On Read to Me, we practice listening — the invisible skill that fuels great work. We listen for what we love in the writing, and then we put words to why it's so, so good.

Today, we read and love “River House” by Diana Whitney. This poem is from Diana's forthcoming October 2023 collection, DARK BEDS (June Road Press).

Pre-order DARK BEDS here and anywhere you buy books.

Meet Diana Whitney.

On Read to Me, we practice the essential, joyous skill inside great writing — listening. We listen for what we love in the work, and then put words to why it's so, so good

Today, we read from Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create A Life That Matters to You by Terri Trespicio. We trace a smart, beaming circle from the beginning of a wedding video, back to the beginning of a wedding video. Along the way, we get a completely new understanding of beginnings, endings, and the concept of forever.

Plus, the surprising appearance of Men in Black. Learn more.

On Read to Me, we practice the essential, joyous skill inside great writing — listening. We listen for what we love in the work, and then put words to why it's so, so good

Today, we revisit a 2019 episode on the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address: Greetings to the Natural World, also called, in Mohawk, Ohénten Kariwatékwen: Words Before All Else.

This Address’s legacy is much bigger than the United States Thanksgiving tradition. People of the Haudenosaunee nations recite it before ceremonial and governmental meetings. Their civic life grows again and again from acknowledgment of the natural world, relationship to it, and gratitude for it.

Is it ok for a white reader, which is me, to recite and explore the Address? Yes. There is ample documentation that the Haudenosaunee nations offer it broadly to the world.

Thank you to the bevy of voices who helped me recite the Address in 2019. You remain magical. Learn more.

On Read to Me, we practice the essential, sensuous skill inside great writing — listening. We listen for what we love in the work, and then put words to why it's so, so good.

Today we read “Transgender Heroic: All This Ridiculous Flesh” by Kayleb Rae Candrilli, from their 2021 poetry collection, WATER I WON'T TOUCH. We get to let this long poem sequence carry us on its currents. We get to feel its physical and spiritual transfiguration, and be inside its world-making love.

Plus, a tiny manifesto on the radical, strange pleasure of listening to poetry with an easy ear. Learn more.

On Read to Me, we practice the essential, joyous skill inside great writing — listening. We listen for what we love in the work, and then put words to why it's so, so good.

Today, we read from The Days of Afrekete by Asali Solomon. We get to see how the author isolates two college-student characters — a senior from herself, a freshman from the world — with body detail, relationships to books, and physical space. But we also get to see how the writing turns that double isolation into an inevitable, luscious meet-cute. Learn more.

Today, we read from Beneficence by Meredith Hall, recommended to us by our friends at Literary North. In the episode, we love the book’s stunning hat trick: conveying devastating grief and deep family love, doing so through the embodied action of its characters, and carrying everything in sentences that are light and joyful on their feet.

Plus, we explore why we never need credentials to love the written word. Learn more.

On Read to Me, we practice the essential, joyous skill inside great writing — listening. We listen for what we love in the work, and then put words to why it's so, so good.

Today, we read from The Book of Form and Emptiness, a stunning new novel from Ruth Ozeki. We love its radical premise, its clear-water sentences sparkling with gem-like words, and the voices of three distinct characters (not all entirely human). Plus, we explore how listening is like… fungus. Learn more.

On Read to Me, we practice the most fundamental skill of writing — how to listen for what we love in the work, and then put words to why it's so, so good.

Today, I read from Farm Girl: A Memoir by Megan Baxter. We get to see how this writer precisely describes a body at work, in strong, water-clear sentences, so that it can hold shimmering ideas about faith and hope. We get to love Megan's artistry with the luscious language of vegetables, too. Artichoke. Cilantro. Holy basil. Yum. Listen now.