The reading of a poem by Newman University Professor of English Bryan Dietrich, Ph.D. is now available on the web site for the BBC Radio 4 program “Something Understood.” The show was broadcast nationally in the UK on Sunday, Feb. 7. The 30 minute episode will be available on the show’s web site through the end of February. To listen, click here.
Dietrich was recently contacted about using his poem “Gotham Wanes” for the BBC program on an episode about the Lamed vav Zaddikim, a Jewish legend that 36 righteous people in every generation keep the world turning, although no one knows who they are as their identities are hidden. The show, which explores spiritual and religious themes through poetry, prose and music, included Dietrich’s poem read by an actor.
“Gotham Wanes,” originally published in the October 2011 issue of Poetry Magazine, looks at the masks people have worn in “Every culture, every eon,” to hide or project various elements.
