Mark Wunderlich Reads Spencer Reece
Summary
Poet Mark Wunderlich joins The New Yorker to discuss Spencer Reese’s “My Great Grandmother’s Bible,” analyzing its sonnet form and themes of memory. He then reads his own poem, “The Bats,” exploring isolation during the pandemic and cohabitation with nature. The conversation covers rhyme, grief, and Wunderlich’s upcoming book, *Mady*.
Topics discussed
Sponsors: Monarch, Bilt, and Hero
Introduction to Mark Wunderlich and Spencer Reese
Reading: My Great Grandmother's Bible
Sonnet form and the AIDS Memorial Quilt
Quilting, craft, and giving meaning to loss
Rhyme, meter, and the poet's burden
Ars poetica and invisible histories
Metaphor, script, and literary tradition
Sermons, Hopkins, and the power of rhyme
Intermission and sponsor messages
Reading: The Bats
Composing The Bats and pandemic isolation
Living with bats in a historic Dutch house
Nocturnes, liminal spaces, and listening
Literary references and biophilia
Hauntings, ghosts, and local history
New book Mady and the title's origin
Outro and final sponsor ads
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