Jon's wife Christy got pancreatic cancer ten years ago, but Jon still carries the fear of losing her. It's a long hallway from diagnostics to recovery, but Jon's found the right doctor: Todd helps him stop over-intellectualizing, cutting through the voices in his head, until only sweet remission (from the Latin "to relax,") colors the horizon. Revealed to Jon on the eve of Thanksgiving, 2022, Todd's tongue-in-cheek poem is written in the talky après-dinner-party style of Tony Hoagland, and features candid, ad-libbed cameos by Thomas Merton, Flannery O'Connor, Cormac McCarthy, Czesław Miłosz, and Raymond Carver, who, like all of us, just wants to be loved. From sorrow to joy and back again, this story lets Christy have the final word, and has Jon breathing a sigh of relief. Todd's poem for Jon, "Thanksgiving," quotes a stanza of Tony Hoagland's "Among the Intellectuals," from his posthumous collection, Turn Up The Ocean (Graywolf Press). Used with permission.There's a poem in that. Join the conversation and get bonus content at poeminthat.com where you can also donate to support the TAPIT team.Do you think there's a poem in your story? Leave Todd a voicemail on his Haiku, Hawaii, listener line: 808-300-0449.Follow us on Facebook.

Todd helps Joan, a vocalist, make connections between the loss of her singing voice, three miscarriages, and her survival of a historic Amtrak train wreck. Along the way, we meet her daughters, learn how Indian ashrams and silent meditation retreats have been as important to Joan as her music, and discover the redeeming power of laughter. Todd's (three!) poems for Joan support her in her grief, affirm her choice to evolve her career as a composer, and present her with a surprising award. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you might even break out in song.Chapters in this episode: Amtrak, Conrail, and Joan's fifth-car "wall"Three boys lost in the second trimesterA dream choir and an expiration dateDaughters, mothers, and a lineage of strong womenVoice, meditation, and silenceThe poem: "A Trophy"Audio clip: 1987 Amtrak 20/20 NewsreelGuest Joan Johnson Drewes websiteThere's a poem in that. Join the conversation and get bonus content at poeminthat.com where you can also donate to support the TAPIT team.Do you think there's a poem in your story? Leave Todd a voicemail on his Haiku, Hawaii, listener line: 808-300-0449.Follow us on Facebook.

Coming March 2023! There's a Poem in That is a podcast in which poet Todd Boss helps strangers discover the poetry in their most intimate stories.  There's a poem in that. Join the conversation and get bonus content at poeminthat.com where you can also donate to support the TAPIT team.Do you think there's a poem in your story? Leave Todd a voicemail on his Haiku, Hawaii, listener line: 808-300-0449.Follow us on Facebook.