In this episode of The Village Voice, Boston Public Radio and Richard Blanco share poems to commemorate Hispanic Heritage Month, from an anthem to immigration and nationhood, to a retelling of the creation story, as a Cuban would have written it. read more…

August is almost over, and with that comes the beginning of a new school year and the bittersweet end of summer. Noting the time of year, poet Richard Blanco says that this time of year is a time to appreciate living in the moment.

In this episode, Blanco shares some of his favorite poetry to read during this time of year. read more…

Richard Blanco joins Boston Public Radio for another segment of Village Voice to share a collection of poems “that surrender to oblivion as a way of feeling renewed and perhaps in a way arriving at a new kind of awareness that helps us to keep on going,” he says.

Follow along with the poems as they are read and discussed: read more…

In the latest edition of “Village Voice,” Jim and Margery get a lesson in evocative writing from poet Richard Blanco.

“I just wanted to take a little deep dive into one of the golden rules of creative writing, called show don’t tell,” he said. “I don’t know [that] we always know how that really works in a poem, and in our lives, so I’m going to walk you through this, and you’ll be my students today.” read more…

In the latest edition of “Village Voice,” Boston Public Radio’s recurring conversation about poetry and how it can help us to make sense of the news of the day, poet Richard Blanco shares his favorite poems about summer and the Fourth of July.

Blanco newest book, “How To Love A Country,” deals with various social and political issues that shadow America. read more…

In the latest edition of “Village Voice,” Jim Braude and Margery Eagan celebrated Pride Month with poet Richard Blanco.

Blanco shared two of his own poems about growing up gay. In one, “Queer Theory: According To My Grandmother,” Blanco chronicles the way his grandmother policed any behavior she deemed “too feminine” when he was a child.

“I learned a lot from her, I got a lot of support from her, but when it came to this dimension of sexuality, it was something she didn’t understand,” he said.

Blanco said it was this fraught and often painful relationship that shaped his identity as a writer. read more…

Earlier this year, poet Richard Blanco issued a challenge to Boston Public Radio listeners: Write an acrostic poem about your town, and share it with us. Many listeners did, capturing snapshots of their neighborhoods — depicting everything from the changing of the seasons to gentrification to climate change.

Blanco, the nation’s fifth inaugural poet and author of the new book “How To Love A Country,” shares CONCORD by Bruce Morgan and the rest of his favorite entries in this episode of The Village Voice. read more…

On this episode of Boston Public Radio’s “Village Voice,” Richard Blanco spoke with us about his new book, “How to Love a Country.”

Blanco told BPR that the book is an amalgamation of different ideas and statements that use poetry for civic engagement, autobiographical explorations of identity, and “what it means to be an American.” read more…

In this edition of the Village Voice, Richard Blanco chose to discuss one of the greatest linguistic techniques used in poetry this week in honor of National Poetry Month, figurative language. Describing the autumn leaves as falling like confetti creates a much stronger image than merely saying the autumn leaves fell, said Blanco.

“[Figurative language] is a very powerful part of language that lets us communicate rather quickly and rather effectively at times,” he said.

Blanco read “A Blessing” by James Wright and “The Tiger” by Pablo Neruda to further emphasize the beauty figurative language can evoke when used creatively in poetry.

This episode of “Village Voice” aired on WGBH Boston Public Radio on April 8, 2019.