PODCAST · society
Why Am I Telling You This?
by C.M. Rivers
Pause with C.M. Rivers for a moment of poetry or an occasional report from his observatory, which houses notebooks in lieu of telescopes.
Episodes
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Letters From Pops, Chapter 8: Lunch With John Lennon
During the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, C.M.'s father was suddenly forced into temporary retirement. With his lifelong forward momentum brought to an abrupt halt, he began writing about his life: stories about his childhood, memories of family, adventures that took him from coast to coast in the...
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Letters From Pops, Chapter 7: A Succession of Pitiful Attempts
During the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, C.M.'s father was suddenly forced into temporary retirement. With his lifelong forward momentum brought to an abrupt halt, he began writing about his life: stories about his childhood, memories of family, adventures that took him from coast to coast in the...
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Letters From Pops, Chapter 6: The Helmsman
During the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, C.M.'s father was suddenly forced into temporary retirement. With his lifelong forward momentum brought to an abrupt halt, he began writing about his life: stories about his childhood, memories of family, adventures that took him from coast to coast in the...
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Letters From Pops, Chapter 5: The Flying Seven
During the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, C.M.'s father was suddenly forced into temporary retirement. With his lifelong forward momentum brought to an abrupt halt, he began writing about his life: stories about his childhood, memories of family, adventures that took him from coast to coast in the...
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Letters From Pops, Chapter 4: Captain Buddy and the Stingray
During the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, C.M.'s father was suddenly forced into temporary retirement. With his lifelong forward momentum brought to an abrupt halt, he began writing about his life: stories about his childhood, memories of family, adventures that took him from coast to coast in the...
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Letters From Pops, Chapter 3: A Winter Memory
During the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, C.M.'s father was suddenly forced into temporary retirement. With his lifelong forward momentum brought to an abrupt halt, he began writing about his life: stories about his childhood, memories of family, adventures that took him from coast to coast in the...
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Letters From Pops, Chapter 2: What's A Beach?
During the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, C.M.'s father was suddenly forced into temporary retirement. With his lifelong forward momentum brought to an abrupt halt, he began writing about his life: stories about his childhood, memories of family, adventures that took him from coast to coast in the...
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Letters From Pops, Chapter 1: I Turn Ten
During the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, C.M.'s father was suddenly forced into temporary retirement. With his lifelong forward momentum brought to an abrupt halt, he began writing about his life: stories about his childhood, memories of family, adventures that took him from coast to coast in the...
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The Hands That Make Things
Season Two of "Why Am I Telling You This?" concludes with a poem about the visible and the invisible, the mysterious and the ordinary, body and spirit, and the fleetingness of life. Excerpted from How To Carry Soup: Poems, by C.M. Rivers (Homebound Publications). "The Hands That Make Things"…
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No Small Wonder
C.M. begins this poem by turning his attention to a small gathering of natural wonders that are often overlooked, then allows the poem to shift in tone to a diary entry written in second-person.
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The Wisdom of Not Being Industrious
In this short poem, a morning walk around the lake gets C.M. thinking about doing versus not-doing, action versus non-action. "The Wisdom of Not Being Industrious" originally appeared in Orbis Literary Journal in England, before making its way into C.M.'s poetry collection How To Carry Soup...
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Tread Lightly
In "Tread Lightly", C.M. suggests that not only is the journey itself the destination, but so is the spirit in which we take our journey and tread the path we find ourselves on. He takes us on a journey of noticing, stressing the importance of giving up the search, allowing yourself to rest, and...
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Memorial
C.M. touches on middle age, memory, the art of listening to yourself, finding your own guidance within, and the danger of holding on to past trauma. "Memorial" first appeared in Spoon River Poetry Review (2015) before making its way into C.M.'s book "How To Carry Soup" (2020, Homebound...
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High Road
C.M. ruminates on the pathways people take and the journeys they make, both intentional and unintentional, in this poem from his upcoming book "Along the Way ~ Poems for the Wayward" (Homebound Publications). This episode is also available as a blog post: http://cmrivers.com/2021/01/31/high-road/
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Moonstone Beach
This poem - written from the perspective of a beach - recounts a married couple's vacation day. The beach knows everything there is to know about this couple...even things they don't yet know about themselves. Excerpted from "How To Carry Soup", an award-winning book of poetry by C.M. Rivers...
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Rungs
This short poem is for anyone who's ever stopped to question where they were going, what they were doing - and why. C.M. invites the reader into a space where insight seems within reach...the insight that comes with self-observation. Excerpted from "How To Carry Soup" (Homebound Publications).
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Reach
An old man's heart opens as he makes peace with his life and his approaching death, in this poem by C.M. Rivers. Excerpted from How To Carry Soup (Homebound Publications).
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The Opening
The sensual and erotic intersect with spiritual renewal, in this poem from How To Carry Soup (Homebound Publications).
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Post Mortem
C.M. picks through a handful of ways to die, excluding terminal velocity. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://cmrivers.com/2022/05/22/post-mortem/
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Net Man
C.M. fixes his eye on his late grandfather, Captain Buddy. "Net Man" originally appeared in 2020, in poem form, in Crosswinds Poetry Journal in Rhode Island. This version combines prose and poetry to produce a piece of memoir. “The point is that he had – as we all do in given measures – an...
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Beginner's Mind
C.M. brings invocation and whimsy together in this poetic prayer for the virtues of wisdom, restraint, patience and presence. This poem originally appeared in C.M.'s poetry collection, How To Carry Soup (Homebound Publications).
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Vision Quest
Season Two of "Why Am I Telling You This?" opens with an ominous poem about identity and mortality. Excerpted from How To Carry Soup: Poems by C.M. Rivers (Homebound Publications).
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Backbone
Written in the voice of an old man, this poem paints a picture of a life lived in service to simplicity. "Backbone" concludes Season One of "Why Am I Telling You This?". Excerpted from How To Carry Soup by C.M. Rivers (Homebound Publications). This poem first appeared in Red River Review.
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Fellow Travelers
C.M. considers how kindness arises when we see every person as a Fellow Traveler - a compassion that naturally extends outward to others, as well as inward to ourselves. A poetic meditation from C.M.'s upcoming book, "Along the Way ~ Poems for the Wayward" (Homebound Publications). This episode…
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Ephemeral
C.M. contemplates the transitions between seasons, and how easy it can be to miss them, in this poem from "How To Carry Soup" (Homebound Publications).
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Beep Beep!
Undeterred by a wicked head-cold, C.M. reaches into the vault and reads a snippet of memoir concerning one of the western world's greatest absurdities - speeding tickets. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://cmrivers.com/2020/05/09/beep-beep/
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Me and Dean
C.M. pays tribute to Jack Kerouac with a poem about Dean Moriarty, the famed character from Kerouac's "On the Road", based on the real-life Neal Cassady, another major figure of the 1950's Beat Generation. This poem first appeared in Rosebud Magazine in 2013, and also appears in C.M.'s poetry...
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This Winter Morning
C.M. examines a winter morning in this poem from his collection "How To Carry Soup" (Homebound Publications).
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Stone Lion
C.M. spends a moment considering a statue in the garden, in this contemplative and whimsical poem from "How To Carry Soup" (Homebound Publications). This episode is also available as a blog post at cmrivers.com
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Incarnation
C.M. contemplates an example of transformation in the forest - contrasting it with the damage humans are doing to the very planet their survival depends upon - in this poem from his collection, How To Carry Soup (Homebound Publications).
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Geese Flying Over
Deep in the frozen night in upstate New York, C.M. considers the geese who winter around the Finger Lakes, connecting the contemplative with the whimsical in this poem from "How To Carry Soup" (Homebound Publications). This episode is also available as a blog post:...
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Pileated Woodpecker, Early April
C.M. does a little bird-watching in this poem from his upcoming book, Along the Way: Poems for the Wayward (Homebound Publications).
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Withlacoochee River, 1986
In this nostalgic poem C.M. recalls the summer he turned twelve, 3000 miles away from his Oregon home, on a river in central Florida. This episode is also available as a blog post: https://cmrivers.com/2021/04/18/up-the-withalacoochee/
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Remodel
C.M. considers transformation from a whimsical perspective in this poem from his collection, How To Carry Soup (Homebound Publications).
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Seagulls
C.M. fixes his eye on the seagull, bridging the gap between the contemplative and the comical with this poem from "How To Carry Soup" (Homebound Publications).
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Service Worker
C.M. considers time, work, appreciation, humility, and the camel, in this poem from his upcoming book, "Along the Way: Poems for the Wayward" (Homebound Publications). This episode is also available as a blog post: http://cmrivers.com/2021/05/29/service-worker/
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Why Am I Telling You This? have?
Why Am I Telling You This? currently has 36 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Why Am I Telling You This? about?
Pause with C.M. Rivers for a moment of poetry or an occasional report from his observatory, which houses notebooks in lieu of telescopes.
How often does Why Am I Telling You This? release new episodes?
Why Am I Telling You This? has 36 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Why Am I Telling You This??
You can listen to Why Am I Telling You This? on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Why Am I Telling You This??
Why Am I Telling You This? is created and hosted by C.M. Rivers.
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