Season 1
Nov. 30, 2025
"The Secret" by Emily Dickinson
Some things that fly there be, — Birds, hours, the bumble-bee: Of these no elegy. Some things that stay there be, — Grief, hills, eternity: Nor this behooveth me. There are, that resting, rise. Can I expound the skies? How st...
Nov. 23, 2025
"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by Langston Hughes
I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the...
Nov. 16, 2025
"Nancibel" by Bliss Carmen
The ghost of a wind came over the hill, While day for a moment forgot to die, And stirred the sheaves Of the millet leaves, As Nancibel went by. Out of the lands of Long Ago, Into the land of By and By, Faded the gleam Of a j...
Nov. 9, 2025
"In a Station of the Metro" by Ezra Pound
The apparition of these faces in the crowd; Petals on a wet, black bough.
Nov. 2, 2025
"Unfortunate Coincidence" by Dorothy Parker
By the time you swear you’re his, Shivering and sighing, And he vows his passion is Infinite, undying— Lady, make a note of this: One of you is lying.
Oct. 26, 2025
"First Fig" by Edna St. Vincent Millay
My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends— It gives a lovely light!
Oct. 19, 2025
"Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also grea...
Oct. 12, 2025
"The Wind" by Robert Louis Stevenson
I saw you toss the kites on high And blow the birds about the sky; And all around I heard you pass, Like ladies' skirts across the grass— O wind, a-blowing all day long, O wind, that sings so loud a song! I saw the different ...
Oct. 5, 2025
"Fog" by Carl Sandburg
The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on.
Sept. 28, 2025
"Silver" by Walter de la Mare
Slowly, silently, now the moon Walks the night in her silver shoon; This way, and that, she peers, and sees Silver fruit upon silver trees; One by one the casements catch Her beams beneath the silvery thatch; Couched in his k...
Sept. 26, 2025
Trailer - "The Red Wheelbarrow" by William Carlos Williams
Hello and Welcome! My name is John, and this is The Concise Verse, a podcast for people who love poetry but don't always have time for it. In each episode we'll bring you a single, beautiful poem. No commentary, no analysis, ...