Interesting People Reading Poetry is a short, sound-rich podcast where artists and luminaries read a favorite poem and share what it means to them. Created by Andy & Brendan Stermer.
IPRP Presents: Of Modern Poetry
Jun 26, 2026
Show notes
This special episode introduces a new ambient album by Andy Stermer, who composes all of our music. Of Modern Poetry is inspired by a selection of poetic masterpieces from the mid-19th through mid-20th centuries, all of which have been featured previously on this show. The seven compositions, arranged chronologically according to the date of each poem’s first publication, offer what we hope you’ll find to be a richly textured sonic meditation on the origins and development of modern poetry.
The album is accompanied by a limited-edition chapbook anthology featuring each of the poems that inspired Andy’s compositions. The books were designed, printed, and assembled by Brendan Stermer, in collaboration with Salome Hauge.
Both the album and the book are available for purchase on Bandcamp. All proceeds will be used to support the continued production of this show.
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Novelist Lisa Ko Reads Tracy K. Smith
Aug 14, 2025
Show notes
In this episode, novelist Lisa Ko reads “Don’t You Wonder, Sometimes?” by Tracy K. Smith. Ko’s first book, The Leavers, was a 2017 National Book Award finalist. Her most recent book, Memory Piece (Riverhead Books, 2024) was described in Electric Literature as “a poignant meditation on late-stage capitalism: what it means to exist in an age of surveillance and government tracking, what it means to create art in an era where identity itself is commodified, and what it means to find purpose.”
We feature one short listener poem at the end of every episode. To submit, call the Haiku Hotline at 612-440-0643 and read your poem after the beep. For the occasional prompt, follow us on Facebook.
Dig the music in this episode? Check out Of Modern Poetry by Andy Stermer – an album of ambient music initially composed for the podcast. All proceeds support the continued production of this show.
Poetry Playlist: Long Track Blues
Dec 23, 2024
Show notes
This IPRP Poetry Playlist features a selection of archival recordings from PennSound, a project of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing at the University of Pennsylvania. The PennSound website includes an extensive audio archive with free recordings of hundreds of poets reading their own work.
Advice Columnist Amy Dickinson Reads Roland Flint
Sep 16, 2024
Show notes
In this episode, Amy Dickinson reads “Say It” by Roland Flint. Dickinson wrote the beloved daily advice column “Ask Amy,” which appeared in newspapers across the country from 2003 until her retirement in June of 2024. She is also the author of two memoirs and a new Substack newsletter.
Roland Flint was born in Park River, North Dakota in 1934. “Say It” was first published in Say It (Dryad Press, 1979). It appears in The Complete Poems of Roland Flint, published by Elizabeth Flint in 2022.
We feature one short listener poem at the end of every episode. To submit, call the Haiku Hotline at 612-440-0643 and read your poem after the beep. For the occasional prompt, follow us on Facebook.
Dig the music in this episode? Check out Of Modern Poetry by Andy Stermer – an album of ambient music initially composed for the podcast. All proceeds support the continued production of this show.
Poetry Playlist: You Are Here
Apr 30, 2024
Show notes
In this IPRP Poetry Playlist, U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón reads three selections from the anthology You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, out now from Milkweed Editions. The collection, edited and introduced by Limón, offers “fifty poems reflecting on our relationship to the natural world by our most celebrated contemporary writers.” Click here to learn more about the anthology, including upcoming events and how to share your own “You Are Here” nature poem.
Historian Roy Foster Reads William Butler Yeats
Mar 17, 2024
Show notes
In this episode, Roy Foster reads “Sailing to Byzantium” by William Butler Yeats. Foster is Emeritus Professor of Irish History at the University of Oxford and the author of many books, including his classic, two-volume biography of Yeats, published in 1997 and 2003. In a review of the first volume published in the New York Review of Books, the Irish novelist John Banville wrote: “W.B. Yeats: A Life is a great and important work, a triumph of scholarship, thought, and empathy such as one would hardly have thought possible in this age of disillusion. It is an achievement wholly of a scale with its heroic subject.”
We feature one short listener poem at the end of every episode. To submit, call the Haiku Hotline at 612-440-0643 and read your poem after the beep. For the occasional prompt, follow us on Facebook.
Dig the music in this episode? Check out Of Modern Poetry by Andy Stermer – an album of ambient music initially composed for the podcast. All proceeds support the continued production of this show.
Poetry Playlist: Forgotten Frequencies
Dec 15, 2023
Show notes
In this IPRP Poetry Playlist, our host Brendan Stermer reads three poems from his debut chapbook, Forgotten Frequencies, out now from North Dakota State University Press. The books were printed in a limited edition at The Braddock News Letterpress Museum in Braddock, ND and assembled by hand by students in the publishing program at North Dakota State University in Fargo. Forgotten Frequencies was selected as the winner of the 2023 Poetry of the Plains & Prairies Award and named a 2024 Midwest Book Awards finalist. Purchase a signed copy of Forgotten Frequencieshere.
Rapper Dessa Reads Alan Dugan
Oct 23, 2023
Show notes
In this episode, musician and writer Dessa reads an excerpt from “Natural Enemies of the Conch” by Alan Dugan. Dessa first gained prominence as a rapper with the Twin Cities hip hop collective Doomtree, but has since worked across many genres and creative disciplines. She has collaborated with the Minnesota Orchestra, published a memoir and poetry collections, and even hosted a BBC science podcast. Her fantastic new album, Bury the Lede, is an embrace of dance floor-ready pop music.
In 2026, Seven Stories Press announced the publication of a new selection of Dugan’s work, Love Poems. The press describes the book as reflecting “the core of his art, blending hurt and hardship with a powerful belief in the driving force that love is.”
We feature one short listener poem at the end of every episode. To submit, call the Haiku Hotline at 612-440-0643 and read your poem after the beep. For the occasional prompt, follow us on Facebook.
Dig the music in this episode? Check out Of Modern Poetry by Andy Stermer – an album of ambient music initially composed for the podcast. All proceeds support the continued production of this show.
Poetry Playlist: Think of the Storm
Aug 21, 2023
Show notes
For each IPRP Poetry Playlist, we curate a selection of three poems, loosely thematically related, presented with musical score, but without any commentary or historical context. We encourage you to approach these short episodes with the same relaxed attitude you might take toward a playlist on a burnt CD, given to you by a friend, which you casually pop in on a long road trip. Don’t worry about perfect comprehension, and steer clear of academic analysis. Just turn up the volume, roll down your windows, and enjoy the ride.
“Possible Answers to Prayer” by Scott Cairns appears in Slow Pilgrim, published by Paraclete Press. Cairns is an American poet born in 1954. Much of his work explores spiritual themes and is influenced by his Eastern Orthodox faith.
We feature one short listener poem at the end of every episode. To submit, call the Haiku Hotline at 612-440-0643 and read your poem after the beep. For the occasional prompt, follow us on Facebook.
Dig the music in this episode? Check out Of Modern Poetry by Andy Stermer – an album of ambient music initially composed for the podcast. All proceeds support the continued production of this show.
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