Poets & Poetry

Each month, NPR's All Things Consideredinvites a poet into the newsroom to see how the show comes together, and to write an original poem about the news. This month, our NewsPoet is Philip Schultz.

Canadian poet and folk troubadour Leonard Cohen is known for writing haunting, provocative songs, songs about religion and women and politics. His music struck one Bay Area artist with a vision: that there should be a community choir of men, singing a cappella, exclusively from the Leonard Cohen songbook. Lisa Morehouse spent some time with the group, called the Conspiracy of Beards.

What do you do when, after 30 years, your husband tells you he is leaving you for someone else? If you're poet Sharon Olds, you grab your spiral-bound notebook and write about it.

Each month, NPR's All Things Considered invites a poet into the newsroom to see how the show comes together, and to write an original poem about the news. This month, our NewsPoet is Tess Taylor.

Poet Mbali Vilakazi was inspired by a fellow South African, swimmer Natalie du Toit, who lost one of her legs at age 17 and is the first female amputee to qualify for the Olympic Games. "It's not about what happens to you, it's about how quickly you can get up," Vilakazi says.

In the new book, The Rise of Rome, author Anthony Everitt tracks Rome's ascension from a small market town to the greatest empire in the ancient world. Along the way, he traces the rise of some of the ancient world's most powerful players.

Poet Kazim Ali found inspiration in an ancient Greek mythological story about a wrestling bout between Meleager and Atalanta. In Ali's poem, a wrestler finds strength in his breath and body in movement with another.

Poet Ouyang Yu imagines an Olympic event in which he lifts up just one extraordinary word. "The magic of the word is that, when well lifted, it has the power to transform," Yu says.

Poet Mbali Vilakazi pays tribute to South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, the first female amputee ever to qualify for the Olympic Games. For Vilakazi, du Toit's accomplishment is "everything the Olympics represent ... the triumph of the human spirit."

Poet Monica de la Torre takes inspiration from Mexican taekwondo champion Maria del Rosario Espinoza. "I am dumbfounded and positively moved by Maria del Rosario's improbable story," the poet says.