Close Talking: A Poetry Podcast

Connor and Jack explore the fantastic poem "First Quarantine With Abdelhalim Hafez" by Safia Elhillo. Connor fixates on the tensions between the figurative and literal and Jack goes deep on his and the poem's obsessions, and also pulls off a Werner Herzog impression. Check out the poem below, or at this link: https://www.poetrysociety.org/psa/poetry/crossroads/own_words/African_poets_tatu/ Read mo...

Connor and Jack delve into the humorous, heartbreaking, poem "Poplar Street" by Chen Chen. Connor discusses the glories and pitfalls of using a colloquial voice in poetry and Jack finds connections to Everything is Illuminated. Check out the poem, here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/58154/poplar-street Read more about Chen Chen here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/c...

A bonus episode! After our episode about "Eating Together," we received a request to talk more about the idea of pressure in poetry. Connor takes it away. Let us know what you think! Subscribe to Close Talking on iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/close…d1185025517?mt=2 Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking You can always send us an e-ma...

Connor and Jack discuss Jordan Rice's "Epithalamion." To read the poem, see below or go here: https://blackbird.vcu.edu/v14n2/poetry/rice_j/epithalamion_page.shtml To check out her collection Constellarium: http://orisonbooks.com/product/constellarium-paper/ For the article referenced in the podcast: https://2paragraphs.com/2014/03/what-its-like-to-be-transgender-by-jordan-rice/ Find us on faceboo...

Solmaz Sharif's book "Look", published by Graywolf Press, has received critical praise and numerous accolades. Connor and Jack dig into a work from the collection "Perception Management: An Abridged List of Operations" a found poem that takes the names of real military operations and recontextualizes them to draw out infinite meanings and connections. Connor finds connections to a Das Racist song...

Connor and Jack discuss Li-Young Lee's "Eating Together." To read the poem, see below or go here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43015/eating-together-56d221af2bf26 For more on Lee: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/li-young-lee To check out his collection Rose: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rose-li-young-lee/1122988627 Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking Find us on t...

Connor and Jack discuss John Ashbery's "Homeless Heart." To read the poem, see below or go here: http://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/poem/item/23291/auto/0/0/John-Ashbery/HOMELESS-HEART For more on Ashbery: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-ashbery To check out his collection Quick Question: https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062225955/?utm_source=aps&utm_medium=hc&utm_campaign=...

Connor and Jack discuss Kaveh Akbar's "Waiting for the Twelfth." To read the poem, see below or go here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/143913/waiting-for-the-twelfth For more on Akbar: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/kaveh-akbar To check out his collection Calling a Wolf a Wolf: http://www.powells.com/book/calling-a-wolf-a-wolf-9781938584671 Find us on facebook at: f...

It has been one year since Connor and Jack launched Close Talking!. After 24 episodes, they decided to commemorate the occasion by looking back on an episode they particularly enjoyed on now-poet laureate Tracy K. Smith's, "The Weather in Space." To learn more about Tracy K Smith, go here: www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-po…racy-k-smith. Check out her book Life on Mars and her memoir Ordinary L...

Connor and Jack discuss Eduardo C. Corral's poem Sentence. Connor provides several excellent readings, Jack discusses why the poem has him remembering Tom Petty, and both marvel at the brilliant sounds and images contained within the work. More on Eduardo C. Corral here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/eduardo-c-corral To read Sentence, to go: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine...

Connor and Jack dig into a fun, funny poem with deep undercurrents: "United" by Naomi Shihab Nye. Connor asks all the right questions, and Jack goes on another riff about the American west. For more on Naomi Shihab Nye: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/naomi-shihab-nye To read the poem, go to: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/united United By: Naomi Shihab Nye When sleepless, it’s helpful to...

Connor and Jack discuss Monica Youn's "Ersatz Ignatz". To read the poem, go here or below: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53591/ersatz-ignatz For more on Youn: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/monica-youn To check out the collection Ignatz: http://www.powells.com/book/ignatz-9781935536017/61-0 Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closet...

Connor and Jack discuss Maggie Smith's "Where The Honey Comes From." To read the poem, go here: http://www.vqronline.org/poetry/2015/04/where-honey-comes For more on Smith: https://maggiesmithpoet.com/ To check out her books: https://maggiesmithpoet.com/books/ Where Honey Comes From By: Maggie Smith When my daughter drizzles gold on her breakfast toast, I remind her she’s seen the bee men in our t...

Connor and Jack take their first request, "Memory" by WWI poet, Siegfried Sassoon. The suggestion came from @DeepStateRadioNerds, the official unofficial fan twitter account of the stellar national security and foreign policy podcast, Deep State Radio. To read the poem, go here: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/memory-6/ For more on Sassoon: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/siegfried-sassoon...

Connor and Jack discuss Juan Felipe Herrera's "Notes on the Assemblage." To read the poem, go here: http://bostonreview.net/poetry/national-poetry-month-2015-juan-felipe-herrera-five-poems For more on Herrera: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/juan-felipe-herrera To check out his collection Notes on the Assemblage: http://www.powells.com/book/notes-on-the-assemblage-9780872866973/62-0 Find us...

Connor and Jack discuss Vijay Seshadri's "Nursing Home." To read the poem, go here: http://plumepoetry.com/2012/09/nursing-home-by-vijay-seshadri/ For more on Seshadri: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/vijay-seshadri To check out his collection Three Sections: http://www.powells.com/book/3-sections-poems-9781555977160 Nursing Home By: Vijay Seshadri 1. She had dreams fifty years ago she reme...

In this special Father's Day episode, Connor and Jack dig into "I-74 Streetcorners of America Poem (Written on the Road Between Albany Illinois and Albany Indiana" by Charlie Rossiter. For Charlie's podcast, go here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/poetry-spoken-here/id1030829938?mt=2 I-74 Streetcorners of America Poem (Written on the Road Between Albany Illinois and Albany Indiana, 10/95) By:...

In this super-sized episode of Close Talking Connor and Jack are joined by special guest Molly Booth. Molly is a YA author whose books have many Shakespeare tie ins. Our three intrepid heroes venture forth into the venerable works of the bard and plumb the depths of a passage from Antony and Cleopatra. For the passage, go here: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/plays/antony_4_15.html For more on M...

Connor and Jack admire and discuss the work of a classic American poet: Emily Dickinson. On this week's episode they dive into "To Make A Prairie" a short poem that contains multitudes. To find the poem, go here: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/make-prairie-1755 For more on Emily Dickinson, go here: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/emily-dickinson Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closet...

Connor and Jack discuss Eavan Boland's poem "A Woman Without A Country" To read the poem, go here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/detail/56177 For more on Eavan Boland, go here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/eavan-boland A Woman Without A Country By: Eavan Boland As dawn breaks he enters A room with the odor of acid. He lays the copper plate o...

Jack offers his thoughts on how poetry makes the nation more secure. For more on Joseph S. Nye, Jr, go here: http://joenye.com/ Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com.

Connor and Jack discuss Louise Gluck's poem "Presque Isle" For more on Louise Gluck, go here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/louise-gluck Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at c...

Connor and Jack discuss "Anaphora as Coping Mechanism" by Ocean Vuong. Anaphora as Coping Mechanism By: Ocean Vuong Can't sleep so you put on his grey boots -- nothing else -- & step inside the rain. Even though he's gone, you think, I still want to be clean. If only the rain were gasoline, your tongue a lit match, & you can change without disappearing. If only he dies the second his name becomes...

Connor and Jack discuss "Fourth of July at Santa Ynez" by John Haines. To read the poem go here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/50163 For more on John Haines, go here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/john-haines Fourth of July at Santa Ynez By: John Haines I Under the makeshift arbor of leaves a hot wind blowing smoke and laughter. Music...

Connor and Jack discuss the Tracy K Smith poem "The Weather In Space." More about Tracy K Smith here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/tracy-k-smith. Check out her book Life on Mars and her new memoir Ordinary Light! Weather in Space By: Tracy K. Smith Is God being or pure force? The wind Or what commands it? When our lives slow And we can hold all that we love, it spr...