Video: Bill Moyers - Adrienne Rich On What Poetry Makes Possible
Originally aired in 1995 from Moyer's: "The Language of Life" series
"Acclaimed poets, including Rich, talk with Bill Moyers about poetry and modern life, and also read from their work.
Adrienne Rich on What Poetry Makes Possible
March 30, 2012
The acclaimed poet and activist Adrienne Rich — who died on March 27, 2012 — talks with Bill Moyers about poetry and modern life, and also reads from her work as part of “The Heart of Things,” a segment from Bill Moyers’ 1995 series The Language of Life. The segment includes other poets was well.
Poetry comes out of “points of stress” in our society, the National Book Award winner tells Moyers, and reflects on “what makes it possible for us to continue as human, under the barrage of brute violence, numbing indifference, trivialization and shallowness that we endure.”
Rich wrote over 30 books of poetry and prose, and was a “poet of towering reputation and towering rage… distinguished by an unswerving progressive vision and a dazzling, empathic ferocity” according to this New York Times tribute, written shortly after her death."
http://billmoyers.com/content/adrienne-rich-on-what-poetry-makes-possible/ (About an hour)
One of my favorite parts is about halfway through:
Bill Moyers: "So, what is the job of the poet?"
Michael S. Harper: "The job of the poet is to tell the truth no matter what."
Couple that with this short segment:
Moyers Moments
Moyers Moment (1991): Elie Wiesel on if Humanity is Good or Evil
April 19, 2012
by BillMoyers.com
In this 1991 Moyers Moment from Facing Hate with Elie Wiesel, Nobel Laureate and human rights advocate Elie Wiesel talks with Bill Moyers about his own childhood experiences at Auschwitz and tries to answer the question: Is humanity good or evil?
http://billmoyers.com/2012/04/19/moyers-moment-1991-elie-wiesel-on-if-humanity-is-good-or-evil/ (About 6 minutes)
When language fails - violence becomes a language ~ Elie Wiesel