美国国家公共电台 NPR Write A Poem About Your Team, On Or Off The Court（在线收听）

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

All right. So this is the last day of April, which means that National Poetry Month is coming to a close so we wanted to catch up with NPR contributor and poet Kwame Alexander. He talked to Rachel Martin about some unexpected places where you can celebrate poetry, even while you're binge-watching your favorite show.

KWAME ALEXANDER: It's a celebration of poetry on TV, too. Believe that.

RACHEL MARTIN, BYLINE: All right. Give me an example.

ALEXANDER: Well "Queen Sugar."

(LAUGHTER)

MARTIN: I mean, I have not seen this show, but it's getting a lot of buzz. This was created by Ava DuVernay. It's on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network.

ALEXANDER: Yeah. I mean, every episode in "Queen Sugar" in season two, save one, is titled after a poem or a collection of poems by a poet from the Harlem Renaissance era.

MARTIN: OK. So I imagine you have a favorite you could share with us?

ALEXANDER: Episode 13. The poem she titled the episode was by Countee Cullen, a famous poet who was a friend of Langston Hughes. The poem was called, "Heritage." (Reading) What is Africa to me? Copper sun or scarlet sea, jungle star or jungle track, strong bronzed men, or regal black women from whose loins I sprang when the birds of Eden sang?

MARTIN: Apparently, there is poetry happening on "This Is Us" on NBC. I love the idea that on such a mainstream hit that you're finding little poetic moments.

ALEXANDER: Yeah. That was another one of our favorite shows. My wife and I binge-watched that. In season one we learned that Randall, one of the main characters, his biological father, William, is a poet who asked that Randall be named after a really famous poet from the Black Arts Movement, named Dudley Randall. And through the poetry of his father, Randall sort of learns a little bit more about his father.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THIS IS US")

RON CEPHAS JONES: (As William) My lady, my love, my neighbor. Lady, I am straight up fixed on you, just as you sit fixed straight on me. Our glue has long been set. Each morning, I wake up and head straight towards you.

MARTIN: That's lovely.

ALEXANDER: Yeah. I mean, that poem sends Randall on this search for the woman his biological father was in love with. He wants to know the subject of that poem, and that's the beauty of poetry. And I can say this over and over. It allows us to discover more about the world and our place in it.

MARTIN: All right. So we said that you were finding some poetry in some unexpected places, which leads us to Shaquille O'Neal.

ALEXANDER: Oddly enough...

MARTIN: I guess not that odd, right? Like, Shaq's, like, a big rapper.

ALEXANDER: Shaq's big, and he's a rapper.

(LAUGHTER)

ALEXANDER: But I think Shaq also illustrates what's happening with poetry seeping into our national consciousness, once again, through the lens of television.

MARTIN: Right. We've got a clip of him reading a poem by Edward Hirsch. He was reading this on a PBS show called "Poetry In America." Let's check it out.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "POETRY IN AMERICA")

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL: (Reading) A hook shot kisses the rim and hangs there helplessly but doesn't drop. And, for once, our gangly starting center boxes out his man and times his jump perfectly, gathering the orange leather from the air like a cherished possession.

MARTIN: Totally appropriate, a poem about basketball.

ALEXANDER: I think the really cool thing about this, you've got someone like Edward Hirsch, who's a really acclaimed poet, meshing with Shaquille O'Neal, one of the greatest basketball players ever. Poetry is for anybody. It's for everybody, Rachel.

MARTIN: All right. So you've done this before, given challenges to our listeners. We want you to do it again. What are you thinking this time?

ALEXANDER: Something. Let's stick with the basketball theme.

MARTIN: Yeah.

ALEXANDER: I've got a new novel out. It's called "Rebound."

MARTIN: Yeah.

ALEXANDER: It's the prequel to "The Crossover," and it's about the father in "The Crossover" when he was 12 years old and does not know how to play basketball and wishes he does. So I thought maybe I would recite a couplet from "Rebound," and we'd use that as sort of an inspiration.

MARTIN: OK. Give us an example. Let's hear a bit from "Rebound."

ALEXANDER: (Reading) Game so deep, it's below. Air so swift, you breathe slow. Watch me fly from the free throw. Superman is sweet, yo. But Rachel is my heat, bro.

MARTIN: Come on.

ALEXANDER: (Laughter).

MARTIN: It doesn't say that in the book. But I like that.

ALEXANDER: Well, I added that line for you, Rachel. But a couplet is really easy. It's two lines, and the lines rhyme. And we want it to be about teamwork, having a team around you to help you rebound on and off the court. Take it literally, or you can take it metaphorically.

MARTIN: Yeah. OK. You heard him, everyone. Try your hand at writing a couplet. And you're going to take these couplets and turn it into a different kind of poem.

ALEXANDER: Sure.

MARTIN: Sure (laughter).

ALEXANDER: Yeah. I'm going to make it happen, you know? (Laughter).

MARTIN: OK. If you want to give your shot at Kwame's challenge, go to npr.org/morningpoem. Share your rhyming couplet with us, and you can also submit that to npr.org/morningpoem. Hey, Kwame. Thanks, as always.

ALEXANDER: Thank you, Rachel.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

GREENE: Rachel speaking there to the poet Kwame Alexander.