You may think verse only matters to little old ladies, but Bill Moyers is set to make you rethink that idea. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, poetry is for everybody from immigrants and children to Midwestern farmers and the homeless. Also this hour, a visit with Adriene Rich, a poet and social activist. And the music of Miles Davis, in poetry.

Bill Moyers talks about poetry with Steve Paulson and reads a couple of his favorites. Moyers is the author of "Fooling with Words: A Celebration of Poets and Their Craft," the companion book to his PBS series. Also, Robert Wolf tells Jim Fleming how he worked with the homeless and with mid-western farmers to create poetry, and reads a couple of examples. The book he edited is "An American Mosaic: Prose and Poetry by Everyday Folk."

Adrienne Rich tells Judith Strasser why she combines writing poetry with social activism, and reads an excerpt from the title poem of her collection "Midnight Salvage: Poems 1995 - 1998." Also, Arab American poet Naomi Shihab Nye tells Steve Paulson why she taught Iraqi poetry in Texas public schools during the Gulf war and reads several examples from her latest anthology "What Have You Lost?"

Poet Quincy Troupe talks with Judith Strasser about his poetry and reads two poems inspired by the music of Miles Davis. Troupe collaborated on Miles Davis autobiography and has now written a memoir, "Miles and Me." The poems are from a volume called "Choruses."

Distribution dates:

• week of 06/24/2001 - hour 2
• week of 05/07/2000 - hour 2