Poet Ada Limón discusses The Carrying

As interest in poetry enters a resurgent phase in America, according to survey results from the National Endowment for the Arts, readership is showing particularly strong increases among women, minorities, and adults without a college degree. In the following audio segment from NPR's Weekend Edition, Lulu Garcia-Navarro interviews Ada Limón about her work and recently released fifth collection of poetry, The Carrying, published by Milkweed Editions.

Limón's work encompasses topics such as caring for aging parents, the deep psychic pain of infertility, coping with the nation's current political upheaval, and the simple magic of sharply realized moments during the course of a day.

“The big-assed bees are back, tipsy, sun-drunk, and heavy with thick-knitted leg warmers of pollen. ”

— Ada Limon, The Carrying

From National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist Ada Limón comes THE CARRYING—her most powerful collection yet—and for the first time, available in audiobook at milkweed.org or anywhere audiobooks are sold. “Ada Limón’s new collection is her best yet, a much needed shot of if not hope, then perseverance amidst much uncertainty.”—NPR “[In THE CARRYING], the National Book Award-nominated poet pens paeans to the world's limitless capacity to astonish.”—O, The Oprah Magazine “THE CARRYING is one of Ada Limón‘s best. Even in poems about racism, misogyny, violence, and the darkness that often accompanies life, Limón's resiliency shines through.”—Bitch Media “Exquisite poems about love, fertility, desire, this natural world we move through, the political climate, so much more.”—Roxane Gay, Goodreads “THE CARRYING is dazzling, precise, transformative and deeply humane. Ada Limón is an American treasure.”—Jami Attenberg “In these poems, joy and longing and grief sing with a music that—regardless of what I am burdened or blessed to carry—makes me want to live passionately and fully in the difficult world. THE CARRYING is a gift.”—Natasha Trethewey