Follow a Fish Poetry Conversations and Inspiration

Sue shares a poem for her dad's eulogy, celebrating his life as a physicist, father and patriarch of the family. Here's the written poem with a photo. 

A hilarious description and discussion of the wild ride of menopause sparked by Deborah's poem "Hot Flash". We remember what it was like, and how life is good on the other side. The show notes are here , and the written poem is here. 

Exasperation with the welling chaos just beneath the surface of our orderly lives animate this pun-filled poem that encapsulates the annoyance of dealing with the persistence of ants. Persist-ants. Show notes are here , and here is the written version of the poem by Sue

A random prompt led from 'Food Delivery' to the loneliness caused by addiction to biased news and painkillers.  We talk about both crises in America and about the narrative poetic form. Show notes with links are here. The print version of the poem with art work is here. 

Deborah reads her Tanka Japanese form poem that starts off about one thing and turns to something much darker. A tiny and powerful heroic love story, based on a real story that you can read in our show notes , as well as the written version of her story and the prompt for today. 

Sue and Deborah read and chat about poems they've written inspired by art, both about boats, the sea, and life's journeys. An Open Mic participant - Juniper "Beaux" Sanchez shares a beautiful poem and her art work "Story time". We hope you will also get out there, maybe to a local museum, looking for art that inspires you, then send in your work to us. Here are the show notes with links to poems o...

Ekphrastic poetry is poetry inspired by art. Today, Johanna Ely, poet laureate emerita of Benicia, CA reads and discusses two poems from paintings - " Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Rose " which ends up with a discussion of sensuality and mother godesses to the Virgin Mary, followed by a wander down a back alley in the mysterious tiny town of Locke in the Delta lands of the San Francisco Ba...

'Ars poetica' refers to any poetry or prose that considers the art of poetry, especially poems that step outside of themselves to consider their own genesis and nature. Today, Sue’s poem ' Ocean ' describes her creative process, and Deborah’s interleaving of two poems in ' Sanctus ' is an example of poems that step outside of themselves. Lnks to ideas mentioned in the episode, as well as the print...

Tom is an emeritus poet laureate of Benicia in the SF Bay Area. Today, he's performing a ‘poemSong,’ part poem and part song, which incorporates musical sounds with words. Think of an abstract work of art and how you have to suspend disbelief and just let the words and sounds in, and see where it takes you. It's not as accessible as many of our other offerings, and that's part of the poetry journe...

Last time we read Clare’s poem, “Deope,” for the river Deben in Suffolk, which opened questions about the importance of particular beloved places in connecting us to the natural world and building the foundation for stewardship. Today Deborah shares her poem “ Dreaming With Gray Eagle Creek. ” Our wide-ranging conversation after the reading touches on the allegory of rivers and spirit, of water fl...

We introduce  Clare Hedin, who is a singer, songwriter, and sound healer. We invited her to join us on a podcast after hearing her beautiful reading of Mary Oliver’s poem “ The Journey ” at our first open mic. Clare is also a visual artist and filmmaker who has created a body of gorgeous, small videos centered on place. Clare shares a conviction that a deep connection to nature, often arising from...

In response to Teri's life's journey poem, Deborah shares the end of a journey of a mother and baby Orca based on the real story of Tahlequah, the mother carried her dead baby for 17 days. Then Sue shares a poem that describes accompanying her father during his last, hard days, also with an ocean allegory. The show notes have links to the pretty print versions of these poems with artwork, plus som...

Teri is a mover, shaker and beloved in the El Sobrante community. She wrote a poem with her son who died last year - the first she had ever written. We were so struck by it at our first poetry open mic we invited her on to the show. We hope you'll be as inspired by Teri as we are, with her insightful, sly and poignant poem that takes you along her unusual and inspiring life's journey. Here are the...

Deborah and Sue continue a discussion of aging from a deeply personal perspective, this time based around Deborah's ekphrastic poem " Indietro ". See our show notes for details and resources mentioned in the episode, as well as a prompt for you to write your own thoughts about aging. 

Sue reads her poem " Shape of the Body " and Deborah and I talk about the challenges but also the satisfactions of aging, even in a society that prizes youth and looks. Our show notes link to resources mentioned in our conversation and to the prompt.

Deborah reads her beautiful and haunting poem "Wild" and we discuss how we live in and are part of nature, the way that she structured this piece as a poet, as well as some suggestions for how to rewild your own garden. See our show notes for details and today's prompt. Included are details of the Open Mic today at the Good Table Gathering Space, and for joining the "Restoring Nature, Restoring Ou...

Restoring nature, nature restoring itself and the resilience of nature is celebrated in today's poem "Spring Break School". The conversation and the s how notes highlight rewilding, with some inspiring examples. Nature longs for itself, it's resurgence is just below the surface, waiting to reclaim it's own. We hope you'll enjoy this playful poem and a bit of hope for the future. 

Today we continue our poetic exploration of the pandemic. Deborah reads her “Kneading the Challah,” which was published in the anthology Pandemic Puzzle Poems from Blue Light Press. This is a beautiful musing on the power of ritual like this had during the pandemic and how ritual can braid together generations. What rituals do that for you? Write to today's prompt in our show notes , where we also...

Remember that terrible time that's disappearing in the rear view mirror? The sense of impending doom, the fear and isolation, before we knew exactly how it was spread and what to do to stay alive. The lock down. The great pause. Except for 'essential workers' to whom we owe so much. Sue shares her poem distilling details from that time and a tiny bit of hope as nature flourished in the quiet. For...

We read two short poems of Deborah's about wildfire, the first "Dry Lightening" is a frightening description of an approaching wildfire and if to evacuate or not, followed by "Return of the Golden Crowned Sparrows" which is about the resilience of nature, sparking a wide ranging conversation - rewilding, the ecology of fire, grace and the possibility of hope for nature (and ourselves) are all touc...

We read and discuss a poem "Chimneys" that was written in response to the fire that destroyed most of Paradise, Ca in 2018, including Sue's beloved mother in law's home. Wildfire is a fear that creeps in at the end of every dry summer in California and other wildfire-prone zones. We examine the emotions and some of the science behind it. Lots more detail in the show notes here , including today's...

We read and chat about Sue's poem " Raven against Fate " and at the end, some natural history about crows and ravens because they are so fascinating! Show notes for all the links and more mentioned in the episode. The prompt for today is "Ravens, crows or black birds." Send to curiositycatpodcasts@gmail.com. Check out our website for upcoming episodes and prior prompts and more. 

We read listener poems Pete Brown’s Seastar Sashimi and Allegra Sillberstein’s: Goldfish Gift Deborah reads her " In the Season of Crows " and Sue and Deborah chat about it before challenging you to write to today's prompt: Write an ekphrastic poem - a poem inspired by visual art. It’s best done in person rather than a photograph or online image. If you can... Send to us at curiositycatpodcasts@gm...

Today, more in-your-face activist poetry compared to yesterday's. Deborah's poem questions what "Make America Great Again" means in a  satirical, sing-song rhyme, like a dark children's storybook. Sue shares "The Threat" offering comparisons with the two world wars and hope to awaken the angels in each of us to help us resist the threat that is now upon us. Write us a your own protest poem and sen...

A more interior take on activist poetry in this episode, Deborah and Sue discuss two poems and link it to their own activism and inspiration to write to the times we are in. We encourage you to send in your own, to the prompt based on Laura Hershey's protest poem "How to Write a Poem,"  which ends with "Write the poem you need." Send to us at curiositycatpodcasts@gmail.com. Check out the written p...