Living Poetry

Authentic, inspiring conversations about what draws us to become more human and live more poetically. Therapist Susan Haroutunian Cunningham welcomes guests to bring a favorite poem into discussion about relationships, art, and God.

Gifts of Boredom - Carla Funk 12/16/2025

Gifts of Boredom - Carla Funk Carla Funk | Gifts of Boredom Episode 40 “The Book of Knowledge” by Patrick Lane read at 17:20 Patrick Lane “Fumbling Towards the Star” by Carla Funk read at 25:25 Mennonite Valley Girl: A Wayward Coming of Age by Carla Funk (2021) IG @carla_funk Attention Restoration Theory (ART) (Kaplan, 1989, 1995) suggests that mental fatigue and concentration can be improved by time spent in, or looking at nature. /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/38982100

Be Still & Know I am Lost - Corey Widmer 12/09/2025

Be Still & Know I am Lost - Corey Widmer Corey Widmer | Be Still & Know I am Lost Episode 39 “Lost" David Wagoner poem read at 10:18 Traveling Light: Collected and New Poems (1999) Corey leads a brief Centering Prayer Practice Psalm 46: "Be still and know I am God." begins at 31:21 Corey Widmer: https://www.thirdrva.org/leadership-staff-directory/corey-widmer Intimacy with God: An Introduction to Centering Prayer by Thomas Keating (2009) The Wisdom of Your Body: Finding Healing, Wholeness, and Connection through Embodied Living by Hilary McBride (2021) Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems edited by Phyllis Cole-Dai & Ruby R Wilson (2017) /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/38960185

Laughing Over the Bass Solo - Evan Cunningham 12/02/2025

Laughing Over the Bass Solo - Evan Cunningham Evan Cunningham | Laughing Over the Bass Solo Episode 38 “1960” by Billy Collins The Rain in Portugal: Poems by Billy Collins, 2016 poem read at 15:00 “Favorite Poet” by Evan Cunningham read at 26:10 “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins The Apple that Astonished Paris by Billy Collins, 1988. The Legendary BILL EVANS TRIO 1960 Birdland Sessions f. Scott LeFaro, Paul Motian /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/39214935

Let Doves Come - Gail Worsham Pitt 11/25/2025

Let Doves Come - Gail Worsham Pitt Gail Worsham Pitt | Let Doves Come Episode 37 “Let Evening Come” by Jane Kenyon, Otherwise, 1996 poem read at 6:36 Dovehouse Ministries, Nashville, TN First We Were Loved by Gail Worsham Pitt, 2017 Pray as You Go: /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/38932735

In the Laboratory of God - Pádraig Ó Tuama 11/18/2025

In the Laboratory of God - Pádraig Ó Tuama Pádraig Ó Tuama | In the Laboratory of God Episode 36 “Emerging” by RS Thomas read at:08:21 “Do You Believe in God?” by Padraig Ó Tuama read at: 21:13 Kitchen Hymns by Pádraig Ó Tuama (2025) RS Thomas “Via Negativa” Ted Hughes, "Crow" (1970) TS Eliot “Four Quartets” https://poets.org/poet/t-s-eliot The Angelus prayer commemorates the Incarnation, traditionally recited three times a day, often accompanied by bells. Paul Valéry, “God made everything out of nothing, but the nothingness pushes through.” Terry Pratchett, “In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.” ― Lords and Ladies Emily Dickinson, “'Nothing' is the force/That renovates the World -" The Morton Deutsch-International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution (MD-ICCCR) at Teachers College, Columbia University: /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/38960275

Kendrick Lamar: Dollars & Change - Vanessa Sadler 11/11/2025

Kendrick Lamar: Dollars & Change - Vanessa Sadler Vanessa Sadler | Kendrick Lamar: Dollars & Change Episode 35 contains explicit language and mature lyrical content Kendrick Lamar “How Much a Dollar Cost” from To Pimp a Butterfly https://open.spotify.com/search/how%20much%20a%20dollar%20cost Lyrics read throughout Vanessa Sadler: Abiding Story: https://www.abidinginstory.com/ IG: @vksadler The Allender Center podcast: Healing with Spiritual Direction, August 30, 2024 https://theallendercenter.org/2024/08/healing-with-spiritual-direction-with-vanessa-sadler/ https://dissectpodcast.com/2016/11/22/s1e13-how-much-a-dollar-cost-by-kendrick-lamar-from-to-pimp-a-butterfly/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CHow%20Much%20a%20Dollar%20Cost%3F%E2%80%9D%20will%20force%20Kendrick's%20hand,refuses%20due%20to%20his%20selfishness. Center for Spiritual Imagination: https://www.spiritualimagination.org/ /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/38401505

Chaotic Incidents & Detained Immigrants - Scott Sawyer 11/04/2025

Chaotic Incidents & Detained Immigrants - Scott Sawyer Scott Sawyer | Chaotic Incidents & Detained Immigrants Episode 34 The House that Love Built by Sarah Jackson with Scott Sawyer, 2020 excerpt read at 18:12 Chuck Prophet, “It’s a Good Day to Be Alive”, from Wake the Dead, 2024 lyrics read at 26:25 “I Want Everything” Susan Haroutunian Cunningham poem read at 32:50 Earthly Fathers, A Memoir by Scott Sawyer, 2001 SJS Communications /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/38613885

A Healing Hum - Heather Stringer 10/28/2025

A Healing Hum - Heather Stringer Heather Stringer | A Healing Hum Episode 33 This episode contains material of a sensitive nature. "Hum, Hum” by Mary Oliver, A Thousand Mornings: Poems, 2013 poem read at 16:36 Life in Ritual https://www.lifeinritual.com/ IG: @life_in_ritual The Allender Center Blog: Peter Levine, Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, (1997) Maria Shriver Interviews the Famously Private Poet Mary Oliver, Oprah magazine: Makers & Mystics podcast: Ritual Making & Performance Art with Heather Stringer /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/38622045

How to Kill Community - Logan Baker 10/21/2025

How to Kill Community - Logan Baker Logan Baker | How to Kill Community Episode 32 "How do you create community?" by Tad Hargrave Tad Hargrave Substack: https://tadhargrave.substack.com/p/how-do-you-create-community-a-poem Poem read at: 12:11 Logan Baker: https://blueridgewilderness.com/who-we-are/our-team/logan-baker-lpc IG: @blueridgewilderness David Wilcox, “We Make the Way by Walking”, The View from the Edge (2018) Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life (1986) Rainer Maria Rilke, "Duino Elegies: The Fourth Elegy" Port William & “The Membership”--fictional American rural town found in novels, short stories and some of poems of . /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/38401155

More is Less - Elise Kazanjian 10/14/2025

More is Less - Elise Kazanjian Elise Kazanjian | More is Less Episode 31 Naomi Shiab Nye https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/naomi-shihab-nye Poem read at: 17:18 No More More More More by Elise Kazanjian Read at: 18:13 Persimmon Tree Online Journal “Gate A-4” Naomi Shihab Nye “Musical Chairs and a Wide Swing” Susan Haroutunian Cunningham Passager Issue 75 Kathleen McClung Jane Hirshfield Kevin Fagan The Lost and the Found: A True Story of Homelessness, Found Family, and Second Chances /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/38400970

Drag Queens & Being Seen - Mark Hargreaves 10/07/2025

Drag Queens & Being Seen - Mark Hargreaves Mark Hargreaves | Drag Queens & Being Seen Episode 30 contains some explicit language and mature lyrical content Flamy Grant “Esther, Ruth and Rahab” Composer, Lyricist: Matthew Blake Lovegood Lyrics read at: 17:38 https://www.flamygrant.com/ The Distinct Modernism of San Diego by Rev Dr. Mark Hargreaves (2025) The Sacred Architecture of Irving J. Gill, by Rev Dr. Mark Hargreaves, (2023) Barry Humphries: /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/38400780

Tell Me Something True - Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer 09/30/2025

Tell Me Something True - Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer| | Tell Me Something True Episode 29 “The Thing Is” Ellen Bass https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/151844/the-thing-is “A Letter Sent Back in Time to Schumann” Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer https://ahundredfallingveils.com/2025/06/29/a-letter-sent-back-in-time-to-schumann/ “The Thing Is” read at 12:49 “A Letter Sent Back in Time” read at 23:09 IG: @rosemerry.trommer Blog: “A Hundred Falling Veils“, To subscribe: https://ahundredfallingveils.com Ritual: Wellbeing Practices app: "The Poetic Path" Shel Silverstein https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shel_Silverstein E.E. Cummings https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/90442/ee-cummings-101 Ellen Bass https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ellen-bass Robert Schumann https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Schumann Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems edited by Phyllis Cole-Dai & Ruby R Wilson /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/38400370

Season 3: Living Poetry 09/23/2025

Season 3: Living Poetry Get ready for Season 3 of Living Poetry! I'm back with more incredible guests with powerful poetry for thought provoking and consoling conversations. You'll be challenged and encouraged. I'm so excited to share these conversations with you. /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/38255040

The Everyday - Edward Hirsch 06/24/2025

The Everyday - Edward Hirsch Edward Hirsch - The Everyday Episode 28 Edward Hirsch reads "What the Living Do” by Marie Howe (1997) at 9:33 https://youtu.be/VWabOtq10UI?si=8bz-f7gRimUEOOKj 100 Poems to Break Your Heart, Edward Hirsch (2021) Listen to: Living Poetry Episode 17 Poetry as Memorial - Edward Hirsch “I Am!”, John Clare (1865) Gerard Manley Hopkins Terrible Sonnets: Paul Celan: Poet, Survivor, Jew by Josh Felstiner /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/36797350

The Point of Art - Ashley M. Jones 06/17/2025

The Point of Art - Ashley M. Jones Ashley M. Jones - The Point of Art Episode 27 “Lullaby for the Grieving”, Ashley M. Jones, From You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World (Milkweed Editions, 2024), edited by Ada Limón read at 14:07 Lullaby for the Grieving, 2025 Reparations, Now!, 2021 “Won’t You Celebrate With Me” by Lucille Clifton: Honey, I Love and Other Love Poems by Eloise Greenfield (1985) Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry (2025) Instagram: @cityofawoman Alabama’s 13th Poet Laureate Alabama School of Fine Arts: https://www.asfaschool.org/ Magic City Poetry Festival: https://www.magiccitypoetryfestival.org/ O, Miami Poetry Festival: https://omiami.org/poetry-festival/ /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/36763840

Hope While Despairing - Joan Shearer 06/10/2025

Hope While Despairing - Joan Shearer Joan Shearer - Hope While Despairing Episode 26 This episode contains material of a sensitive nature that may be triggering for some individuals. “The Forest” by Nikita Gill read at 11:50 and 13:01 Instagram: @nikita_gill Dr. Gabor Maté on Trauma: /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/36781690

The Art of Memory - Lee Herrick 06/03/2025

The Art of Memory - Lee Herrick Lee Herrick - The Art of Memory Episode 25 “This Room and Everything in It”, Li-Young Lee, The City in Which I Love You (1990) read at 13:27 In Praise of Late Wonder (2024) Scar and Flower (2019) California’s 10th Poet Laureate Fresno City College: Li Young Lee Reading “This Room and Everything In It” Coalition to End Social Isolation & Loneliness: /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/36763380

A Larger World - Joshua Stamper with Kory Stamper 05/27/2025

A Larger World - Joshua Stamper with Kory Stamper Joshua Stamper with Kory Stamper - A Larger World Episode 24 “Sonnet IV, Part 1”, Sonnets to Orpheus read at 9:51 and 36:04 “Sonnet IV, Part 1”, Sonnets to Orpheus, Rainer Maria Rilke, (translated By M.D. Herter Norton) (1962) Instagram: @joshuastampermusic /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/36601035

How To Be Alive - Kory Stamper with Joshua Stamper 05/20/2025

How To Be Alive - Kory Stamper with Joshua Stamper Kory Stamper with Joshua Stamper - How to Be Alive Episode 23 “Sabbath Poem VI” read at 11:18 and 35:14 “Sabbath Poem VI”, Wendell Berry, This Day: Collected & New Sabbath Poems (2014) Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries (2017) History of Swear Words, Netflix series (2021) Instagram: @harmless_drudge /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/36601000

Available to Surprises - Luci Shaw 05/13/2025

Available to Surprises - Luci Shaw Luci Shaw- Available to Surprises Episode 22 “The Old Barns of Skagit County” (2025) read at 05:45 “Pleasures” (2025) read at 19:25 “Anticipation” (2020) read at 33:38 https://lucishaw.com/ An Incremental Life (2025) Reversing Entropy (2024) The Generosity (2020) https://renovare.org/podcast/luci-shaw-madeleine-lengle /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/36425450

What is Real - Winn Collier 05/06/2025

What is Real - Winn Collier Winn Collier - What is Real Episode 21 “A Brief for the Defense” Jack Gilbert read at 10:30 https://poetrysociety.org/poems/a-brief-for-the-defense Instagram: @winncollier Substack: A Burning in My Bones The Authorized Biography of Eugene Peterson (2022) The Eugene Peterson Center for Christian Imagination https://petersoncenter.org/a-burning-in-my-bones-the-biography-of-eugene-peterson/ /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/36341725

Bless the Space - Sandra McCracken 04/29/2025

Bless the Space - Sandra McCracken Sandra McCracken - Bless the Space Episode 20 “A Morning Offering”, John O’Donohue from To Bless the Space Between Us Read at 15:56 “The Space Between”, Sandra McCracken, Cindy Morgan, Gabe Dixon from Christmas Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/track/1AbUIe7rsWEscPcKKqNhYm?si=AZN8de5LRA2PBz5PV7MvYQ&nd=1&dlsi=8210ae6ded90403b Lyrics read at 23:00 Instagram: @sandramccracken The Maker of the Mountain by Sandra McCracken and Tim Nicholson, illustrated by Fia Tobing (2025) Light in the Canyon Songs from the Valley Psalms On Being with Krista Tippett: John O’Donohue The Inner Landscape of Beauty /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/36341300

Character & Contradiction - Carol Edgarian 04/22/2025

Character & Contradiction - Carol Edgarian Carol Edgarian - Character & Contradiction Episode 19 “He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven” by William Butler Yeats read at: 12:42 Rise the Euphrates excerpt read at: 14:55 Vera excerpt read at: 26:58 Instagram: @c.edgarian, A Word, Please! February 24, 2025: “Giornata”: Italian> days work March 10, 2025: “Gar Oo Chugar”: Armenian> There was and there was not Instagaram: @Narrativemag Rise the Euphrates (1994) Three Stages of Amazement (2012) Vera (2022) /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/36254225

Face the Wind- Lisa Sharon Harper 04/15/2025

Face the Wind- Lisa Sharon Harper Lisa Sharon Harper - Face the Wind Episode 18 Show Notes: Beyoncé, "AMERIICAN REQUIEM, Cowboy Carter (2024) Lyrics read at 13:32 “AMERIICAN REQUIEM” Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/track/6K2Iut8nSQigP83yvbiqi8?si=b9111b62b53145e0 https://lisasharonharper.com/ Instagram: @lisasharonharper @freedomroad.us Freedom Road podcast Fortune (2022) The Very Good Gospel (2016) An’ Push Da Wind Down: A Play in Two Acts (1998) /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/36131875

Poetry as Memorial - Edward Hirsch 04/08/2025

Poetry as Memorial - Edward Hirsch Edward Hirsch - Poetry as Memorial Episode 17 “Cotton Candy” read at 9:15 “Cotton Candy”, The Living Fire (2010) Excerpts from “Gabriel” p.13, read at 25:38 (Issa, The world of dew) p.73, read at 31:56 (The work of mourning) Gabriel: A Poem (2014) Kobayashi Issa, Japanese poet 1763-1828 Greek myth of Sisyphus: eternally pushes a boulder uphill only for it to roll back down as he reaches the top. John Șimon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry (1999) 100 Poems to Break Your Heart (2021) /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/36040915

Season 2: Living Poetry 04/01/2025

Season 2: Living Poetry Season 2 of Living Poetry is on the way! We had so much fun during Season 1 where my guests brought favorite poems, song lyrics, and passages as a portal into conversations about what moves them in this life and what it means to them and to us to be more human. We’re back for more starting April 8! /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/35951320

Slow Down - Mary Ellen Owen 12/31/2024

Slow Down - Mary Ellen Owen Living Poetry Show Notes: Episode 16 Slow Down with Mary Ellen Owen “You wake the dead to life” by Rumi Poem read at 12:42 “Gold” by Haleh Liza Gafori, New York Review of Books, 2022 Poetry Unbound with Pádraig Ó Tuama, Dec. 12, 2022 Helena Bonham Carter reads “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver: Ecstasy of Saint Teresa sculpture by Lorenzo Bernini: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecstasy_of_Saint_Teresa Ireland’s Holy Wells: John14:6, Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life … ” /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/34557815

Study Beauty - John Cunningham 12/24/2024

Study Beauty - John Cunningham Living Poetry Show Notes: Episode 15 Study Beauty with John Cunningham “The Power of Taste” by Zbigniew Herbert Poem read at 15:23 Czeslaw Milosz, Polish poet: “My Back Pages” by Bob Dylan: “The Prayer of the Traveler Mr.Cogito” by Zbigniew Herbert “Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats, English poet, literary style: Romanticism Symposium A dialogue by Plato c.385-370 BC. "O Come O Come Emmanuel” sung by Evan Cunningham, Reindeer Tribe, Feliz Navidad, 2024 IG @johncunninghamclay /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/34557710

Go to the Heart - Becky Allender 12/17/2024

Go to the Heart - Becky Allender Hidden in Plain Sight by “Oh, Had I A Golden Thread” lyrics by Pete Seeger, 1962 Lyrics at 10:55 “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” by Pete Seeger, 1955 https://theallendercenter.org/offerings/trainings https://theallendercenter.org/marriage /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/34483230

No Map for Grief - Vicki Gilliam 12/10/2024

No Map for Grief - Vicki Gilliam No Map for Grief with Vicki Gilliam Just Be Held song by Casting Crowns Serge|Grace at the Fray Some Books for Care in Grief: Notes on Grief by Chimamanda by Ngozi Adichie Daring to Breathe by Armen Bacon Grieving A Beginners Guide by Jereusha Hull McCormack Every Moment Holy, Volume II by Douglas McKelvey As Long as You Need by J.S. Park The Cure for Sorrow by Jan Richardson A Grace Disguised Revised and Expanded by Jerry Sittser The Wild Edge of Sorrow by Francis Weller /episode/index/show/5ae55360-fe35-410a-ab9d-c4094b78313c/id/34357410

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