EPISODE · Aug 12, 2026 · 26 MIN
Richard Blanco: A Home in Language
from Poetry Centered · host University of Arizona Poetry Center
Richard Blanco curates poems that look to language as a spiritual and psychological home, a center from which we make sense of reality. He introduces Ada Limón confronting the limits of what a poem can do (“The End of Poetry”), Robert Hass balancing lyric with narrative to reveal how language helps us understand our lives (“Meditation at Lagunitas”), and Heather McHugh demonstrating a way to conclude a poem with a leap into another universe (“What He Thought”). Blanco closes with his poem “The Splintering,” a piece that inhabits the blessing and curse of first becoming aware of language.Find the full recordings of Limón, Hass, and McHugh reading for the Poetry Center on Voca:Ada Limón (December 4, 2024)Robert Hass (September 19, 1979)Heather McHugh (April 19, 1995)Full transcripts of every episode are available on Buzzsprout. Look for the transcript tab under each episode.Voca is now fully captioned, with interactive transcripts and captions available for all readings! Read more about the project here, or try out this new feature by visiting Voca.
Embed this episode
What this episode covers
Richard Blanco curates poems that look to language as a spiritual and psychological home, a center from which we make sense of reality. He introduces Ada Limón confronting the limits of what a poem can do (“The End of Poetry”), Robert Hass balancing lyric with narrative to reveal how language helps us understand our lives (“Meditation at Lagunitas”), and Heather McHugh demonstrating a way to conclude a poem with a leap into another universe (“What He Thought”). Blanco closes with his poem “Th...
NOW PLAYING
Richard Blanco: A Home in Language
No transcript for this episode yet
Similar Episodes
No similar episodes found.
Similar Podcasts
No similar podcasts found.