Close Talking: A Poetry Podcast

In this episode Connor and Jack take on "Be Nobody's Darling" by Alice Walker. They discuss what it means to be an outsider, different types of outsider, and how Walker's history of activism as well as her uncomfortable affinity for antisemitic conspiracy theories influence their readings of the poem. Be Nobody’s Darling By: Alice Walker Be nobody's darling; Be an outcast. Take the contradictions...

In this special bonus episode, hear more of Connor and Jack's conversation with Dr. Hollis Robbins, Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities at Sonoma State University and author of "Forms of Contention: Influence and the African American Sonnet Tradition." They discuss how themes of bondage were handled metaphorically by white poets, while they represented a dangerous reality for Black poets, Dr...

Connor and Jack are joined by Dr. Hollis Robbins, Dean of the School of Arts & Humanities at Sonoma State University and author of the newly published "Forms of Contention: Influence and the African American Sonnet Tradition from University of Georgia Press. They discuss the poem "Freedom Rider: Washout" by James Emanuel, touching on the memory of Rep. John Lewis, one of the original freedom rider...

In this episode, Connor and Jack explore an excerpt from Claudia Rankine's book Don't Let Me Be Lonely. They discuss how the poem conveys the toll of anti-Blackness on the psyche of Black Americans, "hope" and electoral politics, the brilliant use of "flat prose," and listen to the voices and sounds of The Staples, Cornel West, George W. Bush, and Kanye West. More on Rankine here: https://www.poet...

In this episode Connor and Jack discuss the powerful anti-lynching poem "The Lynching" by Claude McKay. They discuss the history of anti-lynching literature, the ways that white terror was enacted for decades, the horror of lynchings as public acts, how lynchings have continued to the present day, and much more. More on Claude McKay, here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/claude-mckay Find t...

Connor and Jack examine the poem "Could We Please Give the Police Departments to the Grandmothers?" by Junauda Petrus. They discuss police abolition, the poem’s imaginative power, and how poetry can help achieve political liberation. As these struggles continue, many groups are doing great work. One is the Young People's Action Coalition, which got Minneapolis public schools to cut ties with the p...

It's a landmark episode - NUMBER 100!!! Connor and Jack dive into Cathy Song's "The Man Moves Earth." They discuss the elegance of the poem's language, the four classical elements and, for the first time in the history of the pod, reference former Poet Laureate Billy Collins! Learn more about Cathy Song, here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/cathy-song The Man Moves Earth By: Cathy Song The...

Jack and Connor go way back to the 1600s for the George Herbert poem, "Prayer (I)". They discuss the sonnet's beautiful meditation on prayer, its incredible contemporary feel, the profane and divine, and The Doors' Jim Morrison makes a shocking cameo. Learn more about Herbert here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/george-herbert Prayer (I) By: George Herbert Prayer the church's banquet, ange...

Connor and Jack close out Poetry Month 2020 with a series of shorter episodes about short poems that can be comforting springboards to reflection and contemplation. In this episode, they discuss Naomi Shihab Nye's poem "Vocabulary of Dearness." They explore the way the poem captures the power of language and go down the rabbit hole of some of their favorite words. Vocabulary of Dearness By: Naomi...

Conor and Jack spend some wild time talking about Wild Nights by Emily Dickinson. They talk about the 2019 movie Wild Nights with Emily, Shakespeare's tragedies as death farces, and all the ways Emily Dickinson managed to be an intellectually engaged person of her time while remaining primarily at home. Wild Nights - Wild Nights (269) By: Emily Dickinson Wild nights - Wild nights! Were I with thee...

Connor and Jack close out Poetry Month 2020 with a series of shorter episodes about short poems that can be comforting springboards to reflection and contemplation. In this (not short) episode, they discuss William Butler Yeats's poem "The Old Men Admiring Themselves in the Water." The pair geeks out on Yeats, exploring the relationships between sound, death, and colonialism, and they listen to re...

Connor and Jack close out Poetry Month 2020 with a series of shorter episodes about short poems that can be comforting springboards to reflection and contemplation. In this episode, they discuss Joy Harjo's prose poem "Invisible Fish," reflecting on the poem's incredible sense of time and place and the new resonances of "going to the store." Invisible Fish By: Joy Harjo Invisible fish swim this gh...

Connor and Jack close out Poetry Month 2020 with a series of shorter episodes about short poems that can be comforting springboards to reflection and contemplation. In this episode they discuss Gwendolyn Brooks' meditation on love and draw connections between the poem's references to - and comments on - confinement and the present. A Lovely Love By: Gwendolyn Brooks Let it be alleys. Let it be a h...

Connor and Jack close out Poetry Month 2020 with a series of shorter episodes about short poems that can be comforting springboards to reflection and contemplation. To begin with, a simple, untitled piece by Ezra Pound. The conversation encompasses quinces, John Mulaney, Galway Kinnell's poem "Blackberry Eating," and much more. Mediterranean March Black cat on the quince branch mousing blossoms Fi...

Connor and Jack close out poetry month with a week of daily episodes featuring short poems that can be springboards for reflection and meditation. Watermelons By: Charles Simic Green Buddhas On the fruit stand. We eat the smile And spit out the teeth. Find us on Facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking 
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Connor and Jack dive into the poem that opens Leslie Marmon Silko's novel Ceremony. Along the way they discuss Plato's Symposium, Walter Ong's writings on orality and literacy, and the historical significance of World War Two on the civil rights movement along with much more. You can learn more about Leslie Marmon Silko, here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/leslie-marmon-silko Excerpt from...

Connor and Jack discuss a poem that may resonate during this intense, isolated time: "Dedications" by Adrienne Rich, an excerpt from her sequence An Atlas of the Difficult World. They talk about Rich's radical politics, ethical loneliness, Mavis Staples, and how poems can be their own virtual medium of connection. You can read more of and about Adrienne Rich here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/...

This week, we revisit an oldie but goodie: Connor and Jack's discussion of Emily Dickinson's short, beautiful poem, "To Make a Prairie." To find the poem, go here: www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/make-prairie-1755 For more on Emily Dickinson, go here: www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/emily-dickinson Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking You can al...

Connor and Jack discuss Fady Joudah's, "Additional Notes on Tea" exploring the ways the poem moves around the globe, interrogates history, and deploys the figure of God. You can find out more about Fady Joudah, here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/fady-joudah Additional Notes On Tea By: Fady Joudah In Cairo a boy’s balcony higher than a man’s deathbed. The boy is sipping tea, The view is a...

REBROADCAST! In honor of Black History Month and because it's primary season and this incredible poem touches on presidential themes, we are rebroadcasting our episode about "How to Keep It Down / Throw It Off / Defer Until Asleep" by National Book Award winner Justin Phillip Reed. Content Warning: Suicidality Connor and Jack discuss a poem by this year's National Book Award winner for Poetry: Jus...

Connor and Jack discuss the Sharon Olds poem "Armor" about an experience she had with her son. Connor mentions the discussion Jo and Amy have about art and power in "Little Women" and Olds' penchant for four beat lines and heavy enjambment. Jack brings up flatworms and both marvel at the way Olds goes so many places from an everyday experience. Armor By: Sharon Olds Just about at the triple-barrel...

Ringing in the new year with a poem about capitalism and climate change—"Romance #1" by Eunsong Kim. Connor and Jack discuss how the poem makes late capitalism and climate change visceral, its brilliant opening and chilling ending, crown-of-thorns starfish, and of course their own 14 year old crushes. More about Eunsong Kim here: https://cssh.northeastern.edu/people/faculty/eunsong-kim/ & https://...

To wrap up 2019, Connor and Jack take on a poem as exquisite in its craft as it is emotionally forceful in its effect on the reader. They discuss the history of the United States' colonial expansion, the danger of using oblique language when writing history, and the way the poem's tone bridges the gap between the past and present. More about Luis J. Rodriguez, here: https://www.poetryfoundation.or...

Connor and Jack explore the poem "Warming" by dg nanouk okpik. They discuss the poem's interplay between intense specificity and figurative language, climate change as context, and the fact that ice worms are really actually real. More about okpik here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/dg-okpik Warming By: dg nanouk okpik She and I make a bladder bag to draw water from the ice trench. She/I...

Connor and Jack discuss the ekphrastic poem, Decoy Gang War Victim by Carmen Gimenez Smith. They discuss the nature of acting and direction, the history of the photo from which the poem grew, the hard-to-pin-down voice of the poem's speaker, and much more. EDIT: This episode was originally posted with an inaccurate title for the poem, "Decoy War Gang Victim." This has been corrected. We apologize...