Painted Bride Quarterly’s Slush Pile

We’re changing things up today, Slushies, with a selection of prose from writer Charles Grosel. Spoiler alert: we only read the first page in the podcast itself. If you want the full experience of the piece before you hear us weigh in, scroll down to time stamp 38:15 where you can listen to the story in its entirety.    We’re all over the place in categorizing this piece as flash, fiction, and cre...

Slushies! We’re delighted to have our own Marion Wrenn back at the table, throwing thumbs yea or nay. And Karen Hildebrand had so much fun discussing summer reads in our last episode, she decided to join us for another show (we welcome her back with only minor hazing). Today we’re discussing two poems by K. Hari. The first, “Rage Yoga After Roe”, gets us thinking about female spaces and friendship...

We’re back, Slushies! Did you miss us? We missed being with you. Much of our time this summer was spent reading an array of excellent books and today we share that abundance with you. Our wide-ranging conversation touches on blockbusters, novels, poetry, craft books, and (would you believe), an encyclical from Pope Leo XIV. Kathy gets a gold star, summer-reading-challenge style, for the stack of b...

Greetings, Slushies! In this, our final encore episode for the summer, we revisit two poems from Glenn Shaheen. We hope you enjoy the conversation. We’ll be back in your feeds with a brand new episode on September 9. Thanks, as always for listening. Our first order of business was debating lifestyle choices in NY vs. Philly, after which we dug into two wonderfully different poems by Glenn Shaheen....

Hello, Slushies! We hope you’re keeping cool out there. In this encore episode, KVM rhapsodizes about the joy of a sandwich made with a perfect summer tomato. And Jason shares his astute thoughts on the nature of motherhood. Join in while the panel takes on three poems from poet Sarah Elkins. And thanks, as always for listening.   Are you ready to get primal, Slushies? We look at poems of birth an...

Greetings, Slushies! We’re here with an encore episode today, one we chose for its excellent exploration of craft, including a discussion about the golden shovel and the definition of ambiguity. Listen in for that and for two poems from poet Marko Capoferri. Enjoy. Thanks, as always, for listening.   How do you pronounce “ San Gorgonio ,” Slushies? How do you say “ Schuylkill ?” We talk regional a...

Greetings, Slushies! Today’s encore edition features special guest editor, the Pulitzer Prize winning poet Gregory Pardlo. His most recent collection is called  “Spectral Evidence.”  Listen along to the discussion of two poems from Daniel Biegelson which were ultimately included in his book  “Of Being Neighbors” from Ricochet Editions. Thanks, as always, for listening!    On this week’s episode of...

For this Slush Pile encore, we’re going WAY back to our first season where we revisit an episode featuring poems by  Laura McCullough . McCullough has a collection forthcoming from Cornerstone Press called “The Collection Jar.” This episode also features the poet  Jennifer L. Knox  as a guest editor. Her most recent book is “Crushing It” from Copper Canyon Press. We hope you enjoy this look back i...

We're bringing back favorite episodes over the summer as encore editions. Since this episode first aired, poet Jen Siraganian won the 2026 Perugia Press Prize for her debut collection "Everything Has Been Moved, Even the Dead," which is forthcoming in September 2026. Congratulations, Jen!  Slushies, we invoke the retelling of a ghostly experience shared by Kathy and Marion at the Hotel Figueroa in...

This last episode before summer has us dreaming of the beach, Slushies—watching moonlight on the waves, reading novels in the sand. But not before we share this packed episode with you. Today we welcome special guest, Daniel Kuriakose, to hear about  “The Common Well,”  the literary journal he’s relaunching alongside K Hank Jost. Daniel sticks around for our discussion of two poems by Mara Lee Gra...

Our slushies who use Apple for podcasts missed out on Episode #155 and no one can tell us why—including Apple! So here she is again!  Have fun and go to pbqmag.org for notes!

Kathy puts the kibosh on our introductory weather ramblings, Slushies. Instead we’re sharing what makes us grateful. Seems like, with our combined love of coffee, we’re keeping the baristas in business. Aside from java, Tobi’s thankful for poetry podcasts (not just ours), including Poem Talk from Penn Sound. Lisa’s grateful for the public library that gives her free access to novels like The Copyw...

Slushies, you could be forgiven this week for thinking you’ve tuned in to a different podcast. One about gardening, maybe? Or perhaps you’ve stumbled across a punctuation pod? But it’s just your usual team ranging wherever the poems might take us.    Today we’re discussing poems by Annie Kantar. The first, “Wolf Peach,” has us pondering folklore, the toxicity of nightshades , and dreaming of our f...

Jason takes the helm of our artisanal editorial process today when KVM is called away at the last minute. It’s always our hope that our discussion will be instructive for both the poet and our listeners. Come along as we consider two poems from Zachary Kluckman. In the first, “The Lineated World,” the haunting ballroom image reminds Sam of the medieval era’s  danse macabre . This lyrical, reflecti...

At the table: Eric Baker, Dagne Forrest, Tobi Kassim, Jason Schneiderman, Kathleen Volk Miller, Lisa Zerkle, Lillie Volpe (sound engineer)   We made it back from AWP, Slushies! Welcome to any new listeners who have joined our audience since seeing us there. And please join us in welcoming our longtime reader, Eric Baker, to the table.    We’re honored to discuss three poems from Jane Zwart. Once a...

Episode 137: Collective Effervescence (ENCORE) While we're on AWP hiatus, we’re bringing back an encore episode of the Slush Pile. Listen to Episode 137, Collective Effervescence, where we dive into poems by Han VanderHart. If you want to hear more of their work, Han will be reading at the Virginia Festival of the Book the weekend after this episode drops. Info about festival :  https://vahumaniti...

We’re going deep today, Slushies. Kathy and Tobi school us on the origin of the word “podcast” with its roots in both early Apple technology and agricultural lingo (think broadcast of seeds). In this episode we’re broadcasting our appreciation for poems by Erin Evans. We admire Evans’ sound work and her ability to craft powerful lines with plain language. In the first poem, the poet’s confrontatio...

We’re so over the snow and ice, Slushies. Join us as we cozy up to three poems from Hilary King. We admire the first poem’s warm nostalgia towards old technology and its recollection of a burgeoning appreciation for art. Sam notes how well the poem’s title prepares the reader for the poem that follows. The pairing of the projection of art and the projection of memory intrigues Jason. The setting i...

It’s not often that it happens, Slushies, but it’s always a treat when it does. We’re switching to fiction for the day with “Colfax,” a flash story from Patricia Q. Bidar, author of the short fiction collection Pardon Me for Moonwalking . Spoiler alert: read the story first in the show notes or listen to the story in full at 41:50 before our discussion ruins it for you. Something about the story’s...

We welcome in the new year with a full house today, Slushies, as we discuss two poems from Cal Freeman. The first poem’s title glacier reminds Kathy of this year’s epic snowfall in Juneau, Alaska (though it’s forty inches, not forty feet, of snow). All that snow reminds Lisa of Boston’s Vile Pile of snow that would not melt until July. Kathy deftly segues that memory back to our own slush pile. We...

To allow our team time for a holiday recording hiatus, we’re sharing an encore episode from the Slush Pile archive. This episode, from December 2022, features two poems by poet Nick Visconti, “Burial” and “Unmake These Things.” It also marks the first appearance on the pod by our managing editor, Dagne Forrest. We’ll be back next time with new poems and new guests. In the meantime, enjoy this look...

It’s a banner day here on the pod, Slushies. We welcome a very special guest, American Poetry Review’s Elizabeth Scanlon to the table as we discuss three prose poems from Sara Burant. Dagne sends out birthday wishes to Canada’s own Margaret Atwood while Lisa shows the team her Margaret Atwood-as-saint candle . We note the recent poetry trend towards raising the profile of female visual artists who...

Early winter weather has us pondering an alternate definition of “slush pile,” albeit the mucky, grey residue remaining after a city snowfall. Our Slush Pile is far more fresh, but still a wintry mix as we discuss the short story “Catherine of the Exvangelical Deconstruction” by Candice Kelsey. You might want to jump down the page and read or listen to it in full first, as there are spoilers in ou...

In this our second episode discussing work from poet Eli Karren, we’re shifting timelines, story lines, wine time, and coffee time. We welcome special guest, Tobi Kassim , as part of the podcast team for the day. (We’ll be “sprinkling” special guests throughout the upcoming season!)   We dig into Eli’s richly detailed poem “Franchise Reboot” which nods to David Lynch’s nineties TV phenom, Twin Pea...

At the table: Dagne Forrest, Samantha Neugebauer, Jason Schneiderman, Kathleen Volk Miller, Lisa Zerkle   This recording had a rough start, Slushies. We’re talking technical difficulties, disappearing dogs, and tomato-eating cats. But we rallied in time to discuss two poems from Eli Karren. Jason hails the Whitmanian, associative line found in these poems. We’re taken with the specificity of detai...