TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE

Sunday      11 July 2010      1000 - 1359 (ET)

PRODUCER: Steve Paulson, Wisconsin Public Radio, 608-263-5412

PROMO FOR Poetry Out Loud     7/11/2010 "Poetry Out Loud"
*When Rae Armantrout recently won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry the
first thing she said was curious. Read them out loud, she said. In this
hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, poetry out loud. Rae Armantrout
reads her poems, Natalie Merchant sings our favorite classic poems, and
Bobby McFerrin on the human voice as poetry.

PROGRAM RUNDOWN:   "Poetry Out Loud"

0:00 - 25:38        SEGMENT 1: (25:39)
            Poetry is often relegated to academia, but both Bobby
            McFerrin and Natalie Merchant think poetry is the
            literary art most relevant to our lives today.  It
            certainly is for Amber Rose Johnson, the 16-year-old
            winner of the national Poetry Out Loud competition
            sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts.  She
            recites some of the works she won with, and tells Jim
            Fleming about the value of poetry in her life.  Singer
            Natalie Merchant rediscovered poetry in the company of
            her young daughter.  Her new album, "Leave Your Sleep,"
            is a collection of songs adapted from poems by Victorian
            and early 20th century poets.  She tells Anne
            Strainchamps how she came to love these works.
                         
            Segment One Outcue:  "...PRI - Public Radio
            International."

25:39 - 26:08  LOCAL OPTION with music bed (:29)

26:09 - 37:00       SEGMENT 2: (10:53)
            Poems are different things to different people, solace, a
            call to action, beauty.  But to Rae Armantrout there is
            one thing that all poetry should be - read out loud.  She
            recently won the Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry
            "Versed."  Producer Charles Monroe Kane loved it so much
            he just had to talk to her.
                         
            Segment Two Outcue:  "...PRI - Public Radio
            International."

37:01 - 40:30       LOCAL OPTION with music bed (:29)

40:31 - 53:00       SEGMENT 3: (15:29)
            Bobby McFerrin is widely known for his Eighties hit
            "Don't Worry, Be Happy," but he is admired for many other
            things.  For the past eight years he's devoted himself to
            a project called "Vocabularies," which is now out as an
            album.  It's a mix of 1400 separate tracks sung by 50
            different singers, and he tells Steve Paulson it was a
            labor of love.
                         
            Segment Three Outcue: PRI Audio Logo


For a copy of this hour, call 1-800-747-7444, and ask for program number
7-11-A.


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