Maya C. Popa Reads Brenda Shaughnessy

Adrian Matejka joins Kevin Young to read “Against the Encroaching Grays,” by C. D. Wright, and his own poem “Almost Home.” Matejka is the author of several poetry collections and the graphic novel “Last on His Feet.” He has been a finalist for the National Book Award and the Puli ...  Show more

April Bernard joins Kevin Young to read “A Worldly Country,” by John Ashbery, and her own poem “Beagle or Something.” Bernard is the author of two novels and six poetry collections—including “Blackbird Bye Bye,” which won the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, ...  Show more

David Wright Faladé reads his story “Amarillo Boulevard,” from the October 6, 2025, issue of the magazine. Wright Faladé, the recipient of a Zora Neale H ...

On this week's episode, A.O. Scott joins host Gilbert Cruz to talk about the value of close reading poetry. And New York Times Book Review poetry editor Greg Cowles recommends four recently published collections worth reading.

Books mentioned in this episode

* "New ...

Many people say their experience of time changes after they have children, a phenomenon that Diego Báez captures in “Inheritance.” In this poem, a past, present, and future starring the same child shift ceaselessly in a parent’s mind, like photos flipped through in an album, dots ...  Show more

Have you ever had a private moment — perhaps in the middle of the night — in a large city? When it just seems like it’s you and the great dreaming metropolis? Rowan Ricardo Phillips brings us into a memory he can’t forget, complete with a Wu-Tang Clan soundtrack.Rowan Ricardo Phi ...  Show more