Midweek pick-me-up: The Universe in Verse 2019 – full show released for quarantine soul-sustenance

NOTE: This newsletter might be cut short by your email program. [View it in full](.  If a friend forwarded it to you and you'd like your very own newsletter, [subscribe here]( — it's free.  Need to modify your subscription? You can [change your email address]( or [unsubscribe](. [Brain Pickings]( [Welcome] Hello, {NAME}! This is the Brain Pickings midweek pick-me-up: Once a week, I plunge into my 13-year archive and choose something worth resurfacing and resavoring as timeless nourishment for heart, mind, and spirit. (If you don't yet subscribe to the standard Sunday newsletter of new pieces published each week, you can sign up [here]( — it's free.) If you missed last week's edition — against the illusion of separateness: Neruda's stunning Nobel speech about our shared belonging across space and solitude — you can catch up [right here](. And if you find any solace, joy, and value in my labor of love, please consider supporting it with a [donation]( – over these thirteen years, I have spent tens of thousands of hours and tremendous resources on Brain Pickings, and every little bit of support helps keep it – keep me – going. If you already donate: THANK YOU. [The Universe in Verse 2019: Full Show]( Each spring, I join forces with my friends at [Pioneer Works]( for an improbable idea that began in 2017 and has taken on a life of its own: [The Universe in Verse]( — a charitable celebration of the science and splendor of nature through poetry. [UniverseInVerse_2019_WalterWlodarczyk.jpg?resize=680%2C453] The third annual [Universe in Verse]( at Pioneer Works. April 23, 2019. Photograph: Walter Wlodarczyk. With our sleeves rolled up and sweat-soaked in preparation for the [2020 virtual edition]( (“trailer” [here]( and with the world stunned and stilled and looking to fill the blur of days under quarantine with something of substance and succor, we have released the full recording of the 2019 show, celebrating the 100th anniversary of Sir Arthur Eddington’s [historic eclipse expedition to Africa]( which confirmed relativity and catapulted Einstein into celebrity. “Dear Mother, joyous news today,” Einstein wrote upon receiving word of the results, which revolutionized our understanding of the universe and shaped the course of modern physics. The scientific triumph was also a heartening, humane moment — just after the close of World War I, a pacifist English Quaker, who had refused to be drafted in the war at the risk of being jailed for treason, and a German Jew united humanity under the same sky, under the deepest truths of the universe. An invitation to perspective in the largest sense. The show — an evening of poems, music, and stories about eclipses, relativity, spacetime, and Einstein’s legacy, featuring readings by musicians David Byrne, Regina Spektor, Amanda Palmer, Emily Wells, and Josh Groban, astrophysicists Janna Levin and Natalie Batalha, poets Elizabeth Alexander and Marilyn Nelson, actor Natascha McElhone, theoretical cosmologist and jazz saxophonist Stephon Alexander, comedian Chuck Nice, choreographer Bill T. Jones, On Being host Krista Tippett, and the inimitable Neil Gaiman reading an original poem generously composed for the occasion — was a monumental labor of love, with every single person involved donating their time and talent, and all proceeds from the tickets benefiting Pioneer Works’ endeavor to build [New York’s first-ever public observatory]( a dome of possibility for future Eddingtons and Einsteins. [UiV_2019_neil.jpg?resize=680%2C681] Both the costly production and this recording were made possible entirely by donations. Please enjoy — and if it gives you some perspective, some relief, perhaps even some rapture, do consider supporting this labor of love with [a donation to Pioneer Works]( to offset some of the costs, help us build that dome of possibility, and make future universes possible. Find the complete show and the full poem playlist below: [f09a8a0e-3da8-4fbf-9fcf-0f06f7ed9147.png]( - [“When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer”]( by Walt Whitman and poem #1397 by Emily Dickinson, read by Janna Levin - “Education” by Elizabeth Alexander, read by the poet herself - [“Hubble Photographs: After Sappho”]( by Adrienne Rich, read by Amanda Palmer - [“Theories of Everything”]( by Rebecca Elson, read by Regina Spektor - “A Solar Eclipse” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, read by Natascha McElhone - Musical interlude: Amanda Palmer - “As If to Demonstrate an Eclipse” by Billy Collins, read by Chick Nice - “Achieving Perspective” by Pattiann Rogers, read by David Byrne - “The Shampoo” by Elizabeth Bishop, read by me - Musical interlude: Regina Spektor - [“Research”]( by Cecilia Payne, read by Natalie Batalha - [“Faster Than Light”]( by Marilyn Nelson, read by the poet herself - [“Explaining Relativity”]( by Rebecca Elson, read by Stephon Alexander - [“Poem to My Child, If Ever You Shall Be”]( by Ross Gay, read by Bill T. Jones - [“After Reading a Child’s Guide to Modern Physics”]( by W.H. Auden, read by Josh Groban - [“Figures of Thought”]( by Howard Nemerov, read by Krista Tippett - [“In Transit”]( by Neil Gaiman, read by Neil Gaiman - “Einstein’s Daughter” by Jennifer Clement, read by Emily Wells - Musical finale: Emily Wells You can find the full recordings of previous seasons, and livestream details for the upcoming show, [on this page](. ALSO: My friends at Pioneer Works have just launched their own newsletter, delving into their archives to deliver some of the world’s fiercest and most fertile minds — scientists and artists, Nobel laureates and Pulitzer-winning authors — in conversation and contemplation at the edge of our search for truth and our hunger for meaning, straight to your inbox. Be a pioneer and [give it a try]( — I promise it will be spare and wonderful. [Forward to a friend]( Online]( [Like on Facebook]( donating=loving Every week for more than 13 years, I have been pouring tremendous time, thought, love, and resources into Brain Pickings, which remains free and is made possible by patronage. If you find any joy and solace in my labor of love, please consider supporting it with a donation. And if you already donate, from the bottom of my heart: THANK YOU. (If you've had a change of heart or circumstance and wish to rescind your support, you can do so [at this link]( monthly donation You can become a Sustaining Patron with a recurring monthly donation of your choosing, between a cup of tea and a Brooklyn lunch.  one-time donation Or you can become a Spontaneous Supporter with a one-time donation in any amount. [Start Now]( [Give Now]( Partial to Bitcoin? You can beam some bit-love my way: 197usDS6AsL9wDKxtGM6xaWjmR5ejgqem7 RELATED READING/VIEWING: [The Universe in Verse 2017: Full Show]( * * * [The Universe in Verse 2018: Full Show]( * * * [Antidotes to Fear of Death: The Universe in Verse 2020 "Trailer"]( [---] You're receiving this email because you subscribed on Brain Pickings. This weekly newsletter comes out each Wednesday and offers a highlight from the Brain Pickings archives for a midweek pick-me-up. Brain Pickings NOT A MAILING ADDRESS 159 Pioneer StreetBrooklyn, NY 11231 [Add us to your address book]( [unsubscribe from this list](   [update subscription preferences](