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.”

For Blanco, the poems in this book were a way for him to ground and contextualize our abstract reality.

“The arts brings us back to real lives, real people, real names, real faces, and creates empathy,” he said.

This episode of “Village Voice” aired on WGBH Boston Public Radio on April 25, 2019.