The Poetry Magazine Podcast
This podcast invites listeners on an audio journey into and beyond the pages of Poetry magazine. Poets share the surprises, confusions, and desires that keep them writing, offering an intimate look at the creative process. Each episode features conversations with poets. The show is produced by Rachel James.
Episodes
Wake, Butterfly: What Else Is True? with Marie Howe
In the final episode of season 2, Marie Howe invites listeners to find what’s praisable. Matsuo Bashō wrote:Wake, butterfly— it’s late, we’ve miles to go together.Poetry magazine presents Wake, Butterfly, a series of intimate portraits that invite listeners to keep creating. The series is produced by Rachel James with sound design by Axel Kacoutié.Here’s an edited version of Marie Howe’s prompt:Co
Wake, Butterfly: Exorcise the Grief with Dawn Lundy Martin
Dawn Lundy Martin invites listeners to notice where the grief resides, then let it go.Matsuo Bashō wrote:Wake, butterfly—it’s late, we’ve milesto go together.Poetry magazine presents Wake, Butterfly, a series of intimate portraits that invite listeners to keep creating. The series is produced by Rachel James with sound design by Axel Kacoutié.Here’s an edited version of Dawn Lundy Martin’s prompt:
Wake, Butterfly: Find the Water with Manny Loley
Manny Loley invites listeners to make an offering.Matsuo Bashō wrote:Wake, butterfly— it’s late, we’ve miles to go together.Poetry magazine presents Wake, Butterfly, a series of intimate portraits that invite listeners to keep creating. The series is produced by Rachel James with sound design by Axel Kacoutié._____Here’s an edited version of Manny Loley’s prompt:Create a poem in four steps. First:
Wake, Butterfly: Here Is What I Did with My Body with Maggie Nelson
Maggie Nelson invites listeners to productively disassociate.Matsuo Bashō wrote:Wake, butterfly— it's late, we've miles to go together.Poetry magazine presents Wake, Butterfly, a series of intimate portraits that invite listeners to keep creating. The series is produced by Rachel James with sound design by Axel Kacoutié._____Here’s an edited version of Maggie Nelson’s prompt:Write on a piece of pa
Wake, Butterfly: Black Swallowtail with Nick Makoha
Nick Makoha invites listeners to build a cocoon, then break free.Matsuo Bashō wrote:Wake, butterfly— it’s late, we’ve miles to go together.Poetry magazine presents Wake, Butterfly, a series of intimate portraits that invite listeners to keep creating. The series is produced by Rachel James with sound design by Axel Kacoutié._____Here’s an edited version of Nick Makoha’s prompt:Part one: the cocoon
Wake, Butterfly: You Are Living in a Poem with Naomi Shihab Nye
In the first episode of season 2, Naomi Shihab Nye invites readers to develop a ritual.Matsuo Bashō wrote:Wake, butterfly— it's late, we've miles to go together.Poetry magazine presents Wake, Butterfly, a series of intimate portraits that invite listeners to keep creating. The series is produced by Rachel James with sound design by Axel Kacoutié._____Here’s an edited version of Naomi Shihab Nye’s
Wake, Butterfly: Meditation (Arrival) with Saretta Morgan & Bo Hwang
In the sixth and final episode of this season, Saretta Morgan and Bo Hwang invite listeners to create a guided meditation that allows for arrival._____Matsuo Bashō wrote:Wake, butterfly— it’s late, we've miles to go together. Poetry magazine presents Wake, Butterfly, a series of intimate portraits that invite listeners to keep creating. The series is produced by Rachel James with sound design by A
Wake, Butterfly: Game with Amelia Bande
In the fifth episode, Amelia Bande invites listeners to play a game._____Matsuo Bashō wrote:Wake, butterfly—it’s late, we’ve milesto go together.Poetry magazine presents Wake, Butterfly, a series of intimate portraits that invite listeners to keep creating. The series is produced by Rachel James with sound design by Axel Kacoutié._____Here’s an edited version of Bande’s prompt:Think about a word.
Wake, Butterfly: Protest (& Antidote) with Pamela Sneed
In the fourth episode, Pamela Sneed invites listeners to create a protest poem and an antidote._____Matsuo Bashō wrote:Wake, butterfly—it’s late, we’ve milesto go together.Poetry magazine presents Wake, Butterfly, a series of intimate portraits that invite listeners to keep creating. The series is produced by Rachel James with sound design by Axel Kacoutié._____Here’s an edited version of Sneed’s
Wake, Butterfly: Plant with Mei-mei Berssenbrugge
In the third episode, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge invites listeners to observe a plant and receive its messages._____Matsuo Bashō wrote:Wake, butterfly—it’s late, we’ve milesto go together.Poetry magazine presents Wake, Butterfly, a series of intimate portraits that invite listeners to keep creating. The series is produced by Rachel James with sound design by Axel Kacoutié._____Here’s an edited version
Wake, Butterfly: Beyond (So What) with Edward Salem
In the second episode, Edward Salem invites listeners to find what’s beyond “so what.”_____Matsuo Bashō wrote:Wake, butterfly—it’s late, we’ve milesto go together.Poetry magazine presents Wake, Butterfly, a series of intimate portraits that invite listeners to keep creating. The series is produced by Rachel James with sound design by Axel Kacoutié._____Here’s an edited version of Salem’s prompt:Wr
Wake, Butterfly: Orb Weaver with Gabrielle Calvocoressi
In the first episode, Gabrielle Calvocoressi invites listeners to make a web._____Matsuo Bashō wrote:Wake, butterfly—it’s late, we’ve milesto go together.Poetry magazine presents Wake, Butterfly, a series of intimate portraits that invite listeners to keep creating. The series is produced by Rachel James with sound design by Axel Kacoutié._____Here’s an edited version of Calvocoressi’s prompt: Mak
Kiki Petrosino and Cindy Juyoung Ok on Crestfallenness, Cookbooks, and More
This week, Cindy Juyoung Ok speaks with Kiki Petrosino, who has published five elegant and remarkable books, all with Sarabande, including the memoir Bright (2022) and the poetry collection White Blood: A Lyric of Virginia (2020). Petrosino speaks about crestfallenness and her new essay in the October issue of Poetry, “On Crestfallenness: A Pilgrim, Not a Tractor,” which appeared as part of the Ha
Kimiko Hahn and Cindy Juyoung Ok on Mentoring Your Younger Poet-Self and More
This week, Cindy Juyoung Ok speaks with Kimiko Hahn, who won the 2023 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from the Poetry Foundation, and who is featured in the October 2023 issue of Poetry. Hahn talks about how her work has changed over the years, including her current love of form, and how she’s been mentoring her younger self while putting together her forthcoming new and selected, The Ghost Forest (W.W. N
Cathy Park Hong and Cindy Juyoung Ok on Shit Moms and More
This week, Cindy Juyong Ok talks with Cathy Park Hong, who has published three volumes of poetry and the collection of essays Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Hong introduces us to a new selection from “Spring and All,” featured in the September 2023 issue of Poetry. She discusses how feeling like a “shit mom” during the early days of the pa
Lena Khalaf Tuffaha and Cindy Juyoung Ok on the Renowned and Rebellious Palestinian Poet Zakaria Mohammed
On this week’s episode, Cindy Juyoung Ok speaks with poet, essayist, and translator Lena Khalaf Tuffaha about the life and work of the renowned Palestinian poet and writer Zakaria Mohammed. Born in Nablus, Palestine, Mohammed was a freelance journalist, editor, and poet who authored nine volumes of poetry. In 1994, after twenty-five years in exile, he returned to his homeland to live in Ramallah w
Kevin Young and Cindy Juyoung Ok on All the Things Poetry Does
This week, Cindy Juyoung Ok speaks with Kevin Young, who has authored or edited over twenty books including the poetry collection Stones (Knopf, 2021) and the nonfiction investigation Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News (Graywolf Press, 2017). In addition to directing the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, Young is a
Richie Hofmann and Cindy Juyoung Ok on Erotic Turmoil and More
This week, Cindy Juyoung Ok talks with Richie Hofmann, whose latest book is A Hundred Lovers (Knopf, 2022), about the ancient tale of Hermias of Iasos which informs Hofmann’s poem “Dolphin.” The poem appears in the July/August issue of Poetry alongside “Breed Me,” and we’ll hear both on today’s episode. Hofmann and Ok reveal they are both “Cavafy heads,” and Hofmann discusses the influence of Robe
torrin a. greathouse and Cindy Juyoung Ok on Form as Open-Source Software and Being Loud on the Page
This week, Cindy Juyoung Ok talks with torrin a. greathouse, a transgender cripple-punk poet and essayist who is the author of the forthcoming DEED (Wesleyan University Press), as well as Wound from the Mouth of a Wound (Milkweed Editions, 2020). Ok and greathouse get into poetic forms—which they liken to open-source software—particularly the beloved “burning haibun” form that greathouse created a
Douglas Kearney and Cindy Juyoung Ok on Scrabble, Spite, and “Dintelligibility”
This week, Cindy Juyoung Ok speaks with Douglas Kearney, who joins from Saint Paul, Minnesota. Kearney is the author of eight books of poetry, prose, and libretti, and his poems are often highly distinctive both on and off the page. Today’s conversation begins with spite and Scrabble, which Kearney writes about in his new essay in the July/August issue of Poetry, a continuation of the “Hard Feelin
Elisa Gabbert and Cindy Juyoung Ok on Self-Pity, Death, and the Internet
This week, Cindy Juyoung Ok speaks with Elisa Gabbert, who joins us from Providence, Rhode Island. Gabbert is the author of six, soon to be seven, collections of essays and poems, including Normal Distance (Soft Skull Press, 2022) and the forthcoming Any Person Is the Only Self (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024). Ok writes, “For Elisa, seemingly no field, no form, no fondness, is exempt from her th
Omar Sakr and Cindy Juyoung Ok on Queer Use, Cynicism, and Falling in Love
This week, new host Cindy Juyoung Ok speaks with Omar Sakr, who joins us from Sydney, Australia. Sakr tends to the in between, writing prose and poetry, and moving between poetic and political urges, and through queerness and diasporic experience. On this episode, we spend time with a series from Sakr’s newest collection, Non-Essential Work (UQP, 2023). The series, “On Finding the Prophet Muhammad
Donika Kelly and Cindy Juyoung Ok on Desire Paths, Therapy, and Pleasure
This week, new host Cindy Juyoung Ok speaks with Donika Kelly. The author of two poetry collections, The Renunciations and Bestiary, Kelly teaches creative writing at the University of Iowa. Rita Dove called The Renunciations, “poetry of the highest order,” and Nikki Finney, who selected Kelly’s first book for the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, wrote, “Bestiary’s lesson is complicated and also simple. L
Cynthia Cruz and Charif Shanahan on Protecting Your Feral-ness and More
This week, Charif Shanahan speaks with Cynthia Cruz, who joins us from Berlin, Germany. Born on a US military base in Wiesbaden and raised in Northern California, she is currently pursuing a PhD at the European Graduate School where her research focuses on Hegel and madness. Cruz is the author of seven poetry collections, as well as two collections of critical work, including The Melancholia of Cl
Brian Tierney and Charif Shanahan on Poetry as a Verb, Truth vs Fact, and Love
This week, Charif Shanahan continues asking the Big Questions, this time with Brian Tierney, who joins us from Oakland, California. They get into poetry as a way to pursue truth, living in a time of ruin, and more. We hear poems from Tierney’s debut collection, Rise and Float (Milkweed Editions, 2022), as well as poems from the May issue of Poetry. In keeping true to Tierney’s complex poetics, thi
Marie Howe and Charif Shanahan on Ecopoetics, Spirituality, and Losing Oneself
This week, Charif Shanahan asks Marie Howe the Big Questions about writing into the unknown, losing oneself in poems, spirituality, the ineffable, teaching and mentorship, and more. Howe is the author of four volumes of poetry, most recently Magdalene (W.W. Norton, 2017), which imagines the biblical figure of Mary Magdalene as a woman who embodies the spiritual and sensual, alive in a contemporary
CAConrad and Hoa Nguyen on Crystals, Crows, and Cannibalizing Poems
This April’s issue of Poetry celebrates the 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize recipients. In previous years, one poet was awarded the prize. This year, in honor of the 110th anniversary of the magazine, eleven poets were selected—a nod to the eleven decades of the magazine’s existence. This week, we hear from a Ruth Lilly Prize winner who’s worked with the ancient technologies of poetry and ritual sinc
Arthur Sze and Forrest Gander on Silence, the Importance of Blank Pages, and How Every Poem Written Shines a Light on Every Other Poem
This April’s issue of Poetry celebrates the 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize recipients. In previous years, one poet was awarded the prize. This year, in honor of the 110th anniversary of the magazine, eleven poets were selected—a nod to the eleven decades of the magazine’s existence. This week, we hear from one of these winners, someone who’s been illuminating a way forward for poetry for over fifty
Nam Le and Lindsay Garbutt on Language as an Ecology of Violence and Corruption, the Pain of Being a Writer, and the Value of Uncertainty
On this episode, Lindsay Garbutt speaks with Nam Le, whose debut book, the short story collection The Boat, was translated into fourteen languages and received over a dozen major awards. We hear poems from his much anticipated first poetry collection, 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem, out from Knopf this year. The book is incredibly polyvocal, unpredictable, and intimate, yet also politically
KB Brookins and Holly Amos on Systemic Freedom, the Power of Insistence, and What People Don’t Understand about Texas
This week, Holly Amos speaks with KB Brookins, a writer, cultural worker, and artist living in Austin, TX, and the author of the chapbook How to Identify Yourself with a Wound, as well as the forthcoming full-length collection Freedom House. Brookins talks about the power of insisting on their transness, getting to know the plants in their neighborhood, being a “career Texan,” and more. We also ha
Joanna Klink and Holly Amos on psychic longing, attention and attunement, and their differing childhood dinner tables
This week, Holly Amos speaks with Joanna Klink, who joins us from Austin, Texas. Klink is the author of five books of poetry, most recently The Nightfields, and she shares some new poems that appear in the February 2023 issue of Poetry. If described directly, the poems feature the mundane, yet they carry a deep sense of unease. Amos states, “The unease is gorgeous, and the gorgeous is uneasy.” Spe
Charif Shanahan and Adrian Matejka on the shifting of identity, oneness, and centering love
This week, Adrian Matejka sits down with poet and guest editor of the magazine, Charif Shanahan, to talk about oneness, the shifting of identity, and centering love. Born in the Bronx to an Irish-American father and a Moroccan mother, Shanahan’s poems meditate on mixed-race identity, queer desire, time, mortality, and the legacies of anti-Blackness in the US and abroad. Shanahan shares how a class
Building a Sustainable Writing Practice with Stefania Gomez, Maggie Queeney, and Holly Amos, Plus More Writing Prompts
For the month of January, we’re focusing on what keeps us writing. How do we refresh our writing habits and routines? How do poets sustain their writing practices? Today, Holly Amos enlists the help of poets and educators Stefania Gomez and Maggie Queeney. Stefania and Maggie both work in the Poetry Foundation library, and they share some of their inspirations, tips, challenges, and resources. Hol
Tishani Doshi and Holly Amos on Shape Poetry and Loving the Process, PLUS a Writing Prompt
For the month of January, we’re focusing on what keeps us writing. How do poets sustain their writing practices? Are there generative tips and tricks we can learn from them? Today, Holly Amos enlists the help of poet, writer, and dancer Tishani Doshi, whose essay in the December 2022 issue of Poetry is about shape or concrete poetry. Doshi lives in Tamil Nadu, India, and is joining us today from A
Esther Belin and Tacey M. Atsitty on Monsters
This week, Esther Belin speaks with Diné poet Tacey M. Atsitty. Atsitty’s debut full-length collection, Rain Scald, was published in 2018, and Arthur Sze described the book as filled with a poetry “where rain, expected to be nourishing, is also a torrent, burning with sensation.” Today, we’ll hear two new poems by Atsitty, “Things to Do with a Monster” and “Lady Birds’ Evening Meetings” from the D
Esther Belin and Diamond Forde on poetry as self-definition, self-reclamation, and biomythography
This week, Esther Belin speaks with Diamond Forde, who joins us from Asheville, North Carolina, which she describes as a sort of homecoming. One of five recent recipients of the 2022 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships, Forde’s debut collection, Mother Body, is described as “an intersectional exploration of the trauma and agency held within a body defined by its potential t
Ashley M. Jones and Marcus Wicker on Afrofuturism, OutKast, and Living in the American South
This week, Ashley M. Jones speaks with Marcus Wicker about a project he began early in the pandemic while looking for sources of calm in books and music. Many of these were space-influenced—OutKast’s album ATLiens, Robert Hayden’s poem “American Journal”—and Wicker began exploring what an extraterrestrial who lands in Atlanta in 2020 would think of America and the way humans treat one another. We’
Su Cho and Tariq Luthun on Joy, Apocalypse, Crying, and Pokémon
On this week’s episode, Su Cho speaks with Tariq Luthun, a Palestinian writer and community organizer based in metro Detroit. Luthun is the author of How the Water Holds Me, out from Bull City Press in 2020, and we hear his poem, “I Want to Die,” from the November 2022 issue of Poetry. Cho and Luthun delight us with a brief Pokémon sing-along and discuss hiding bad grades as children in the Midwes
Taneum Bambrick and Su Cho on Intimacy and Poetry
This week, Su Cho sits down with Taneum Bambrick to talk about two of her favorite things: poetry and intimacy. Bambrick is the author of Intimacies, Received, recently out from Copper Canyon Press, and Vantage. Their chapbook, Reservoir, was selected by Ocean Vuong for the Yemassee Chapbook Prize. Vuong wrote, “This is poetry that encompasses, that let's no one turn away.” That’s exactly how Cho
Nikky Finney, Ross Gay, and Adrian Matejka on Cataloging Time with Artifacts and Heartbeats
This week, Poetry’s new editor, Adrian Matejka, sits down with Nikky Finney and Ross Gay for a joy-filled conversation about time and how we catalog it with artifacts, heartbeats, and, of course, poems.
Nikky Finney was born by the sea in South Carolina and raised during the Civil Rights, Black Power, and Black Arts Movements, and we’ll hear from her most recent collection, Love Child's Hotbed o
The Life and Poetry of Carolyn Marie Rodgers, with Nina Rodgers Gordon, Andrew Peart, and Srikanth Reddy
Delve into the life and poetry of one of the chief architects of the Black Arts Movement in Chicago, Carolyn Marie Rodgers (1940-2010), with a very special guest: Carolyn’s sister, Nina Rodgers Gordon.
Born in Bronzeville, Carolyn Marie Rodgers cofounded Third World Press, which remains the largest independent Black-owned press in the United States. Rodgers’s poetry is widely anthologized, and in
Esther Belin in Conversation with Beth Piatote
This week, Esther Belin and Beth Piatote map out some unique qualities of the Navajo and Nez Perce languages. Piatote is a writer, scholar, and member of the Nez Perce nation, and she offers insight into the embodied experience of language revitalization. We hear her poem “1855,” which borrows language from—and interrupts—Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” The year 1855 marks both the publication of
Esther Belin in Conversation with A. Van Jordan
This week, Esther Belin speaks with A. Van Jordan about his forthcoming book, When I Waked, I Cried to Dream Again. The title comes from The Tempest, and the book celebrates Black youth while complicating contemporary understandings of Shakespearian characters and influence. Jordan shares two poems from that forthcoming book: “Airsoft” and “Such Sweet Thunder.” “Airsoft” begins with the epigraph,
Esther Belin in Conversation with Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach
This week, Esther Belin speaks with Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach. Dasbach emigrated to the United States from Ukraine as a Jewish refugee when she was six years old. Her scholarly research focuses on contemporary American poetry related to the Holocaust, and pays particular attention to atrocities in the former Soviet territories. Her first book, The Many Names for Mother, hovers around intergeneratio
Esther Berlin in Conversation with Toni Giselle Stuart
This week, Esther Belin speaks with Toni Giselle Stuart, a South African poet, performer, and facilitator. Belin says, “When I first heard Stuart’s poetry, I was moved by her use of sound and breath to create tension and emphasis. She works against fractionating the whole person in ways that offer healing.” We hear two poems by Stuart, “maghrib” and “midnight,” from the July/August 2022 issue of P
Esther Belin in Conversation with Allison Akootchook Warden
This week, Esther Belin speaks with Allison Akootchook Warden, an interdisciplinary artist from the Alaskan Native village of Kaktovik. They discuss the practice of acknowledging land before events and Warden’s poem “we acknowledge ourselves,” which opens the Land Acknowledgments special issue of Poetry magazine. Warden’s writing process for this poem was incredibly collaborative, involving many m
Esther Belin in Conversation with Manny Loley
This week, Esther Belin speaks with Manny Loley, a Diné poet and storyteller who writes in both the Navajo and English languages. Belin and Loley talk about stories as medicine, the unique poetics of the Navajo language and the meanings and musicality that don’t translate into English, and the importance and industriousness of queer people in Diné creation stories and in the Navajo Nation today. L
Esther Belin in Conversation with Patricia Jabbeh Wesley
This week, guest editor Esther Belin speaks with poet and scholar Patricia Jabbeh Wesley. Although Belin’s and Wesley’s homelands are far from each other—Wesley’s in Liberia and Belin’s in Diné bikéyah of the Navajo people—they share a deep commitment to their roles as storytellers, and their writing bears witness to the effects of war and invasion in their homelands. Wesley, who now lives in Alto
Mini Episode: Esther Belin Shares Two Writing Prompts
In our very first mini episode, Esther Belin shares two writing prompts to help propel you to a place that comforts and aligns you back to center. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Esther Belin in Conversation with Orlando White
This week, Esther Belin and Orlando White talk about Diné thought and poetics, sound and breath in Diné bizaad, the Navajo language, and what it means, as Indigenous writers, to use the English language as a vessel to integrate tribal concepts. They also discuss one of White’s one-word poems, “Water.” Although the poem is only six letters long, there was barely enough time to unpack its complexity
Srikanth Reddy with Liesl Olson and Ed Roberson on Margaret Danner’s “The Elevator Man Adheres to Form”
This week, we return to the little-known world of Margaret Danner with guest editor Srikanth Reddy, historian Liesl Olson, and poet Ed Roberson. Olson and Roberson were the people who first introduced Reddy to Margaret Danner’s poetry. Olson is the Director of Chicago Studies at the Newberry Library, the building where Margaret Danner worked as an editor of Poetry magazine from 1951 to 1956. Rober
Srikanth Reddy in Conversation with Josué Coy Dick, Juan Coy Tení, and Jesse Nathan
Today we explore the Popol Vuh, the foundational sacred narrative of the K’iche people. This Mayan epic tells the story of creation, the role of the gods in human affairs, and the history of migration and settlement in Central America up to the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century. The story of the Popol Vuh is pretty amazing itself. It was passed down from generation to generation for hundre
Srikanth Reddy in Conversation with James Shea
This week, Srikanth Reddy talks shit, quite literally, with the poet and translator James Shea. Shea recently co-translated, with Ikuho Amano, a little-known essay by the Japanese poet Masaoka Shiki titled “Haiku on Shit.” It’s a surprisingly serious, if not a little deadpan, essay about art and reality, beauty and ugliness, and poop and poetry. One favorite that’s shared in the episode is this on
Srikanth Reddy in Conversation with Don Mee Choi
Srikanth Reddy first encountered the complex poetic world of Don Mee Choi as a translator of avant-garde Korean poetry before reading Choi’s own poetry. As a poet, Choi invites readers into her personal history—which is also the history of her father and of war. Even if you haven’t read Choi’s poetry, you’ve probably seen the work of her father—a photojournalist who filmed much of the news footage
Srikanth Reddy in Conversation with Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis
When Srikanth Reddy was reading about Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis’s work as a curator at the Smithsonian, he was surprised to learn about Davis’s interest in ghosts. This week on the podcast, Reddy speaks with Davis about ghosts and “ghost practice,” and about the unusual way Davis’s novel is being haunted by other writers. They also talk about the Center for Refugee Poetics, founded by Davis with the
Srikanth Reddy and CM Burroughs on Margaret Danner
This week, guest editor Srikanth Reddy and poet CM Burroughs dive into the world of Margaret Danner. Danner was a contemporary of Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes, whom she knew personally, but she never achieved the recognition she deserved in her lifetime. If you look for Danner’s poetry in your local bookstore, you won’t find anything in print. Recently, Burroughs connected with Danner, a p
Srikanth Reddy in Conversation with Jay Hopler and Kimberly Johnson
When Jay Hopler received a terminal cancer diagnosis in 2017, he was told he had two years to live. He thought, “I have to write a book in twenty-four months.” We’ll hear two poems from that book today. Still Life, out in June from McSweeney’s, is a “violently funny but playfully serious fulfillment of what Arseny Tarkovsky called the fundamental purpose of art: a way to prepare for death, be it f
Suzi F. Garcia in Conversation with Jennifer Shyue
This week, Suzi F. Garcia sits down with Jennifer Shyue, a translator focusing on contemporary Cuban and Asian-Peruvian writers. We hear two poems by Julia Wong Kcomt, whose work Shyue has been translating for the past three years. Kcomt was born into a Chinese Peruvian family in 1965, and although Shyue was born in the US decades later, they share many obsessions. Kcomt traveled from an early age
Suzi F. Garcia in Conversation with Ada Limón
This week, Suzi F. Garcia speaks with one of her literary sheroes, Ada Limón. They talk about the importance of seeing but also being seen, the complexity of avoiding a trauma-porn poetics, and naps as part of the creative process.
We hear two poems from Limón’s newest book, The Hurting Kind, including “Foaling Season” from the February 2022 issue of Poetry. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz comp
Suzi F. Garcia in Conversation with Kay Ulanday Barrett
This week, Suzi F. Garcia had the honor of speaking with Kay Ulanday Barrett, a self-described queer brown Filipinx disabled transgender boi. Barrett is one of the most generous people we have ever encountered, no doubt due to their commitment to care work—which is another way of saying his commitment to collective survival. Their essay “To Hold the Grief & the Growth: On Crip Ecologies” in the Ja
Suzi F. Garcia in Conversation with Joy Harjo
Today on the podcast: Joy Harjo. Harjo is the nation's first Native American poet laureate and a playwright, musician, author, and editor. Not everyone knows that Harjo also started playing saxophone at the age of forty. Today, we have the pleasure of hearing from her new album, I Pray for My Enemies, which features musicians from some of the biggest bands of the nineties grunge scene—including R.
Suzi F. Garcia in Conversation with Paul Hlava Ceballos
In today’s episode, Suzi F. Garcia sits down with poet Paul Hlava Ceballos to discuss writing against monoculture. They also dig into the history of banana workers in Ecuador, propaganda, and the art of citation. Ceballos reads from his forthcoming book, banana [ ], which includes images and a mix of handwritten and typed text. If you’d like to read along while you listen, excerpts of the book-len
Suzi F. Garcia in Conversation with Taylor Johnson
For guest editor Suzi F. Garcia, getting to know Taylor Johnson’s poetry was a highlight of 2021. Garcia says Johnson’s debut book, Inheritance, absolutely blew her away. The book is described as a “black sensorium, a chapel of color and sound that speaks to spaciousness, surveillance, identity, desire, and transcendence.” Fred Moten said about the book: “I’m singing. I’m singing with them, about
Su Cho in Conversation with Gabrielle Bates and Jennifer S. Cheng
This week, Gabrielle Bates and Jennifer Cheng read from their epistolary exchange, “So We Must Meet Apart,” published in the November 2021 issue of Poetry. Hosted by Su Cho, this conversation unabashedly feels through infertility, what no one tells you about giving birth, our fraught relationships to perfection, the experience of being in a body, and how distance can create even more possibilities
Su Cho in Conversation with Kimberly Blaeser, Molly McGlennen, and Margaret Noodin
This week, a celebration of collaboration. Su Cho had the honor of speaking with poets and scholars Kimberly Blaeser, Molly McGlennen, and Margaret Noodin. They talk about how language is a kind of time travel; it helps us preserve our memories, but also puts us in conversation with our ancestors and larger histories. You’ll hear from their collaborative poem in the November issue of Poetry, writt
Holly Amos in Conversation with Su Cho
This week, Holly Amos speaks with poet Su Cho. Cho guest edited the magazine and hosted the podcast for the last few months. They talk about loneliness, anger as a secret weapon, and food! It’s all about food really. Cho reveals her love of Cool Whip on white bread, and she makes Amos cry—though those two things are totally unrelated. We hear several poems from The Symmetry of Fish, Cho’s first bo
Su Cho and E.J. Koh in Conversation
This week, poet, memoirist, and translator E.J. Koh on the untranslatability of Han. “Han is very difficult for me to define,” Su Cho agrees. “The dictionary definition is ‘an internalized feeling of deep grief, regret, anger, and sorrow, which is felt by all Koreans,’ but this is complicated because what does it mean to define an entire country by its trauma? And how can those of us who feel the
Su Cho and Gabrielle Calvocoressi in Conversation
This week, Gabrielle Calvocoressi talks about their series of “Miss you” poems. The poems exist as a kind of spell or enchantment, a way to create an actual space for the dead to inhabit. We also hear the incredible poem, “My Perimenopausal Body Cistern Disappointing How Surprising.” Gabrielle was nervous to share the poem but read it anyway, and how lucky we are. This conversation holds a lot of
Su Cho and Eugenia Leigh in Conversation
This week, Su Cho had the honor of speaking with Eugenia Leigh. Cho says reading Leigh’s work changed her: “I was a shy poet, and reading her work emboldened me to say what I needed to say.” They talk about Leigh’s research into attachment theory, the authentic self, healing, hindsight, and how we can accept our past selves. Note: This episode mentions child abuse.
Eugenia Leigh reads “My Whole L
Su Cho in Conversation with Marianne Chan and Lisa Low
This week, a conversation on worldbuilding. Su Cho hosts a roundtable of sorts on what it’s like growing up Asian American in white suburbia with poets Marianne Chan and Lisa Low. They also get into armpit hair, sad mom poems, and how motherhood means having a constant audience–whether we want one or not.
Marianne Chan and Lisa Low read poems from the September 2021 issue of Poetry. Hosted by Sim
Fred Sasaki Interviews Ashley M. Jones
This week, Fred Sasaki had the very special honor of interviewing his friend and colleague, Ashley M. Jones. Jones guest edited the late spring and summer issues of Poetry magazine during a remarkable time in the publication’s history. In this conversation, we hear Jones read from her new book, Reparations Now! Sasaki asks, what are reparations and what do they mean? When did that idea materialize
Ashley M. Jones and Jacqueline Allen Trimble in Conversation
When Ashley M. Jones first heard the poetry of Jacqueline Allen Trimble, Jones says she heard something “Southern, unapologetically Black, fierce, sweet, and strong.” This week, Jones and Trimble talk about Alabama, activism, and the under-recognized power of historically Black colleges and universities in America. You’ll hear Trimble’s poems “This Is Why People Burning Down Fast Food Joints and W
Ashley M. Jones and JoAnn Balingit in Conversation
This week, Ashley M. Jones and JoAnn Balingit talk about where poetry lives in the face of loss and grief, and how that intimate place can be shared. Balingit’s intimate approach to poetry has had to consider a wider audience during her tenure as poet laureate of Delaware. For example, when Balingit received a request from the Philippine embassy to write a poem, she said yes—but not without pause.
Ashley M. Jones and Donna Aza Weir-Soley in Conversation
This week, Ashley M. Jones speaks with one of the most important mentors in her life: poet and scholar Dr. Donna Aza Weir-Soley. They speak about protest and power, Weir-Soley’s mentor Audre Lorde, and the legacies they inhabit and continue as Black poets writing toward liberation. Weir-Soley met Audre Lorde as a student at Hunter College, and came to run the Audre Lorde Women’s Poetry Center. Tod
Ashley M. Jones and Cathy Linh Che in Conversation
Ashley M. Jones is interested in the way that poetry can bring loved ones back to life. In this week’s episode, Jones sits down with Cathy Linh Che to talk about resurrections on the page. After fleeing Vietnam as refugees, Che’s parents worked as extras on the film Apocalypse Now. Jones and Che talk about the revisionist cinematic history of the film, and the uncanny family story which serves as
Ashley M. Jones and Sidney Clifton in Conversation
One thing Ashley M. Jones knows to be absolutely true is that her work is made possible by the poetry and spirit of Lucille Clifton. This week, Jones speaks with Sidney Clifton, one of Lucille Clifton’s daughters. Sidney Clifton is the President of the Clifton House, a new endeavour to transform her childhood home in Baltimore into a gathering place for writers and artists. They speak about mother
Ashley M. Jones and Ashlee Haze in Conversation
Ashley M. Jones says she has never met an Ashley she hasn’t liked. This week, the feeling was mutual. Jones caught up with Ashlee Haze, a force of a poet in every sense of the word. Haze’s poem, “temple,” is featured in this month’s issue of Poetry, along with a video of the poem, which you can check out on our website. Jones and Haze talk about the South, its memory, and the ways in which the wor
Kevin Simmonds and Anthony Davis in Conversation
This week we visit the opera. Writer and musician Kevin Simmonds and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Anthony Davis discuss Black sound, Black church, and the future of opera. Davis has been making operas rooted in Black history for over thirty years. X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X, premiered in 1986. Today you’ll hear from X, and his opera Amistad, which revisits the story of the Middle Passag
André Naffis-Sahely and LeAnne Howe in Conversation
This week, we hear from one of the co-editors of the first historically comprehensive Native poetry anthology – yes the very first. It’s called When The Light of The World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry. It was edited by Poet Laureate Joy Harjo with Jennifer Elise Foerster and LeAnne Howe.
Organized by geographical region, each section begins with
Ashley M. Jones and Faisal Mohyuddin in Conversation
Poetry can be a great connector. It can connect us to our bodies and our histories. For Ashley M. Jones, poetry is also a way to connect with faith. In today’s episode, Jones sits down with the poet Faisal Mohyuddin, whose poem “Allah Castles” appears in the May issue of Poetry, the first under Jones’s guest editorship. Mohyuddin and Jones explore faith, the things that move them into action, and
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