Poets on the Plains

These two short poems share a common theme of silence, they suggest a truth beyond words. Something beyond reason. Both poems are short and precise in their structure and are economical in their word choice, their structure and composition reinforcing their theme of something beyond words.

Hi, I’m Wayne Miller. I’m a poet who lives in Denver, Colorado, and I’m here for Poets on the Plains. Today I’m going to read a poem by the poet Emily Pérez. Pérez grew up in Weslaco, Texas, just a few miles north of the US-Mexico border. She studied at Stanford and the University of Houston before settling in Denver, where she works as a high school teacher and grade-level dean and lives with her husband and their two boys.

Hi, I’m Traci Brimhall, Poet Laureate of Kansas, here for Poets on the Plains. Today, I’m delighted to share a poem by the Poet Laureate before me, Huascar Medina.

Hi. I’m Chera Hammons, a poet from Amarillo, Texas, here for Poets on the Plains. It’s a beautiful morning and the birds are singing. The wind is blowing, too, as it nearly always does across the Llano Estacado. Today, I’ll be sharing a poem about wind written by someone who knows it well: Lubbock, Texas-based poet Curtis Bauer.

Hi, my name is Matt Mason, I’m the State Poet of Nebraska, here for Poets on the Plains. Today, I want to read you Nebraska poet Zedeka Poindexter’s poem “Peach Cobbler.”

This narrative poem presents three characters in a micro-drama – the dad, working under the hood of his Chevy, and who spots the Choctaw man money for a hamburger; Earl the Choctaw man who begs the money; and the kid, "little Wallace" who observes this exchange between father and the struggling man.

Hi, I’m Wayne Miller. I’m a poet who lives in Denver, Colorado, and I’m here for Poets on the Plains. Today I’m going to read a poem by the poet Laura Hershey. Hershey was born in 1962 in Littleton, Colorado, and as a young child was diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, a rare genetic disease. She used a wheelchair throughout her life.

Hi, I’m Traci Brimhall, Poet Laureate of Kansas, here for Poets on the Plains. Today I’m excited to share with you a poem by the beloved Kansas poet Michael Kleber-Diggs

Hi. I’m Chera Hammons, a poet from Amarillo, Texas, here for Poets on the Plains. It’s a beautiful morning and the birds are singing. I’m sharing a poem with you today by fellow Texas poet Katherine Hoerth.

Hello, my name is Matt Mason, I am the State Poet of Nebraska, and I am here for Poets on the Plains. Today, I’m reading and talking about Nebraska poet JV Brummels’ poem “Grass Widow.”