Episode 141 – Tom Sleigh– A Lifetime of Poetry

The Make Meaning Podcast

The award-winning author of 11 books, Tom Sleigh is the latest author to be a guest on the Make Meaning Podcast. In this episode, Tom talks with host Lynne Golodner about how his love of language traces back to childhood, when his mother, an English teacher, first read Thoreau aloud.

That journey continued through decades when he was a war correspondent on the front lines in Lebanon and Syria to his archeologist days in southern Mexico and finally, to the resonance of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which turned us all into isolated individuals yearning for the connection that language brings.

In this episode, Lynne and Tom discuss:

• The crossroads of journalism and poetry
• The importance of noticing details
• Feral cats on military tanks in southern Lebanon
• King James I’s fascination with witches and also being a germophobe
• Writing articles about refugees
• How to make poetry accessible
• The profound sense of pleasure that comes with sitting with the words

Links and Resources:

• THE KING’S TOUCH
• Walden by Henry David Thoreau
• Elizabeth Bishop
• French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
• Swiss archeologist and photographer Gertrude Blom
• Na Bolom research center
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott
• Charles Bell

Find Tom Sleigh:

Website

Facebook

If you enjoyed this episode, you’ll like these other Make Meaning Podcast episodes:

• Episode 133 – Sara Henning – Poetry about Loss & Redemption
• Episode 120 – Jacqueline Suskin – A Poem Every Day
• Episode 119 – Roots – Israeli-Palestinian – Toward True Peace in the Middle East
• Episode 68 – M.L. Liebler – How to Use Writing & Performance to be an Activist
• Episode 32 – Lynne Golodner – A Poet’s Legacy: Lynne Golodner Remembers Mary Oliver