Poetry Everywhere...especially on uVu

PBS celebrated National Poetry Month in April with 30 Days of Poetry -- which are now available Online and On Air.

Beginning in April,  Poetry Everywhere, took a fresh look at poetry. Using a variety of production approaches, that featured films of poets reading their own work, animated interpretations of much-loved poems, and celebrities reading personal favorites. WPBT  will be airing the videos at unexpected moments during their broadcast schedules but we also have them available on demand at our video site, uVu.

Poetry Everywhere Executive Producer Brigid Sullivan explains,  "We hope that this project will expose a diverse audience to a broad spectrum of poetic voices; build an appreciation and an audience for poetry; and increase the presence of poets and poetry within the two most ubiquitous media in American popular culture."  David Grubin, the series producer, "hopes that  poetry will become a part of the PBS landscape, offering moments of meditation and even revelation throughout the day."

 

The filmed poetry will offer something for everyone: from footage of Robert Frost reading his iconic  Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening and U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Simic reading his poem  Stone,  to Wynton Marsalis reading  The Wild Old Wicked Man  by William Butler Yeats. Animations include Emily Dickinson's  I Started Early,  read by Blair Brown, as well as poets filmed at The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, North America s largest poetry festival. Produced in association with The Poetry Foundation, the web site will also include 13 original animated interpretations of classic poems from students of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Some poems have already been included after programs. For example, Tony Kushner reading an excerpt from Walt Whitman's  Passage to India,  Mary Louise Parker reading Mark Strand's  Lines for Winter,  and former poet laureate Billy Collins reading his own funny and moving poem  The Lanyard  were broadcast after the American Experience biography of Whitman on April 14.

Visitors to Poetry Everywhere on the PBS Web site can also link to the Poetry Foundation  to find the text of the featured poems as well as biographies and more poetry from the poets, and to further explore the whole poetry genre.

Poetry Everywhere is a co-production of WGBH and David Grubin Productions, in association with the Poetry Foundation. David Grubin is the producer. Brigid Sullivan is the Executive Producer.

The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine and one of the largest literary organizations in the world, exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it beforethe largest possible audience. The Poetry Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, and encouraging new kinds of poetry through innovative literary prizes and programs. For more information, please visit poetryfoundation.org.

Comments

[Rick]

As the guy in charge at Channel 2, I'm glad we're doing this. David Grubin came to Miami for a Channel 2 event last week and called my attention to this project. I look forward to seeing the pieces on the air, but if you are interested in poetry, check them out online.
The broadcast version will be a nice addition for Channel 2 - yet another thing that makes public television distinctive. --Rick