Best Poetry Reading Podcasts (2025)

1
Lichen Glows in the Moonlight 1:08

1d ago1:08

1:08

by John KinsellaBy Poetry Foundation

1
E. E. Cummings' "anyone lived in a pretty how town" 4:08

1h ago4:08

4:08

Today’s poem–in which men and women are the two halves of a bell’s tone–voices the rhythms and joys of life in an unconventional way that has to be heard and understood with the body before the mind. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.subs…

1
A Not So Good Night in the San Pedro of the World 1:04

2d ago1:04

1:04

by Charles BukowskiBy Poetry Foundation

1
Who's That 0:41

3d ago0:41

0:41

By Ana BožičevićBy Poetry Foundation

1
Walter de la Mare's "Good-bye" 5:05

2d ago5:05

5:05

Today’s poem is about (not) getting the last word. Happy reading. Walter de la Mare, born on April 25, 1873 in London, is considered one of modern literature’s chief exemplars of the romantic imagination. His complete works form a sustained treatment of romantic themes: dreams, death, rare states of mind and emotion, fantasy worlds of childhood, an…

1
You Know It As Spring 0:49

4d ago0:49

0:49

By Poetry Foundation

1
Scott Cairns' "Coracle" 3:36

4d ago3:36

3:36

Today’s poem places us on the frontier of new life. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
On Behalf of Trees 2:40

5d ago2:40

2:40

By Zoe CaldwellBy Poetry Foundation

1
Schwinn 1:54

6d ago1:54

1:54

By Matthew ZapruderBy Poetry Foundation

1
A Blaze of Riddles 0:38

7d ago0:38

0:38

By Will AlexanderBy Poetry Foundation

1
T. S. Eliot’s “East Coker IV” 4:19

7d ago4:19

4:19

Today, the obligatory Good Friday poem (because it is excellent). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Childhood Stories 1:27

8d ago1:27

1:27

by Matthew RohrerBy Poetry Foundation

1
Song of the Andoumboulou: 55 2:15

9d ago2:15

2:15

by Nathaniel MackeyBy Poetry Foundation

1
Carl Sandburg's "Buffalo Dusk" 5:09

9d ago5:09

5:09

In today’s poem, Sandburg’s ability to make the same two lines land so differently with so little happening in between is a remarkable feat. Happy reading! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe…

1
Screenplay 2:12

10d ago2:12

2:12

By Harryette MullenBy Poetry Foundation

1
From “summer, somewhere” 6:31

11d ago6:31

6:31

By Danez SmithBy Poetry Foundation

1
J. R. R. Tolkien's "When Spring Unfolds the Beechen Leaf" 5:18

12d ago5:18

5:18

Today’s poem is sometimes known as “Song of the Ent and the Entwife” because, though Tolkien tinkered with it for more than a decade, it did not take its final form until he decided to adapt it for inclusion in The Lord of the Rings. Happy reading! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus…

1
The Doors 4:57

12d ago4:57

4:57

by David St. JohnBy Poetry Foundation

1
Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 1:00

13d ago1:00

1:00

By William WordsworthBy Poetry Foundation

1
Prelude, Christmas 1:36

14d ago1:36

1:36

By Adedayo AgarauBy Poetry Foundation

1
Franz Wright's "The Raising of Lazarus" 6:22

15d ago6:22

6:22

Franz Wright was born in Vienna, Austria and grew up in the Northwest, the Midwest, and California. He earned a BA from Oberlin College in 1977. His collections of poetry include The Beforelife (2001); God’s Silence (2006); Walking to Martha’s Vineyard, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004; Wheeling Motel (2009); Kindertotenwald (2011); and F (2013…

1
The Ritz 1:27

15d ago1:27

1:27

By Randall MannBy Poetry Foundation

1
The Wake 1:46

16d ago1:46

1:46

By Blas FalconerBy Poetry Foundation

1
Advice to a Prophet 2:28

17d ago2:28

2:28

By Richard WilburBy Poetry Foundation

1
Robert Browning's "Home Thoughts from Abroad" 7:26

17d ago7:26

7:26

Browning’s 1845 poem captures the affections of every transplant and ex-pat, conjuring the momentary return to a faraway home. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Some San Francisco Poems: Sections 5-10 5:28

18d ago5:28

5:28

By George OppenBy Poetry Foundation

1
Lomita, California 0:40

19d ago0:40

0:40

By Diana Marie DelgadoBy Poetry Foundation

1
Mary Oliver's "Breakage" 5:33

19d ago5:33

5:33

Mondays go down easier with Mary Oliver. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Time Traveler’s Haibun: 1989 1:38

20d ago1:38

1:38

By Maureen ThorsonBy Poetry Foundation

1
Dolphin 6:38

21d ago6:38

6:38

By Richie HofmannBy Poetry Foundation

1
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (selections) 8:32

22d ago8:32

8:32

Today’s selections are characteristic passages from (maybe) the greatest and (certainly) strangest poem in Lyrical Ballads–Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner. Happy reading. (Nota bene: If you are ready for your own copy of Lyrical Ballads, the Oxford World Classics edition is a great way to see the developments across early editions.) This is a public ep…

1
DetoNation 1:15

22d ago1:15

1:15

By Ocean VuongBy Poetry Foundation

1
Thai Silk 1:24

23d ago1:24

1:24

By Alexander TherouxBy Poetry Foundation

1
One Home 1:19

24d ago1:19

1:19

By Poetry Foundation

1
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Dungeon" 4:50

24d ago4:50

4:50

While you can count on one hand the poems Coleridge contributed to Lyrical Ballads, they are some of the most memorable in the collection. Today’s poem uses an abstract description to conjure a very concrete social evil–the state of British prisons at the end of the long 18th century. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discus…

1
The Beautiful 1:38

25d ago1:38

1:38

By Roddy LumsdenBy Poetry Foundation

1
William Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey" 12:41

26d ago12:41

12:41

We begin a week of selections from Lyrical Ballads with today’s nostalgic and pastoral poem, “Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour, July 13, 1798.” Happy reading! Jonathan Kerr of the Wordsworth Trust writes about the revolutionary context of the Lyrical Ballads and the revolutionary nature…

1
On Asking My Mother about Winter 1990 1:22

27d ago1:22

1:22

By Abhijit SarmahBy Poetry Foundation

1
After Someone’s Death 0:57

28d ago0:57

0:57

By Tomas Tranströmer Tr. by Patty CraneBy Poetry Foundation

1
Hilaire Belloc's "The Scorpion" 2:49

29d ago2:49

2:49

What do Hilaire Belloc and a scorpion have in common? Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribeBy Sean Johnson

1
Queerodactyl 2:03

29d ago2:03

2:03

By Roy G. GuzmánBy Poetry Foundation

1
Pedestrian 2:11

1M ago2:11

2:11

By Poetry Foundation

1
Filming the Doomsday Clock 2:22

1M ago2:22

2:22

By Mary Jo BangBy Poetry Foundation

1
Oliver Goldsmith's "An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog" 3:32

1M ago3:32

3:32

Oliver Goldsmith (born Nov. 10, 1730, Kilkenny West, County Westmeath, Ire.—died April 4, 1774, London) was an Anglo-Irish essayist, poet, novelist, dramatist, and eccentric, made famous by such works as the series of essays The Citizen of the World, or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher (1762), the poem The Deserted Village (1770), the novel The …

1
Two Poems for the Annunciation 6:35

1M ago6:35

6:35

Today’s poems (too lovely to keep behind the paywall) come from Edwin Muir and Denise Levertov and both marvel at different aspects of the same great mystery. Happy reading. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe…

1
Shadow 1:18

1M ago1:18

1:18

By Tomasz Różycki Tr. by Mira RosenthalBy Poetry Foundation

1
Theories of the Soul 1:49

1M ago1:49

1:49

By Karen An-hwei LeeBy Poetry Foundation

1
David Wagoner's "For a Student Sleeping in a Poetry Workshop" 6:21

1M ago6:21

6:21

As the long, exhausting march toward summer begins for many students, the wise and compassionate David Wagoner takes us to the intersection of love and weakness. Happy reading. David Wagoner was recognized as the leading poet of the Pacific Northwest, often compared to his early mentor Theodore Roethke, and highly praised for his skillful, insightf…