2019 Maryland Poet Laureate Grace Cavalieri Reads "Work is My Secret Lover"
“We’re honored to have Grace Cavalieri join the distinguished ranks of Maryland’s Poet Laureates. Her lifelong passion for and dedication to poetry and the arts is nothing short of astounding, and I’m confident Marylanders will enjoy her readings and develop a greater understanding and appreciation for poetry through her service.” - Maryland Governor, Larry Hogan
Governor Hogan recently announced Maryland's ninth Poet Laureate to be the incomparable Grace Cavalieri. In his press conference regarding the announcement Mr. Hogan touched on Grace's "lifelong" dedication to poetry—one of those defining characteristics of a great artist. And it's true, no one works harder than Grace or produces more prolifically at such a high level. ASP celebrated this aspect of Grace in her Legacy Book, Other Voices, Other Lives which is an atemporal sampling of her entire career up to now, from poetry to prose, from plays to interviews with US Poets Laureate. It should come as no surprise to Mr. Hogan nor the careful reader of her works then that she has an almost religious dedication and inescapable fascination with her art and its many ingredients. As we shall hear, in her poem "Work is my Secret Lover," Poetry is her muse.
Hear Grace read "Work is my Secret Lover"
More From Grace Cavalieri
Grace Cavalieri is known widely for her stirring and empathic poetry, collected in her Legacy work Other Voices, Other Lives, but did you know that she is also an impressive interviewer? On her NPR show, The Poet and The Poem, she interviews significant poets from the US and around the world, with an aim of interpreting their lives through their poetry. In her tenure on the program, she has interviewed 9 US Poets Laureate (you can find a list with these archived interviews HERE), including the incomparable Robert Pinsky.
The name Other Voices, Other Lives, is not purely poetical, in fact, for Grace Cavalieri it is a mission statement. In her Legacy Book of the same name there are several sections in 3rd person omnipotent which aim to breathe the same air as famous women who have suffered adversity. Tragic figure Anna Nicole Smith, feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft, Cora from William Carlos William’s Kora in Hell. All in all they are an admix of Grace Cavalieri’s poetic life, all brought together in one beautiful volume; so, perhaps, we might figure that Anna Nicole Smith converses with Mary Wollstonecraft for the very first time in the pages of Other Voices, Other Lives.
Today, from the Anna section we have the heart-rending “Toytown”
First Indian Poet to Record Poems for The Library of Congress to be interviewed by Grace Cavalieri for “The Poet and the Poem” Abhay K. is set to be the first Indian National to record poems for the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. The SAARC award winner is known as the premier literary flag-bearer […]
The Poet and The Poem is an hour long poetry program hosted by poet and playwright, Grace Cavalieri. Grace started the program in 1977 and it has been going strong since. On “The Poet and the Poem” Grace examines just that, the poetry and the poet. Each interview is a mix of questions pertaining to […]