Category Amos Bridges

Dec 18 2025

Amos Bridges on Poetry from Daily Life Free Video Library

Hi everyone,

None of this — the 101 weekly columns carried in six newspapers in three states with 105,000+ subscribers, the recordings of sixty of the columns to form a free video library available around the world — none of it could have happened without this man. AMOS BRIDGES lives in Springfield, Missouri. where he serves the Springfield News-Leader as Editor-in-Chief. It was he who gave this column the green light in the fall of 2023.

AMOS is, of course, a fine journalist. When he accepted my invitations to write two columns for Poetry from Daily Life, I knew he would be well worth reading. This one, his second — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8KuNGz-fj8 — has been added to the video library. I hope you will take a few minutes to listen to what he has to say. You’ll be glad you did. Amos, thanks for it all.

Once again, here is the link to the complete library. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5wGqp5vbw2K0N7cFcGwN5w

Nov 25 2025

Final additions to Poetry from Daily Life Free Video Library

Hi everyone,

With great pleasure I announce the additions of the final recordings in Poetry from Daily Life Free Video Library! There are eight of them, some for the first time, others for the second. They are VIRGINIA LOWE, MARYFRANCES WAGNER, REBECCA KAI DOTLICH, CONSTANCE LEVY, BARBARA LOOTS, LOLA HASKINS, AMOS BRIDGES, AND BOB STEPHENS. This is a big day for the project, which grew from the 101 weekly newspaper columns made possible by Amos Bridges, Editor-in-Chief at Springfield News-Leader. The recordings of contributors from twenty-five states and three other countries were created and posted by BRIAN SHIPMAN at Drury University. Way to go, Brian!!

Here’s the link to see all 60 recordings plus my introduction, which welcomes readers and explains a bit about the series and its wide-ranging host of contributors. Please go see it and tell others. Thanks to all who had a hand in creating this resource for the world.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5wGqp5vbw2K0N7cFcGwN5w

Nov 9 2025

Mark it down, May 5, 2026

Hi everyone,

For the last several weeks I’ve been working on plans for a show in the new auditorium at The Library Center on May 5. The one I did with SANDY on September 30 overflowed the current auditorium and the 1 1/2 hour program went quickly. Afterward, my host STEPHANIE SMALLWOOD, Director of Youth Services, invited me back after the new theater space is open in January. I’ve been brainstorming with smart people who know the community (think AMOS BRIDGES, editor-in-chief, Springfield News-Leader, KATHLEEN O’DELL, freelance journalist who often writes for Springfield Daily Citizen and with past ties to Springfield-Greene County Library District, News-Leader, and USA Today), and others. This past week I met with Stephanie Smallwood at The Library Center to outline my plans and get an early look at the new auditorium. It’s glorious!

This will seat 536 people. The Tonight Show audience numbers 175-200. The Landers Theatre seats 525-527. My goal is to be entertaining 536 people or more on May 5, 2026, and I think the program we have in mind will do it. It’s going to be a dynamite lineup! I won’t pin down the final title of the show until the last day of this month but the working title is David and Friends, Celebrating Route 66 and the Joys of Creative Expression.

Many of the entertainers have already accepted my invitation and I hope to hear from others within the coming two or three weeks. Please keep the date — May 5, 2026, 6:30-8:30 p.m. — in mind. I promise you a great evening.

Sep 28 2025

Today is the last feature for Poetry from Daily Life

Hi everyone,

This has been a long run for a poetry column. It has taken an enormous amount of cooperation and goodwill by dozens of people. Now, it is my bittersweet duty to bring the effort to a close. But first, there are many, many to thank. I hope you will enjoy the column and share it with others. https://www.news-leader.com/story/entertainment/2025/09/28/poetry-from-daily-life-david-harrison-last-column/86334445007/

Don’t forget that writers who contributed to Poetry from Daily Life have at least one of their columns recorded on YouTube (or coming soon) in Poetry from Daily Life Free Video Library at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5wGqp5vbw2K0N7cFcGwN5w

Sep 25 2025

My goodbye column coming up on Poetry from Daily Life

Hi everyone,

So this coming week is it. My final column in the Poetry from Daily Life series will appear in print tomorrow (Saturday) in Springfield News-Leader and during the week in the other five papers that carry us. On Sunday the column will be reprinted in the News-Leader e-edition. Editor-in-Chief AMOS BRIDGES will send me the link and I’ll post it for you as soon as I get it. I hope you will read this last column because I have a lot of good people to thank.

It’s important for me to tell you that even though there are no new columns planned at this time, Poetry from Daily Life lives on. It has been picked up by Yahoo through a Gannett syndication deal, and the Missouri Press Association will continue hosting the columns so others can print them in the future. It has been a joy to see this idea blossom into an international resource read each week by thousands of people in the United States and far beyond. I’m also proud of the spinoff project, to record my guests reading their columns. I’ve been able to raise enough money to pay for every consenting contributor at least once. The last eight will go up soon on the site at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5wGqp5vbw2K0N7cFcGwN5w

Watch for the link on Sunday and pass the last column around. Thank you!