In Episode 2 of Multi-Verse, poet Wendy Xu reads her poem “A Sound Not Unlike a Bell,” and chats with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham about the poem’s themes of family, migration, and revision as a practice of love. It’s a special opportunity to hear a poem of this length performed in a single sitting—sit back and feast your ears.

“A Sound Not Unlike a Bell” was first published in Wendy Xu’s new book, The Past (Wesleyan University Press, 2021), and is available for purchase here.


Multi-Verse is a poetry podcast hosted and produced by Evangeline Riddiford Graham, senior managing editor at Public Seminar. To join Riddiford Graham once a month and hear poets discuss the poems they don’t usually read aloud, subscribe to Multi-Verse at SpotifyApple PodcastsPocket CastsSoundCloud, or visit multiversepoetry.org. To get poetry updates direct to your inbox, click here to receive the monthly Multi-Verse newsletter.