There’s a poem from Mary Oliver I’ve been meditating on lately: “If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. There are plenty of lives and towns destroyed or about to be. We ...

His Poems Are a Joy to Hear, Even When Their Meanings Aren’t Clear. In his latest collection, Paul Muldoon continues his longtime trick of marshaling obscure references into fluent, ...

How do we incite joy within ourselves? In his latest collection of essays and poems, “Inciting Joy,” author Ross Gay ponders the kinds of experiences that have touched his life and brought him joy.

When I spoke with Harjo, the 23rd U.S. poet laureate, about this work, she started by reading the first lines of her poem. JOY HARJO: (Reading) I never got to wash my mother's body when she died.

With words that pulse with vulnerability, sensuality, retrospection, and joy, a gifted collective of Black queer poets are ...

Joy Harjo: I’m really honored to be part of it. If you look at the previous honorees of this lifetime achievement award, it’s really humbling to be a part of that company. I saw B.B. King ...

In Joy Harjo's poem "Redbird Love," the speaker, through her own ("we") perspective, tells the listener of the main events of a bird's life. In the opening line of the poem, ...

When Boston's Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola thinks of Juneteenth, she sees the national holiday as a celebration, but also as a reminder of oppression. Olayiwola joined WBUR's Weekend Edition ...

Poetry transcends individual identity and serves as a vessel for greater meaning, according to Joy Harjo. “It’s really not about me at all—I’m just a kind of messenger,” Harjo said. “There’s something ...

The Joy of Reading One Poem in Many Different Translations. Poetry and translation are both about picking the just-right word. ... Selected Poems (New Directions, 144 pp., paperback, $16.95).