Poets We Lost in 2023
Remembering the lesbian poet and activist Minnie Bruce Pratt, as well as the Palestinian poet and symbol of the resistance, Refaat Alareer.
Jan 03, 2024•45 min•Ep. 515
Poetry Off the Shelf
Producer Helena de Groot talks to poets about language, dreams, love and loss, identity, connection, anger, discomfort, the creative process, the state of the world and the world of the soul. Hard conversations are welcomed—laughter is, too.
Episodes
The Utopian Business
Steve Zeitlin and Bob Holman on the healing act of writing, small frogs, and politics at the fiddle festival.
Dec 12, 2023•37 min•Ep. 514
Cease and Desist
Laura Mullen on academia, death threats, and doing the next brave thing.
Nov 30, 2023•54 min•Ep. 513
Falling Off the Stairs
Daniel Brock Johnson on risk, a T-shirt mantra, and life after the death of his friend James Foley.
Nov 14, 2023•46 min•Ep. 512
Ghost Sister
Sebastian Merrill on the voice of his former self, the underworld, and laughing during yoga.
Oct 31, 2023•47 min•Ep. 511
Living in And Times
Sahar Muradi on cyclical time, leather butterflies, and saying goodbye to her father.
Oct 17, 2023•53 min•Ep. 510
Pen Pals
Sean Cole on loneliness, fear of aging, and what poems can do.
Oct 03, 2023•55 min•Ep. 509
Notes From the Bathhouse
Eric Sneathen on queer utopia, bad writing, and San Francisco in the ’70s.
Sep 19, 2023•58 min•Ep. 508
The Magic Section
Irène Mathieu on pediatrics, suburbs without a TV, and our body's unknown terrain.
Sep 05, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 507
My Totally Normal Crisis
Natalie Shapero on Wheel of Fortune , babysitting for her landlord, and pretending not to grieve.
Aug 22, 2023•45 min•Ep. 506
The Eldest Daughter
Rosanna Young Oh on her parents’ grocery store, leaving poetry, and the duties of the firstborn.
Aug 08, 2023•32 min•Ep. 505
Invisible Hands
Airea D. Matthews on self-interest, starry skies, and her parents’ fateful wedding day.
Jul 25, 2023•56 min•Ep. 504
Chaos Reigns
Sophus Helle on empire, Calvin and Hobbes , and the world's first author.
Jul 11, 2023•54 min•Ep. 503
The Fact of a Suitcase
Leslie Sainz on Bill O’Reilly, glassblowing, and the lure of praise.
Jun 27, 2023•43 min•Ep. 502
Good Old Sonnet
Diane Seuss on New York in the ’70s, virtue, and her father’s early death.
Jun 13, 2023•46 min•Ep. 501
Add Me to the Forest Floor
Katie Farris on cancer, desire, and her early-menopause care package.
May 30, 2023•55 min•Ep. 500
Let the Record Hide
Paisley Rekdal on maps, Sisyphus, and the dangers of beauty.
May 16, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 499
As Best I Could
Aaron Smith on shame, telling the truth, and his mother's last lipstick.
May 02, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 498
A Human Joy
Rebecca Gayle Howell and Ashley M. Jones on working-class poems, good food, and their fathers’ bodies.
Apr 18, 2023•48 min•Ep. 497
Center Stage
Jennifer Jean on foster care, finding her voice, and loving her father as he was.
Apr 04, 2023•46 min•Ep. 496
Mom, I Love You
Mahogany L. Browne on her first kiss, family secrets, and having your book banned.
Mar 21, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 495
My Alleged Accident
Janine Joseph on memory loss, car sounds, and a mirror that loves you.
Mar 11, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 494
The Book of Possibilities
Peter Cole on his brother's death, finding his vocation, and the erotic pull of letters.
Feb 21, 2023•58 min•Ep. 493
New Parents
Raymond Antrobus on late-night BBC poetry dubs, real people, and becoming a father.
Feb 08, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 492
Intimate Distance
Gabrielle Bates on betrayal, home church, and living in her mother's slaughterhouse.
Jan 24, 2023•47 min•Ep. 492
Sonic Trust Fund
Marisa Tirado on Selena, cow skulls, and the memory of adobe brick.
Jan 10, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 491
Poets We Lost in 2022
Remembering Richard Howard as a poet, mentor, and friend, plus a few words on money by Bernadette Mayer.
Dec 27, 2022•52 min•Ep. 489
Attica, Again
Celes Tisdale on similarities, teaching after the uprising, and his mother's favorite poet.
Dec 13, 2022•41 min•Ep. 488
Hiding Between the Loaves
Belarussian poets Valzhyna Mort and Julia Cimafiejeva on magic, transformation, and what's hidden underneath the forest floor.
Nov 29, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 487
Please Poem
JoAnna Novak on islands, a plush placenta, and a gift from the suicide hotline.
Nov 15, 2022•46 min•Ep. 487