Rooted in reality, written with a keen observer’s eye, and shaped with a sense of song, documentary poetry tells the truth in an artist’s voice. For generations, through wars, crisis, and political upheaval, documentary poets have helped make sense of some of our most difficult moments – by expressing what might otherwise be impossible to say. So what are they writing about today?

This episode was produced in partnership with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

Original Air Date: January 13, 2024

Interviews In This Hour:
The gospel of Suncere Ali Shakur — This is how I drew you — The poetry that bears witness to the everyday

Guests:
Philip Metres, Suncere Ali Shakur, Kaia Sand, Camille Dungy

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How does someone become an official saint? Meet Dorothy Day — journalist, radical activist, mother and lay minister to the poor who died in 1980 — who is being considered for sainthood by the Catholic Church. Shannon Henry Kleiber walks in her footsteps through New York City, where she lived and worked, looking for miracles, talking with people whose lives were changed by her, and wondering how and why saints matter today.

We are grateful for additional music for this show from Tom Chapin, Si Kahn and the Chapin Sisters. Thanks also to the Dorothy Day Guild, and The Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Marquette University Archives, which houses Dorothy Day’s papers and photos.

Original Air Date: April 19, 2025

Interviews In This Hour:
In search of miracles, favors and graces — Inside the ‘agony and ecstasy’ of Maryhouse — We are all ‘called to be saints’

Guests:
Robert Ellsberg, Martha Hennessy, Fr. James Martin

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Maps, whether drawn by hand or by satellite, reflect the time they were drawn for. How will the next generation of cartographers deal with challenges like a world being reshaped by climate change?

Original Air Date: December 09, 2023

Interviews In This Hour:
Why are islands in the South Pacific disappearing? — Cartography in the age of Google Maps — This is your brain on maps — The mysterious music of the 'phantom islands'

Guests:
Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson, Mamata Akella, Bill Limpisathian, Andrew Pekler

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