A new series about the poems we carry with us through life. Poems that speak to us so strongly that we return to them in times of confusion or fear… loneliness or joy… love or doubt. Some of us might scribble these words on Post Its and stick them next to the mirror or on the fridge door. Some of us send them to friends or read them at funerals. Some of us mutter them under our breath like a mantra in moments of stress. Some of us ink them permanently into our skin. How much do we know about these words that move us so deeply? What are the stories behind the poems that we carry and that carry us in turn?

The poet Vanessa Kisuule speaks to people about the poems - and bits of poems - that mean the most to them. She finds out why the poems matter, and then unfolds the backstory of the poem itself - who wrote it, what was the context it came out of and how does it work on us?

This week, stories of people reading poems out loud and finding their voice.

Agnes Frimston was in a public bathroom in London when she heard a woman sobbing in the next stall. She asked if the woman was OK and if she'd like to hear a poem. We hear the backstory of the poem she read, talk to its author - the American poet Kim Addonizio - and hear how it went viral, offering comfort to people around the world.

Marvin Tate grew up in Chicago in the 1960s. He was witness to a lot of violence in his youth and developed a stammer. One day, his sister gave him a poem and encouraged him to learn it by heart. A poem that would prove to be lifechanging for him, as it has been for many others. A poem that - we learn from poet and teacher Peter Kahn - inspired a whole new poetic form.

Produced in Bristol by Mair Bosworth for BBC Audio Show less