"Conversation Piece" by Louise Bogan

Two couples share cocktails in an atmosphere of brittle comraderie. The more they drink, the looser the talk. Read by Jonathan Strong.

Although primarily known as a poet, Down Easter Louise Bogan also published fiction, some of it in the magazine for which she also was poetry editor, The New Yorker. (She held that post for 38 years.) Bogan was a very private person who disdained confessional poetry--and we assume, fiction--but who loved the poetry of Theodore Roethke. She was born in 1897 but by 1970 called it quits in this world.

Jonathan Strong has written at least a couple of poems in his life, but concentrates on fiction these days.