David Whyte on Poets Cafe KPFK July 29, 2018 by Poets Cafe on KPFK published on 2018-07-29T22:13:02Z Host Lois P. Jones interviews poet, author and internationally acclaimed speaker David Whyte. Featured music: The Bell and the Blackbird by Owen & Moley Ó Súilleabháin from their CD Fields of Grace Poet David Whyte grew up with a strong, imaginative influence from his Irish mother among the hills and valleys of his father’s Yorkshire. He now makes his home in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The author of nine books of poetry and four books of prose, David Whyte holds a degree in Marine Zoology, honorary degrees from Neumann College and Royal Roads University, and has traveled extensively, including living and working as a naturalist guide in the Galapagos Islands and leading anthropological and natural history expeditions in the Andes, Amazon and Himalaya. He brings this wealth of experience to his poetry, lectures and workshops. His life as a poet has created a readership and listenership in three normally mutually exclusive areas: the literate world of readings that most poets inhabit, the psychological and theological worlds of philosophical enquiry and the world of vocation, work and organizational leadership. An Associate Fellow at Said Business School at the University of Oxford, he is one of the few poets to take his perspectives on creativity into the field of organizational development, where he works with many European, American and international companies. In organizational settings, using poetry and thoughtful commentary, he illustrates how we can foster qualities of courage and engagement; qualities needed if we are to respond to today’s call for increased creativity and adaptability in the workplace. He brings a unique and important contribution to our understanding of the nature of individual and organizational change, particularly through his unique perspectives on Conversational Leadership. Poetry. THE BELL AND THE BLACKBIRD (Many Rivers Press. April 19 2018) THE SEA IN YOU: Twenty Poems of Requited and Unrequited Love (Many Rivers Press 2015) PILGRIM (Many Rivers Press 2012) RIVER FLOW: New & Selected Poems 1984-2007 (Many Rivers Press 2006) EVERYTHING IS WAITING FOR YOU (Many Rivers Press 2003) THE HOUSE OF BELONGING (Many Rivers Press 1996) FIRE IN THE EARTH (Many Rivers Press 1992) WHERE MANY RIVERS MEET (Many Rivers Press 1990) SONGS FOR COMING HOME (Many Rivers Press 1984) Prose. CONSOLATIONS: The Solace, Nourishment & Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words (Many Rivers Press 2015) THE THREE MARRIAGES: Reimagining Work, Self & Relationship (Riverhead 2009) CROSSING THE UNKNOWN SEA: Work as A Pilgrimage of Identity (Riverhead 2001) THE HEART AROUSED: Poetry & the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America (Doubleday/Currency 1994) Genre Poetry Comment by Suzanne Lummis Lois, I'm so glad finally to have heard this broadcast, and to hear David Whyte -- I've been aware of him for some time and had a sense of what he does, but now I really get it. His story about when he seemed to be dying and realized at that moment the absurdity or, at least, the smallness of the "David Whyte project," and began to laugh -- wonderful. Also I liked his discussion of the delicacy of translating a section of Rilke -- and how he decided on "I feel as if a great power is trying to break into my body." Unsurprisingly, you were the perfect host and interviewer for this round of Poets' Cafe. Even the tenor of your voices worked beautifully together. 2018-08-16T20:01:31Z Comment by Gopakumar Radhakrishnan thanks Lois and David... 2018-07-30T06:35:46Z Comment by Gopakumar Radhakrishnan Very beautiful presentation...lot of wisdom in it... :) 2018-07-30T06:35:30Z