Literary figures/poets

Last week the opening event of the Favorite Poem Project, was held at New York's Town hall. The Project is part of poet laureate Robert Pinksy's plan to have 1000 average Americans recite their favorite poem and archive it on audio or video tape. The Town Hall event brought together such notable people as Geraldine Ferraro, Arthur M. Schlesginer Jr., and choreographer Bill T. Jones, as well as junior and high-school students. We'll excerpt a part of the event. We feature readings by: Ed Bradley, of 60 Minutes; Louis Rodriguez, a high school student; Dr. Calvin O.

Poet Billy Collins. His newest book "Picnic, Lightning" (Univ of Pittsburgh) is his sixth collection. His other books include, "The Art of Drowning," (Univ of Pittsburgh Press), and "Questions about Angels" (William Morrow & Co.,1991), which was selected as a winner of the National Poetry Series Competition in 1990. John Updike says of Collins' poetry, "Billy Collins writes lovely poems. . .

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass (pronounced like grass) talks about his new book "Poet's Choice: Poems for Everyday Life" published by Ecco Press. It's a collection of Hass' favorite recent poems by other poets. Hass served as Laureate from 1995-1997. He is also the author of "Sun Under Wood," "Human Wishes," "Praise," "Field Guide," and a book of essays titled "Twentieth Century Pleasures," which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. He teaches at the University of California at Berkeley.

Book Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Birthday Letters" by English poet Ted Hughes. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) This is the much anticipated collection by Hughes who was once married to American poet Sylvia Plath. Many blame Hughes for Plath's suicide in 1963 after he left her for another woman.

We remember poet and author Denise Levertov who died on Saturday at the age of 74. Her publisher says the cause was complications from lymphoma. (Rebroadcast of 12/4/1987)

Our newest poet laureate Robert Pinsky. His latest book "The Figured Wheel: New and Collected Poems" is in paperback (Farrar Straus & Giroux).

Poet and undertaker Thomas Lynch has combined his two occupations to produce his new book, "The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade." (W. W. Norton) The work is a collection of essays whose topics range from the scheme to use cemeteries as golf courses to poignant stories from his twenty year career as an undertaker. Lynch says he thinks that the meaning of life is connected to death, and his book primarily discusses the impact of the dead on the living.

McCarriston is the author of several books including "Eva-Mary" which is a collection of poems about the domestic abuse that McCarriston, along with her mother and brother, suffered at the hands of her father. She reads and talks about her poem "Last Frontier," about her relocation to Alaska.

Peter Balakian is Professor of English at Colgate University, and the author of a new memoir "Black Dog of Fate: An American Son Uncovers His Armenian Past. He grew up in an affluent New Jersey suburb, unaware of the tragedy that was part of his family's past: the genocide of a million Armenians in 1915 by the Ottoman Turkish government. He started to learn about the past when he discovered the document of his grandmother's human rights suit against the Turkish government, and the lost memoir of his great uncle, a bishop in the Armenian church.

Fresh Air classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reads the title poem from his book "Good Night, Gracie"