50 Poems of America

Tracy K. Smith, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet serving as 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States and editor of American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time (Graywolf Press, 2018), talks about the 50 contemporary poems she selected that "bear witness to what it means to come from and belong to this remarkably vast and varied nation." She reads, "Downhearted" by poet Ada Limón, and "becoming a horse" by poet Ross Gay, from the collection. 

Tracy K Smith: Poems that may not have been written in this moment can be useful for crossing divides, talking about love, loss, fear, and family.

— Brian Lehrer Show (@BrianLehrer) September 26, 2018