Podcast: "In the Basement of the Goodwill Store" by Ted Kooser as Read by Makaela Garcia

Podcast: "Eagle Poem" by Joy Harjo as Read by Sarah Saulnier

Podcast: "One Perfect Rose" by Dorothy Parker as Read by Michael Hernandez

Podcast: "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman as Read by Deirdre Bridgett

Podcast: "Death Be Not Proud" by John Donne as Read by Chris Cavanagh

Podcast: "Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns as Read by Andres Zarate

Podcast: "In the Basement of the Goodwill Store" by Ted Kooser as Read by Claudia Aguilera

Podcast: "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman as Read by Chris Barnes

Podcast: "Famous" by Naomi Shihab Nye as Read by Victoria Duran

Podcast: "Harlem" by Langston Hughes as Read by Rian Baylock

Podcast: "Eagle Poem" by Joy Harjo as Read by Eugene Puno

Podcast: "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold as Read by Christian Carlos

Podcast: "Harlem" by Langston Hughes as read by Carly Lopez

"The Other One" by Elizabeth Harshberger

I’m alone…and cold…and so hungry…a science experiment, that’s all I am. I’m the unlucky flower stuck in the cupboard. Here I sit all day, in the dark, wilting away. Why? What did I do wrong? Why do I deserve this torment? I struggle for life each day on the scant water they give me, and the tiny rays of sunlight that penetrates the thick wood doors in the early morning. Every day I reach for it with all my might, and every day it leaves before I can. It is tormenting me. When they do take me out to prod and poke, to measure and write stuff down on their papers, I soak up as much of the warm light as I can. I sit next to her, and envy her. The other one; the lucky one. She sits there, mocking me, filled with sunlight and life, happy. I hate her. I loathe her. But I can’t do anything, I’m too…tired…all the time…I can barely breathe…I ignore her instead, and let the brief, warm hands wrap themselves around me and fill me with unending energy. Then they put her back on her window sill, and me in my dark prison, a devoid of the very thing I seek. I think about the other flower a lot, how she sits there, smiling, all happy and pretty. I wish I could be her. She doesn’t know what she has. She doesn’t deserve the warm rays of the sun. She doesn’t… I’ll show them one day…I swear. I’ll live. I’ll keep searching for my precious light, my precious life. One day I’ll make it, I’ll get myself there. I’ll drink in the fresh soil; I’ll breathe in sweet air. Write that on your paper; stick that in your books. I’ll be the one to live, and she’ll be the one to die.

Podcast: "O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman as read by Elizabeth Cabana

Podcast: "Chord" by Stuart Dybek as read by Uziel Ladaw

Podcast: "Discrimination" by Kenneth Rexroth as read by James Wilder

“Just Because” by Sam Bartlett

Just because a woman

Cannot be free

She must stay strong

Happiness is the key

Love should be focused on me

Keeping it young and fresh

Happiness is the best

Taking a dangerous chance

Pull the boy out to dance.

“My Heart and Hopes” By Danikha Edwards

My heart and hopes give to you.

I am now strong and happy.

If ever broken-hearted, I shall be miserable.

Spirits smashed, almost

Impossible to fix.

“Poem” by Alberto Miramontes

A woman’s heart

Might have hope

Grave friends crying

Looking broken-hearted

Miserable

Better spirits seem almost impossible

Man will save no one

My dear girl alone, ashamed

Strangers shocked.