Former New York Poet Laureate Marie Howe talks about music and prayer, poetry and family in this edition of HoCoPoLitSo’s The Writing Life, hosted by poet Sandra Beasley. The author of three poetry collections: The Good Thief, What the Living Do, and her latest book, The Kingdom of Ordinary Time, Howe discusses how her poetry focuses on conversation and ordinary life, but sometimes with extraordinary characters, like her brother John, the Virgin Mary and her daughter. In the course of this dialogue, Howe reads her poems “The Gate,” “Buddy” and “Once or Twice, or Three Times, I Saw Something.” And Howe talks about her work as poet laureate spreading poetry to people in train stations, parks and subway stops. “Poetry is the most uncapitalistic endeavor. A poem is worth nothing in the exchange of capital. We want people to steal our poems. We want them to carry them away. We want them to copy them and give them to their friends.” Recorded April 28, 2016, in Columbia, Md. For more information about HoCoPoLitSo and its live or recorded programs, visit www.hocopolitso.org.