An episode from 9/11/24: Tonight, I read six poems by the Welsh poet, R. S. Thomas (1913-2000). A priest in the Anglican church from 1936 until 1978, Thomas wrote some of the most moving poems we have about religious belief, rural life, and the simple feeling some of us have of belonging nowhere. It is said that he barely lost out on the Nobel Prize for literature in 1995. They can all be found in Collected Poems 1945-1990:

  • Affinity (1946)
  • The Country Clergy (1958)
  • Ap Huw’s Testament (1958)
  • The Face (1966)
  • Suddenly (1983)
  • The Moor (1966)

Audio of Thomas reading “The Moor” comes from the incredible collection R. S. Thomas Reading the Poems. Sections from his biography come from his page at the Poetry Archive and his obituary at the Guardian.

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. I’ve also edited a handful of books in the S4N Pocket Poems series. Email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com.


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#228 – What Ted Bundy did on July 14, 1974 Human Voices Wake Us

An episode from 5/4/26: Tonight, I read the story of the French journalist Jean-Paul Kauffmann and his capture and three year captivity at the hands of Hezbollah. While held prisoner, he was given many books to read to pass the time, and what I share comes from the spy novelist John le Carré’s memoir, The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life.Next, I read from Caroline Fraser’s Murderland: Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers. As I say, ever since listening to the audiobook I’ve come to think that there are true crime books, and then there is Fraser’s book: for those who can stomach this kind of material, it is essential. I read the pages describing Ted Bundy’s kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder of Janice Ott and Denise Naslund on the same day—July 14, 1974—from Lake Sammamish State Park in Washington.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. #228 – What Ted Bundy did on July 14, 1974
  2. #227 – The Great Fire of London and the destruction of Jerusalem
  3. #226: The Vitality and terror of cities
  4. #225 – The invention of the wheel, and the power of storytelling
  5. #224: Let's talk about William Blake
  6. #223 – How to write two novels at the same time, with Charles Dickens
  7. #222: Seamus Heaney – 10 Essential Poems
  8. #221: Volcanoes, Plagues & the Childhood of a Kabbalist
  9. #220: The working poor and a so-so murder show
  10. #219: When a paragraph changes your life

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