An episode from 1/26/23: Tonight I read a handful of poems on the theme of How to live, what to do? How to get by in the world as a devotee of culture, solitude, ritual, beauty, tradition and individuality?

There is of course no one answer, and anyway, poetry should stay as far away from direct “advice,” or proscription of any kind. Still, when I sit back and think about the kind of poems that help me through the day – and the months, and the years – these are some of them:

You can support Human Voices Wake Us here, or by ordering any of my books: Notes from the Grid, To the House of the Sun, The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old, and Bone Antler Stone.

Email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.


Discover more from Tim Miller

Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

#224: Let's talk about William Blake Human Voices Wake Us

An episode from 12/9/24: Tonight's episode gathers together all of the readings I've done on this podcast from the poet ⁠William Blake⁠ (1757-1827). All of these poems can be found online at ⁠The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake⁠:Blake & His Animals: One passage from Visions of the Daughters of Albion, and two from Milton. I hope that plucking these three excerpts from his longer work can suggest how varied—not just how prophetic and opaque, but simply beautiful—so much of his poetry can be. (From the episode ⁠Poetry Friday⁠)An excerpt from his long poem Milton. (From the episode ⁠Visionary Poems⁠) Listeners will forgive that this section fades in from a talk about Wordsworth and Whitman, and fades out as the episode it was taken from moves on to other poets.Another excerpt from Milton, where Blake's personal mythology is given free reign over the city of London. (From the episode ⁠Cities Under Siege⁠)The best way to support the podcast is by leaving a review on Apple or Spotify, sharing it with others, or sending me a note on what you think. You can also order any of my books: Time and the River: From Columbine to the Invention of Fire, Notes from the Grid, To the House of the Sun, The Lonely Young & the Lonely Old, and Bone Antler Stone. I've also edited a handful of books in the S4N Pocket Poems series. I also have a YouTube channel where I share poems and excerpts from these books, mostly as YouTube shorts. Email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.
  1. #224: Let's talk about William Blake
  2. #223 – How to write two novels at the same time, with Charles Dickens
  3. #222: Seamus Heaney – 10 Essential Poems
  4. #221: Volcanoes, Plagues & the Childhood of a Kabbalist
  5. #220: The working poor and a so-so murder show
  6. #219: When a paragraph changes your life
  7. #218: Poetry to Live By
  8. #217: Voices from 1900-1914
  9. #216: Poets, Prophets, Seeresses & Goddesses from Time & the River
  10. #215: 8 Favorite Poems from "Time and the River"

Discover more from Tim Miller

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading