Hi, this is Dan and Al Simpson in Cody, Wyoming, asking you to turn off your cell phones and give us your full attention.

And this is Big Al. I'm Cody. Enjoy the show.

Hey, this is Anna, and this episode of Death, Sex, and Money is a little different. We're bringing you the three conversations I had on stage at our live show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in May. There were about 850 people in the room. I sat on stage in a white armchair. To my left was a turquoise couch, and to my my right a live band, Luscious Jackson.

But the night started with Tracy K. Smith, who walked out on stage and read part of her poem,

My God, it's full of stars.

Perhaps the great error is believing we're alone,

that the others have come and gone, a momentary blip.

When all along space might be chalk full of traffic,

bursting at the seams with energy we neither feel nor see,

flush against us, living, dying, deciding,

setting solid feet down on planets everywhere,

bowing to the great stars that command,

pitching stones at whatever are their moons.

They live wondering if they are the only ones,

knowing only the wish to know and the great black distance they, we flicker in.

Thank you. This is death, sex and money. I'm Anna Sale.

I'm so glad we're here together.

We make this show in a small studio at WNYC.

You maybe listen to this show all by yourselves with your earbeds in.

So it's so special to be in a room together.

This is Radio Love Fest, a partnership of VAM and WNYC,

a listener-supported public radio station.

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