Radio is such a perfect medium for the transmission of poetry, primarily because there just is the voice, there's no visual distraction.

Listeners are kind of ambushed... if a poem just happens to be said when they're listening to the radio. The listener doesn't have time to deploy what I call their 'poetry deflector shields' that were installed in high school - there's little time to resist the poem.

I love to move like a mouse inside this puzzle for the body, balancing the wish to be lost with the need to be found.

You trip over a word while carrying
a tray of vocabulary out to the pool
only to discover that broken glass
is a good topic.

When I became poet laureate, I was in a slightly uncomfortable position because I think a lot of poetry isn't worth reading.

In a world where cultures and religions are recklessly facing off, Sholeh Wolpé writes careful poems that cast a light on some of what we all hold in common.