From Keillorville

My recent exploration of the poetry of M.A. Jenene made me recall that in 2016 I made four poems from a week’s worth of poems from Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac : “Poem,” “Last Words,” “Upside Down,” and “Forecast.”

That radio show did feature some fine poems — you might recognize a line from William Wordsworth in “Poem.” But as I wrote in 2016,

an anecdotal sameness sets in rather quickly. Keillor’s reading voice adds an extra element of sameness, covering everything in dreary piety. Everyone sounds alike, or at least like cousins.

That dreary piety makes Keillor’s comment about the difference between the radio audience and the audience at a poetry reading even more baffling.