Poetry Koan

In which I talk to myself about Mary Ruefle’s sadness, social media, our inner interlocutors, and the decision to deliver electric shocks to one's own gonads rather than sit in a room quietly listening to the mind’s chatter. “Gray sadness is the sadness of paper clips and rubber bands, of rain and squirrels and chewing gum, ointments and unguents and movie theaters. Gray sadness is the most common...

In this episode of Poetry Koan, Richard Scott prescribes Practising by Marie Howe which you can read here:  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/54778/practicing.  RICHARD SCOTT was born in London in 1981. His poems have appeared widely in magazines and anthologies including Poetry Review, Poetry London, PN Review, Swimmers, The Poetry of Sex (Penguin) and Butt Magazine. He has be...

This week in the pharmacy we have the poet  SANDRA SIMONDS ! Sandra Simonds  is the author of six books of poetry:  Orlando , (Wave Books, 2018),  Further Problems with Pleasure , winner of the 2015 Akron Poetry Prize from the University of Akron Press,  Steal It Back  (Saturnalia Books, 2015),  The Sonnets  (Bloof Books, 2014),  Mother Was a Tragic Gir...

This week in the pharmacy we have the poet RONNA BLOOM prescribing poems for  ONLINE DATING BLUES ! Ronna is a poet, speaker, psychotherapist, and author of six books. Her poems have been broadcast on the CBC, displayed in public spaces, recorded by the CNIB, and translated into Spanish and Bengali. Ronna speaks and writes at corporate events, leads organizational retreats, runs wor...

This week in the pharmacy we have the poet ED DOEGAR! Ed’s poem “Anon” as well as the Karen Solie poem he prescribes can be found here. Edward Doegar’s poems, reviews and translations have appeared in various magazines, including  Poetry London ,  Prac Crit, clinic  and  Poetry Wales . He’s a fellow of the Complete Works programme, a scheme promoting diversity in British p...

This week in the pharmacy we have the poet CAConrad ! The poems we prescribe and talk about in this episode can be found here: Sophie Robinson’s “biggest loser”: https://www.lambdaliterary.org/features/poetry-spotlight/10/16/a-poem-by-sophie-robinson/ Emily Dickinson’s “Remorse – is Memory – Awake”:  https://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/emily-dickinson/remorse-is-memory-awake/ CAConrad grew...

This week in the pharmacy we have the poet NATALIE EILBERT ! All the poems we prescribe and talk about in this episode can be found here:   http://bit.ly/2n9lxHZ NATALIE EILBERT is the author of  Indictus , winner of Noemi Press’s 2016 Poetry Prize, slated for publication in early 2018, as well as the poetry collection,  Swan Feast  (Bloof Books, 2015). Her work has appear...

This week in the pharmacy we have the poet DONIKA KELLY ! All the poems we prescribe and talk about in this episode can be found here:  http://bit.ly/2zO7zUm Donika is the author of  BESTIARY (Graywolf 2016), winner of the 2015 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, long listed for the National Book Award (2016), and a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award (2017), and the chapbook  AVIARIUM  ...

This week in the pharmacy we have the poet KEEGAN LESTER ! All the poems we prescribe and talk about in this episode can be found here:  http://bit.ly/2gJQDDX Keegan splits his time between New York City and Morgantown, West Virginia. Mary Ruefle selected his first collection of poetry this shouldn’t be beautiful but it was & it’s all i had so i drew it  for the 2016 Slope Editions B...

This week in the pharmacy we have the writer, poet, and artist KHAIRANI BAROKKA ! All the poems we prescribe and talk about in this episode can be found here:  http://bit.ly/2klT8AG KHAIRANI BAROKKA was born  in Jakarta and currently lives in London. Among her honours, she was an NYU Tisch Departmental Fellow for her masters, Emerging Writers Festival’s (AUS) Inaugural International Writ...

Oh yes, it’s KAVEH AKBAR in da  house  Pharmacy this week! All the poems we prescribe and talk about in this episode can be read here:  http://bit.ly/2xu8VST Kaveh’s debut full-length collection,  Calling a Wolf a Wolf , is just out with Alice James in the US and Penguin in the UK, and his chapbook,  Portrait of the Alcoholic , was published by Sibling Rivalry Press....

So pleased to have Finn Menzies in the Poetry Pharmacy this week! Finn prescribes Max Ritvo ‘s AFTERNOON which can be found here , and I reciprocate with Jim Ferris ‘s FACTS OF LIFE (read Jim’s poem here ). We also read and talk about a poem from Finn’s debut collection Brilliant Odyssey Don’t Yearn . Finn Menzies is an out transgender teacher in Seattle, WA. He received his MFA from Mil...

Today in the Poetry Pharmacy, we’re hanging out with CHEN CHEN . Chen prescribes a Keegan Lester poem which can be READ HERE , and I reciprocate with jayy dodd ‘s incredible ARS POETICA . We also read and talk about Chen’s poem POPLAR STREET . Chen Chen is the author of  When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities , winner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. A  Kundi...

Welcome to a new season of the show, now rebranded and slightly reformatted as POETRY PHARMACY ! You might notice that we have a slightly different way of doing things: two readers, three poems, and even more POETRY LOVE than ever before. We’re kicking off the new season with AMAAN HYDER , author of a recent collection of poetry  At Hajj (Penned In The Margins) who reads to me a poe...

Today in the Poetry Pharmacy, we had a visit from MARY JEAN CHAN. Mary Jean’s work has appeared in The Poetry Review, Ambit, The Rialto, The London Magazine, Callaloo and elsewhere. She is also a Co-Editor at  Oxford Poetry . Her poem “ // ” is currently shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem . She also recently won the  Poetry Society Members’ Competition , as well...

RYAN VAN WINKLE is a poet, live artist, podcaster and critic living in Edinburgh. His second collection,  The Good Dark , won the Saltire Society’s 2015 Poetry Book of the Year award. His poems have appeared in New Writing Scotland, The Prairie Schooner, The American Poetry Review, AGNI and Best Scottish Poems 2015. As a member of  Highlight Arts  he has organized festivals and tran...

RACHEL KELLY is a mental health campaigner, public speaker, and writer. In her early thirties, Rachel was diagnosed with serious depression and subsequently suffered two major depressive episodes. These two episodes have become the defining events of her life. Since then, she has written about the condition, and how she has recovered, in books that have been read by tens of thousands of people. He...

ALEXANDER MACLEOD was born in Inverness, Nova Scotia and raised in Windsor Ontario. His first book, a collection of short stories called Light Lifting  won the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award and was named a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Book Award, the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, and the Danuta Gleed Award. Alexander teaches at Saint Mar...

THE PLAIN SENSE OF THINGS After the leaves have fallen, we return To a plain sense of things. It is as if We had come to an end of the imagination, Inanimate in an inert savoir. It is difficult even to choose the adjective For this blank cold, this sadness without cause. The great structure has become a minor house. No turban walks across the lessened floors. The greenhouse never so badly needed p...

STORY WATER A story is like water That you heat for your bath. It takes messages between the fire and your skin. It lets them meet, and it cleans you! Very few can sit down in the middle of the fire itself, like a salamander, or Abraham. We need intermediaries. A feeling of fullness comes, but usually it takes some bread to bring it. Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a gard...

SARAH SALWAY is a British poet, novelist, short story writer, journalist and creative writing tutor. She has written six books: three novels,  Something Beginning With ,  Tell Me Everything  and  Getting the Picture , a book of short stories,  Leading the Dance , and two collections of poetry,  You Do Not Need Another Self-Help Book and  Digging Up Para...

LAURA BARBER is the editor of four popular poetry anthologies – including the hugely successful  Penguin’s Poems for Life  – and former ‘Poetry Doctor’ at The School of Life. She is also Editorial Director at Granta Books where her interests range from literary fiction to memoir, reportage, travel, narrative history and nature writing,

NIALL O’SULLIVAN  hosts  Poetry Unplugged , London’s longest running poetry open mic. He teaches poetry at London Metropolitan University, his main module being Poetry and Performance. He is currently working on a series of online posts that  critically explore Spoken Word . He has published  three books  of poetry with  flipped eye  . He also edit...

MARCUS SLEASE   (JJ Mars) is a visionary writer from Portadown, N. Ireland and Utah in the U.S. ​Some influences include:  Buddhist practice, surrealism, collage art, low-fi graffiti,  Brian Eno, Spacemen 3, Leonora Carrington, Richard Brautigan, Ariel Pink, bill bissett, Tim Atkins, Susumu Yokota,  Ron Padgett, Chika Sagawa, & Guy Maddin. He is a graduate of the...

ETGAR KERET  is an Israeli writer known for his short stories, graphic novels, and scriptwriting for film and television. His books had been published in more than thirty languages. Keret has received the Prime Minister’s award for literature, as well as the Ministry of Culture’s Cinema Prize. In 2010, Keret received the Chevalier (Knight) Medallion of France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.