"A poet is a poet for such a very tiny bit of his life; for the rest he is a human being...." Dylan Thomas said that, and it's an idea worth thinking about. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, poetry, both public and private. What happens when a poet writes about her husband's mental breakdowns? Also, the secret life of Emily Dickinson

Martha Nell Smith, co-editor of "Open Me Carefully", a collection of Emily Dickinson's letters to her sister-in- law, Susan Huntington Dickinson, tells Steve Paulson that their relationship went beyond friendship: it was loving, passionate and lasted a lifetime. Smith also reads some of Emily's letter-poems to Susan.

In her new book of poetry "Mrs. Dumpty," poet and translator Chana Bloch tells the story of her husband Ariel Bloch's severe mental illness and the eventual dissolution of their marriage. Bloch talks with Judith Strasser about the process of turning painful personal events into art. Bloch, who directs the creative writing program at Mills College, also reads several of her poems. Also, Rodney Phillips, curator of the Berg Collection of Englis and American Literature at the New York Public Library, talks with Judith Strasser about his exhibit (and book) "The Hand of the Poet." He describes some of the items included (from T.S. Eliot's letters to Virginia Woolf to photos of the very young Alan Ginsburg) and says they help humanize the poets.

Poet Naomi Shihab Nye has collected dozens of pieces for an anthology called "The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings from the Middle East." Shihab Nye tells Jim Fleming why it was both difficult and imperative to include works by Palestinian and Israeli artists in the same volume. And she reads a few selections from the book. Naomi Shihab Nye has also published two volumes of her own work: "Fuel," and "Red Suitcase."

Distribution dates:

• week of 12/20/98 - hour 3