Multi-Verse Poetry Podcast

In Episode 17 of Multi-Verse, poet Elizabeth Metzger reads "Into Her Future" and talks with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham about death, desire, and the disembodied voice.  "Into Her Future" can be found in Elizabeth Metzger's forthcoming collection, The Going Is Forever (Milkweed Editions, 2026), now available for preorder .

In Episode 16 of Multi-Verse, poet Devon Walker-Figueroa reads "Private Lessons," in which a dying man determines that his young pupil must become a prima ballerina, and chats with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham about the uses of silence, breaking Dante's rhyme scheme, and what it means to be haunted by lessons long since over. What use?" her dancer wonders, "in maligning his methods now?" This...

In Episode 15 of Multi-Verse, poet Philip Metres reads "Fugitive" and talks with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham about memory, home-longing, and paying attention to the accordion of time. "Fugitive" can be found in Metres's latest collection, Fugitive/Refuge (Copper Canyon Press, 2024).

In Episode 14 of Multi-Verse, poet Barbara Tran reads "Loon Song" and chats with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham about the fever, living with uncertainty, and the wisdom of the beehive. "Loon Song" can be found in Tran's debut collection, Precedented Parroting (Palimpsest Press, 2024).

In Episode 13 of Multi-Verse, poet Eugene Ostashevsky reads five sonnets and talks with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham about mixing humor with horror and the stupidity of war. Eugene Ostashevsky's latest poetry collection is The Feeling Sonnets (New York Review Books, 2022).

In Episode 12 of Multi-Verse, poet Timothy Liu reads "Last Christmas" and chats with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham about the poem's themes of love, desire, and loneliness—and how much detail is enough to tell a story. "Last Christmas" can be found in Liu's collection " Down Low And Lowdown: Timothy Liu's Bedside Bottom-Feeder Blues " (Barrow Street Press, 2023).    

In Episode 11 of Multi-Verse, poet Monica Youn reads and discusses "Study of Two Figures (Agave / Pentheus)." In a conversation with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham, Youn explores representations of Asian identity in Greek myth and the immigrant family sitcom—"Euripides meets Margaret Cho." "Study of Two Figures (Agave / Pentheus)" can be found in Youn's collection "From From" (Graywolf, 2023), a...

In Episode 10 of Multi-Verse, poet Niina Pollari reads and discusses "How to Read This Poem." In a conversation with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham, Pollari talks about what it means to be honest in a poem about grief. "How to Read This Poem" can be found in Pollari's collection "Path of Totality" (Soft Skull, 2022), available here:  softskull.com/books/path-of-totality/ Listen to more poetry: w...

In Episode 9 of Multi-Verse, poet J. Mae Barizo reads and discusses her poem "Sunday Women on Malcolm X Boulevard." In a conversation with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham, Barizo explores the rhythms of the body, wildfires near and far, and the intimate power of the couplet. "Sunday Women on Malcolm X Boulevard" is part of J. Mae Barizo's second poetry collection, Tender Machines , published in M...

In Episode 8 of Multi-Verse, poet India Lena González reads and discusses her poem "ACT ! pose with fingers as though cigarette (puff puff)." In a conversation with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham, González explores writing as choreography, the politics of casting, and the exhilaration and exhaustion of performance. "ACT ! pose with fingers as though cigarette (puff puff)" is part of India Lena G...

In Episode 7 of Multi-Verse, poet William Archila reads and discusses his poem "Northern Triangle Dissected" with host Evangeline Graham, in a conversation about the migration stories of unaccompanied minors, the legacy of the Central American Crisis, and using metaphor to convey psychology. "Northern Triangle Dissected" is part of William Archila's new manuscript All Things Dark & Invisible. An e...

In Episode 6 of Multi-Verse, poet CM Burroughs reads her trio of "Dear Liver" poems and discusses themes of grief, agency, and questioning one's faith with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Read CM Burroughs's "Dear Liver" poems in her second collection, Master Suffering (Tupelo Press, 2021), here: www.tupelopress.org/product/master-suffering/ Listen to more poetry: www.multiversepoetry.org

In Episode 5 of Multi-Verse, poet Amanda Gunn reads her poem "What You Meant" and discusses its themes of love, grief, and memory—and the pleasurable possibilities of rhyme and iambic meter—with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Learn more about Amanda Gunn and her forthcoming debut collection, Things I Didn't Do with This Body (Copper Canyon Press, 2023): www.coppercanyonpress.org/authors/amanda-...

In Episode 4 of Multi-Verse, poet Gregory Kan reads and discusses poetry from his book Under Glass with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham. This conversation explores world-building, how to approach the experience of trauma in text, what humans have that artificial intelligence doesn't, and how much information is just enough. Gregory Kan's Under Glass (2019) is available from Auckland University Pr...

In Episode 3 of Multi-Verse, poet Mikko Harvey reads and discusses his poem "Let the World Have You" with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham, in a conversation that explores the inner desires of objects and how to let go of reality in writing about nature. Find the full text for "Let the World Have You" in Mikko Harvey's new book by the same name (Let the World Have You, House of Anansi Press, 2022)...

In Episode 2 of Multi-Verse, poet Wendy Xu reads her poem "A Sound Not Unlike a Bell," and chats with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham about the poem's themes of family, migration, and revision as a practice of love. It's a special opportunity to hear a poem of this length performed in a single sitting—sit back and feast your ears. Find "A Sound Not Unlike a Bell" in Wendy Xu's new book, The Past...

In Episode 1 of Multi-Verse, poet Erika Meitner reads and discusses her poem "Thumbs-Up for the Mothership" with host Evangeline Riddiford Graham, in a conversation touching on climate change, Miami, and Whitman vs Dickinson. Read the poem: https://www.vqronline.org/photography/2021/06/reimagining-magic-city