Happened," "The Beauty of Love," and "A Wife is a Hope Chest."
Christine Brandel reads "The Day I Became Golden," "Unwisdom," "Cinematic," and "Discussing a Poem."
Emily Bobo reads "Things You Should Know About Me," "Furrowed," and "The Lies We Need."
Christine Brandel reads "Panic Annie, Becoming a Witness," "To My Son Who Was Never Born," and "The Quiz."
James Dorr reads “Moonlight Swimming,” “The Aeronaut,” “When She Won the One Million Credit Galactic Lottery,” and “The Esthete.”
James Dorr reads "Why She Started Writing Poetry," "California Vamp," and "Chagrin du Vampire."
James Dorr reads "Le Meduse," "Vampire Thoughts," "Daylight Savings," and "Night Child."
Emily Bobo reads her poem "Communing with the Spirit of Shaylyn."
Emily Corwin reads "ghazal with the city sparking," "phantasm," and "abacus."
Willy Palomo reads "Mama's Hands," "Mama's Lungs," "Homecoming," and "Where We Find Mama's Tongue."
Emily Corwin reads "Outburst as Laurie Strode" and "sensorium."
Patsy Rahn reads "In the Quiet of the Cave, In the Silence of the World" and "Nature Abhors a Horror."
Press Record Now
June 22, 20254min 48sec
On this edition of the Poets Weave Allie Rigby reads "Press Record Now," "Frog Skin," "Self-Portrait as Orchid," and "Burnt Rice."
Allie has roots in the chaparral and deserts of California. She is the author of Moonscape for a Child, published by Bored Wolves in 2024, and she’s a recipient of a Fulbright grant to Romania. Her writing explores health, climate change, ecology, and community, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2020.