Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

30/12/2012

Roger McGough presents a diverse selection of listeners' poetry requests on the theme of time. The readers are Ian McElhinney and John Mackay.

Roger McGough presents a diverse selection of listeners' poetry requests on the theme of time. The readers are Ian McElhinney and John Mackay.

Pianos, mountains, train stations and even coffee provide the inspiration for poems on the theme of time. There's a dystopian vision of earth in the future in a poem by Sheenagh Pugh. Thomas Hardy wonders what people may say of him when he's gone in 'Afterwards', whilst Cecil Day Lewis's meditation on New Year's Eve urges us to cherish the 'dying, but never dead' state of now.

There's a rarely heard piece of archive of the poet Tony Harrison reading his poem Old Soldiers which was inspired by his childhood memory of a repeating image on a coffee label that seemed to stretch to infinity. Jackie Kay also reads her own work in a moving dialect poem about an old friendship.

Other poets reading their own work include two winners of the recent Gardeners' World Magazine's Poetry Competition.

There are also a few significant pauses at train stations with poems by John Montague and Tomas Transtr枚mer. John Dryden's speech 'When I Consider Life' is a glorious rant, and Tennyson roars to the world in this poem 'I Stood on a Tower in the Wet.'

Producer: Sarah Langan.

30 minutes

Last on

Sat 5 Jan 2013 23:30

This Week's Poems

Between Mountain and Sea

By Norman MacCaig

From Norman MacCaig 鈥 Collected Poems

Publisher:听 Chatto & Windus

All Legendary Obstacles听听听听听听听听听听听听听听听

By John Montague

From John Montague 鈥 New Selected Poems

Publisher: Bloodaxe

The Station听听听听听听听听

By Tomas Transtromer

Translated by Robin Fulton

From Tomas Transtromer 鈥 New Collected Poems

Publisher:听 Bloodaxe

Mrs Thorpe's Arithmetic听听听

By Fiona Ritchie Walker

From Gardeners鈥 World Magazine

The Yellow Bittern听听听听听听听听听听

By Cathal Bui Mac Giolla Ghunna

Translated by Thomas Kinsella

From The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse

Publisher:听 Oxford University Press

Fiere听听听听听

By Jackie Kay

From Fiere

Publisher: Picador

Afterwards听听听听听听听听

By Thomas Hardy

From The Oxford Authors 鈥 Thomas Hardy

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Extract from Do You Think We'll Ever Get to See Earth, Sir?听听听听听听听听听听

By Sheenagh Pugh

From Twentieth Century Anglo-Welsh Poetry

Publisher:听 Seren

Old Soldiers听听听听听听听

By Tony Harrison

From Tony Harrison 鈥 Collected Poems

Publisher: Viking

Extract from New Year鈥檚听 Eve听听听听听

By Cecil Day-Lewis

From C. Day-Lewis 鈥 The Complete Poems

Publisher: Sinclair-Stevenson

Piano听听听听

By D H Lawrence

From D H Lawrence 鈥 The Complete Poems

Publisher: Penguin

The Family Piano听听听听听听听听听听听听听

By John Montague

From Smashing the Piano

Publisher: The Gallery Press

Extract from Aureng-Zebe 鈥 鈥淲hen I consider life..鈥澨

By John Dryden

From Aureng-Zebe

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press

I Love the Winter鈥檚 Darkness听听听听听

By Emily Lumley

Published in Gardeners鈥 World Magazine

I Stood on a Tower in the Wet听听听

By Alfred Lord Tennyson听

From The Oxford Treasury of Time Poems

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Broadcasts

  • Sun 30 Dec 2012 16:30
  • Sat 5 Jan 2013 23:30