Episode Information

Some years ago, my friend Humphrey Tonkin approached me -- and many other people in the Hartford community -- about a project. Each of us would be assigned a Shakespeare sonnet to record. There were politicians, writers, educators, savants. You never knew. One of the best readings came from George Scott, founder of Hartford's West Indian Bakery.

I don't know very much about sonnets, but I can feel that there is something about the form that calls to us across time. In the case of Shakespeare, a lot of the sonnets actually seem to be about the passage of time. The sonnet never completely goes away, but every so often we feel the need, anyway, to bring it back, to remind ourselves of this persistent form into which so much passion and yearning and regret have been channeled.

So today, Humphrey and two contemporary poets join us to revisit our old 14-line friend. They also serve who stand and wait.