Contemporary poetry finally makes its debut on Close Readings! Sarah Dowling [https://complit.utoronto.ca/sara-dowling/] joins the podcast to discuss a thrilling and powerful new poem by Liz Howard, "True Value [https://griffinpoetryprize.com/poem/true-value/]." Sarah is the author of three poetry collections: Security Posture, Down [https://chbooks.com/Books/D/DOWN3], and Entering Sappho [https://chbooks.com/Books/E/Entering-Sappho], which was a finalist for the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry. Her first scholarly book, Translingual Poetics: Writing Personhood under Settler Colonialism [https://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/translingual-poetics], received an honorable mention for the Lora Romero First Book Prize from the American Studies Association. She's also working on another scholarly book, Figure & Ground. Sarah teaches in Victoria College and the Centre for Comparative Literature at the University of Toronto. You can follow Sarah on Twitter here [https://twitter.com/SarahMDowling1]. Liz Howard [https://griffinpoetryprize.com/poet/liz-howard/] is currently the Shaftesbury Writer in Residence at Victoria College. She is the author of two poetry collections: Infinite Citizen of the Shaking Tent [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/249873/infinite-citizen-of-the-shaking-tent-by-liz-howard/], which won the 2016 Griffin Poetry Prize, and Letters in a Bruised Cosmos [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/658335/letters-in-a-bruised-cosmos-by-liz-howard/], which contains "True Value," and which was shortlisted for the Griffin Prize in 2022. The recording of Howard reading "True Value" (apologies for its low volume in the episode!) can be found here [https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=710741020180214]. Follow Liz on Twitter here [https://twitter.com/ParabolicOcelot]. As always, if you like what you hear, please remember to follow, rate, and review the podcast. And subscribe to my newsletter [https://kamranjavadizadeh.substack.com/] to stay up to date on our plans.