Monday

Aug. 9, 1999

Four Poems in One

by Anne Porter

Broadcast Date: MONDAY: August 9, 1999

Poem: "Four Poems in One," by Anne Porter, from An Altogether Different Language: Poems 1934-1994 (Zoland Books).

It's the birthday in Washington, D.C., 1950, of JEANNE LARSEN, author of the novels Silk Road (1989) set in 8th-century China, and Bronze Mirror (1991), in 12th-century China.

It's the birthday of the creator of the Dr. Alex Delaware Mysteries, JONATHAN KELLERMAN, born in New York City, 1949. He, like his main character, is a child psychologist.

The SECOND ATOMIC BOMB was dropped by the U.S. on this day in 1945, on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. The intended target was the city of Kokura, but poor visibility there forced the B-29 bomber on to Nagasaki. The bomb detonated at 11:02 a.m., local time, and destroyed about half the city, killing 70,000 people.

It's the birthday of Philip Larkin, the poet and novelist born 1922 in Coventry. He worked as a librarian for most of his life, and mostly in the town of Hull. Two of his novels came out after World War II, Jill and A Girl in Winter, but he is best known for his stoic and melancholy poetry.

It is the birthday of Leonide Massine, born in Moscow, 1896. He was the principal dancer who replaced Nijinsky in Diaghilevs's Ballets Russes. A choreographer, he created the dances for such important works as La Boutique fantasque and Parade. At age fifty-two he danced in the film The Red Shoes.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®

 

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