Look. Last week we got into it over sonnets (which, it turns out, we know a lot more about than prosody!) before diving into a conversation with Oliver de la Paz about his work. This week he brought in Laura Jensen's much-beloved poem "Bad Boats". OLIVER DE LA PAZ is the author of five collections of poetry, Names Above Houses, Furious Lullaby (SIU Press 2001, 2007), and Requiem for the Orchard (U. of Akron Press 2010), winner of the Akron Prize for poetry chosen by Martìn Espada, Post...

Our people, our people! We're back this week with a fresh new episode featuring the one and only Oliver de la Paz. He came through The Poet Salon to talk about parenting, prose poems, and myths. OLIVER DE LA PAZ is the author of five collections of poetry, Names Above Houses, Furious Lullaby (SIU Press 2001, 2007), and Requiem for the Orchard (U. of Akron Press 2010), winner of the Akron Prize for poetry chosen by Martìn Espada, Post Subject: A Fable (U. of Akron Press 2014), and the...

Good ppl, good ppl—last week we chopped it up with THEE Dr. Bettina Judd on so many goodness. This week, she brought in Aracelis Girmay's "The Black Maria" for us to melt our hearts over.  Bettina Judd is an interdisciplinary writer, artist and performer whose research focus is on Black women's creative production and our use of visual art, literature, and music to develop feminist thought. Her current book manuscript argues that Black women’s creative production is feminist knowledge...

Hey you! This week we pop off on prosody before sitting down with the amazing Bettina Judd. Bettina takes us through her interdisciplinary approach to poems, patience, and of course, JOY! Bettina Judd is an interdisciplinary writer, artist and performer whose research focus is on Black women's creative production and our use of visual art, literature, and music to develop feminist thought. Her current book manuscript argues that Black women’s creative production is feminist knowledge...

Friends— last week, Bill Carty schooled us on clouds, clarity, and clowns. For this week's episode, Bill brought in Jennifer Chang's "Dorothy Wordsworth" to boot, scoot, n' boogie with. Enjoy! Bill Carty is the author of Huge Cloudy (Octopus Books) and the chapbook Refugium. He holds degrees from Dartmouth College (BA) and University of North-Carolina-Wilmington (MFA), and he has received poetry fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Artist Trust, Hugo House, and Jack...

Hello hello! This week we're thrilled to wax poetic about Brigit Pegeen Kelly—who is she? and why do poets love her so??—and to interview our dear friend Bill Carty about clouds, clarity, clowns, etc. Bill Carty is the author of Huge Cloudy (Octopus Books) and the chapbook Refugium. He holds degrees from Dartmouth College (BA) and University of North-Carolina-Wilmington (MFA), and he has received poetry fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Artist Trust, Hugo House,...

Hello there! After last week's episode with Jericho Brown in which we hashed it out over rhyme and why we write, Jericho brought us Lucille Clifton's "The Lost Baby Poem" to nerd out over. Hear us out. Jericho Brown is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and he is the winner of the Whiting Writer's Award. Brown’s first book, Please (New Issues 2008), won the American Book...

Hello beautiful beautiful people! We're back! Season two is here and what a season it is. We're thrilled to start of 2020 talking about the books that messed us all the way up in 2019 and to chat with the inimitable Jericho Brown about the South, rhyme, and why we write at all.   Jericho Brown is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and he is the winner of the Whiting...

What's good fam—did our first a live episode with the inimitable Natalie Scenters-Zapico as part of Lit Crawl: Seattle. It was wonderful. Hear us chop it up about Concha Piquer, ending poems, and the ethics of repetition.  Natalie Scenters-Zapico is a fronteriza from the sister cities of El Paso, Texas, U.S.A., and Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, México. She is the author of Lima :: Limón (Copper Canyon 2019), which has been reviewed widely in prominent periodicals including The New Yorker, and The...

Season 1 came and went, and we learned so much, y'all. We're so grateful for the 10 wonderful guests who rolled through. It's been a blessing.  In this little bonus pod, you can hear us reflect on what we learned, what we've been up to between seasons, and what we have coming up. Season 2 will officially launch in January, but we'll be here with some additional special bonus drops until then. So keep us in your feed, share the pod with your friends, put us on speaker phone on your bus ride...

It's our last episode of the season! After chopping it up with Hanif Abdurraqib last week on his work, he brought in Angela Veronica Wong's "Elsa Was Stabbed To Death She Had Her Key" to share and marvel over. HANIF ABDURRAQIB is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His first full-length poetry collection, The Crown Ain't Worth Much, was released in 2016 from Button Poetry, was named a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Prize, and was nominated for a Hurston-Wright Legacy...

It's goin up on a Tuesday, dearest listener, and for this week's episode we get into it with the inimitable Hanif Abdurraqib about sneakers, slashes, and suffering for one's art. Mmhmmm. But first your favs chat it up about how many rejections we can take before letting go of a dream journal...  HANIF ABDURRAQIB is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His first full-length poetry collection, The Crown Ain't Worth Much, was released in 2016 from Button Poetry, was named a...

Ayyye—look at us here together again! I'm sure you know by now, love, but last week we talked it up with Erika Meitner on whiteness, witness, and weathering trauma. This week, she brought us the poem "Night Travelers" by Campbell McGrath for us to be mesmerized by. Check it out! ERIKA MEITNER is the author of five books of poems. Her first book, Inventory at the All-Night Drugstore, won the 2002 Robert Dana-Anhinga Prize for Poetry, and was published in 2003 by Anhinga Press. Her second...

Dear ones: we were blessed for this week's episode to have Erika Meitner come through. We chatted it up about documentary poetics, political rhetoric, pop culture detritus, saviors, and more. But before that conversation, your cute hosts waded into the *poetry plagarism* discussion.  ERIKA MEITNER is the author of five books of poems. Her first book, Inventory at the All-Night Drugstore, won the 2002 Robert Dana-Anhinga Prize for Poetry, and was published in 2003 by Anhinga Press. Her second...

What's delighting you fam. Last week, we talked with Tito Sauce about discipline, death, and, of course, delight. For this week's convo, Uncle Ross brought in for us "The Dog" by Gerald Stern. Listen and weep. ROSS GAY is the author of three books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. His collection of essays,The Book of Delights, was released...

O dearest delights—welcom! After a quick chat about the virtues of book contests, the crew sat down for this week's episode with Ross Gay in a quirky, quaint Portland hotel. While sipping Spoiling Orchards, Uncle Ross chopped it up with on the performance of delight, the practice of tenderness, and gardening—among other things. ROSS GAY is the author of three books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics...

What's good, dearest homies. After last week's riveting conversation with Geffrey Davis about family and ethics, language and tone, we dove into "Goodnight" by Li-Young Lee—a poem that will properly mess you up. You've been warned. GEFFREY DAVIS is the author of Night Angler (BOA Editions), winner of the 2018 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, and Revising the Storm ​(BOA Editions), winner of the 2013 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. ​A native of the Pacific Northwest, Davis...

  Dearest beloved—you're back just in time to hear us chop it up about the ethics of writing (and publishing) work about family. And have a beautiful chat with beautiful poet Geffrey Davis. GEFFREY DAVIS is the author of Night Angler (BOA Editions), winner of the 2018 James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets, and Revising the Storm ​(BOA Editions), winner of the 2013 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. ​A native of the Pacific Northwest, Davis lives with his family in Fayetteville,...

What's good fam. If you're caught up, you know we sat with Casandra and discussed grief, community, obsessions, and writing across genres. This week, she brought in a lovely poem "Birds of Illegal Trade" by Benjamin Garcia, and, here, you can hear us geek out over it! CASANDRA LÓPEZ is a Chicana and California Indian (Cahuilla/Tongva/Luiseño) writer who’s received support from CantoMundo, Bread Loaf and Jackstraw. She’s been selected for residencies with the School of Advanced Research and...

Hello lovely people. This week we sat and drank with Casandra López. She schooled us obsessions, building a poetry community, grief, and the difference between writing poetry and writing fiction. Y'all don't want to miss this. Trust.  CASANDRA LÓPEZ is a Chicana and California Indian (Cahuilla/Tongva/Luiseño) writer who’s received support from CantoMundo, Bread Loaf and Jackstraw. She’s been selected for residencies with the School of Advanced Research and Hedgebrook. Her chapbook, Where...

Welcome back, lovelies! Last week, Rick Barot blew our minds with his thoughts on how poetry connects to everything from Spanish paintings to runway models. This week, Rick reads us the poem "Given to Rust" by Vievee Francis, and we delight in how this poem invites us to think about lineation, survival, authorial intent v creation, and Emily Dickinson.  RICK BAROT was born in the Philippines, grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and attended Wesleyan University and The Writers’ Workshop at...

What's good friends. This week we get down with getting back into the swing of "the poetry world." We also sat down with Rick Barot and got taken all the way to school. He dropped so much knowledge on art and the body and the state of contemporary American poetry. Hurry up and listen already! RICK BAROT was born in the Philippines, grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and attended Wesleyan University and The Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. He has published three books of poetry...

O dearest listeners, this week’s episode is a banger. The last time you heard us, we chopped it up with our homie, the immaculate Quenton Baker, about erasure, rigor, rap, and more. This week, Quenton brought in an underapprecated Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem “Riders to a Blood-Red Wrath”, and, well, we all just marvel at it for a while. QUENTON BAKER is a poet, educator, and Cave Canem fellow. His current focus is anti-blackness and the afterlife of slavery. His work has appeared in Jubilat,...

QUENTON BAKER is a poet, educator, and Cave Canem fellow. His current focus is anti-blackness and the afterlife of slavery. His work has appeared in Jubilat, Vinyl, Apogee, Poetry Northwest, Pinwheel, and Cura and in the anthologies Measure for Measure: An Anthology of Poetic Meters and It Was Written: Poetry Inspired by Hip-Hop. He has an MFA in Poetry from the University of Southern Maine and is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. He is a 2017 Jack Straw Fellow and a former Made at Hugo...

We're here! Last week, we were chatting it up with Nabila Lovelace about the South, the Conversation Literary Festival, and, of course, violence and intimacy. This week, Nabila brought in "On Kindness" by Aracelis Girmay. Hear her read it and be healed.   NABILA LOVELACE is a born and raised Queens native, as well as a first generation American. In her debut collection, Sons of Achilles, Nabila attempts to examine the liminal space between violence and intimacy. Her work has been published or...