Poets on the Plains

Welcome to Poets on the Plains, I’m Brad Aaron Modlin. I’m an Associate Professor and the Reynolds Endowed Chair of Creative Writing at University of Nebraska in Kearney, teaching undergrads and in our online master’s degree in creative writing.

Hello friends, I’m Huascar Medina, Former Poet Laureate of Kansas, here for Poets on the Plains. I’m pleased to meet you and look forward to sharing the wonderful poetry from Kansas poets. Today, I will be sharing one of my poems, “on the Range,” but first, allow me a moment to introduce myself.

With many thanks to the host poets of Season Two of Poets on the Plains, we welcome five new host poets to Season Three. You may remember that toward the end of each season, each host poet selects a successor, sometimes from the list of featured poets in the season and sometimes a surprise newcomer. Today’s opening features High Plains Morning host Jenny Inzerillo in an interview with Kansas Poet Laureate and Poets on the Plains founder Traci Brimhall.

Hi, I’m Traci Brimhall, Poet Laureate of Kansas, here for Poets on the Plains. Today, I’m delighted to celebrate the end of the second season of Poets on the Plains and to also celebrate America’s 250th birthday by talking about the 19th century poet Walt Whitman.

Hi. I’m Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, a poet born in Northwest Texas Hospital, here for Poets on the Plains. I’ve got some Panhandle Teaweed on the table today and I’m offering a poem titled “spectators” written by Panhandle poet, Mónica Teresa Ortiz.

Hi, I’m Benjamin Myers. I’m a poet from Chandler, Oklahoma, and I’m here to share with you a poem by one of my favorite Oklahoma poets, Jim Barnes. Jim Barnes is the author of twelve volumes of poetry, including Sundown Explains Nothing, Visiting Picasso, and Paris. He has held fellowships from The Rockefeller Foundation, The Camargo Foundation, and The Fulbright Foundation.

Hi, I’m Juan J. Morales, an assistant professor of English at Colorado College and a poet in Pueblo, Colorado, here for Poets on the Plains. Today I’m excited to share with you a poem by Alysse Kathleen McCanna, titled, “In-Between Country.”

My name is Jewell Rodgers and today I bring you the poems of Noni Williams. Noni is one of my favorite people. I met her in Omaha, Nebraska. Noni Williams is a senior cloud data engineer, a teaching artist, an independent data consultant, a storyteller, a mathematician, a philosopher, and of course - a performance poet - born and raised in North Omaha, Nebraska.

Hello. This is Janice Northerns, coming to you from Wichita, Kansas, for Poets on the Plains. Today, I’m reading a poem by Hyejung Kook called Holding, which is about a singular moment during the pandemic. Hyejung Kook’s first full-length poetry collection will be published in 2027. She lives in Prairie Village, Kansas, and while her work is relatively new to me, I am already a big fan.

Hi. I’m Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, a poet born in Northwest Texas, here for Poets on the Plains. I’ve got some coffee on the table and I’m here to offer a poem titled “fish bones” from Texas Tech poet jo reyes-boitel.