You Could Make This Beautiful: Mike Birbiglia, J. Hope Stein, & Peter Kessler

Our miniseries finale features comedian Mike Birbiglia and poet J. Hope Stein talking about the poetry in comedy and the comedy in poetry. The couple co-authored the book "The New One: Painfully True Stories from a Reluctant Dad" and occasionally bring their mix of jokes and poems to the stage.

Also, a masterclass in metaphor from teacher and poet Peter Kessler, who argues that human beings need metaphor and imagery to fully understand each other.

Show notes (in chronological order):

• "The New One: Painfully True Stories from a Reluctant Dad" by Mike Birbiglia with poems by J. Hope Stein
• "Good Bones" by Maggie Smith
• Mike Birbiglia's "The Good Life"
• Mike Birbiglia's "My Girlfriend's Boyfriend"
• "Don't Think Twice"
• "Sleepwalk with Me"
• "Wholly Holy" by J. Hope Stein
• Voyager 2 and Voyager 1 from "little astronaut" by J. Hope Stein
• "Keep a Poem in Your Pocket" by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers
• "The Grammar of Fantasy" by Gianna Rodari
• "Catrin" by Gillian Clarke
• "Prayer (I)" by George Herbert

If you want a hand-picked, heart-plucked "poetry prescription" to help you with something you're going through, send a brief voice memo to PoetryPrescriptions@gmail.com.

All three episodes of You Could Make This Beautiful are out now and can be heard HERE. This show is an experiment, so if you love what you've heard and want more episodes, let us know! Leave us a glowing review in your podcast app, share the series with friends, and write to us: PoetryPrescriptions@gmail.com.