Poema Podcast

In this episode, my friend, ace advocate and writer Elle Rose, joins me to hear me tell my story of how I discovered I'm demisexual and on the asexual spectrum. Firstly, I talk about how I discovered what demisexaulity is and began to resonate with this label. I then discuss how once I acknowledged my demisexuality, and looked back at my life and my relationship to my sexuality, how it explained a...

I'm honoured to welcome back my friend, author Marla Taviano today. In this episode we talk about her recent book of poetry, 'Jaded'. We talk about the messiness of deconstruction, the parts of the journey where we need to get things of our chest, release the grief, anger and trauma we carry, and learn to speak truth to ourselves and of ourselves.  Marla shares her own journey and how this is refl...

This week my friend Amanda Held Opelt returns, and we discuss grief rituals, why they were popular in the reign of Queen Victoria, and the impact of the first world war on our cultural grief rituals and how we process grief & loss. We also explore how the trauma and grief culturally felt and experienced in the first World War, had an impact on the allied nations initial response to Hitler's tyrann...

This week my friend Douglas Humphreys returns to the show, and we discuss the show 'Obi Wan Kenobi', and the dynamic of the relationship between him and Anakin Skywalker (AKA Darth Vader) in the context of their respective journeys of grief and trauma. We discuss their experiences of grief, including in their own relationship, and the circumstances which contributed to the stories and outcomes of...

This week Amanda Held Opelt returns to continue our exploration of grief and transformation in pop culture. Today we talk about the contrasting experiences of Loki, brother of Thor and Wanda Maximoff, and how we see this ultimately play out in their respective MCU shows.  We explore how Loki's confrontation with his own trauma, grief, and his actions, ultimately transforms and heals him. In contra...

I'm honoured to be joined today on my podcast by anti-racist activist, educator and speaker Tori Williams Douglass.  Tori runs 'White Homework', a resource educating people on anti-racism and whiteness. Today Tori tells us a bit of her story and journey into activism. She then discusses the concept of whiteness, where it originated, where we see it, and the harm it does, individually and societall...

TW: Stories of acephobia Today Marshall Blount ( @AceGentle on twitter) joins me today to share his story of discovering his identity as an asexaul (ace) and his journey into ace & LGBTQI activism.  We talk about the challenges he faced in discovering going public about his ace-ness and how others reacted, how it impacted his mental health, as well as his experiences of acephobia.  We also talk in...

This week, in our 350th episode, Amanda Held Opelt joins me again for the second part of our series on superheroes, grief and modern mythology.  This week we explore the character and story of Superman, in particularly the one we see in the Christopher Reeve movies. He's a character who loses his adoptive father as a teenager, an event which drives him into a life trying to save people, never expr...

This week I begin a new series with my friend Amanda Held Opelt to discuss how grief is explored in superhero stories, and how they have become our modern mythology.  Today we focus mainly on Batman, exploring his story sand how his grief transforms and initially controls him, with Batman an expression of his raw grief. We discuss some of the stories in prominent Batman movies, as Bruce Wayne proc...

This week Jenna DeWitt returns to the show for a conversation about Taylor Swift's recent album "Midnights" and the enneagram. Jenna briefly introduces the enneagram and we talk a bit about Taylor's likely enneagram numbers 9 (3w4). Then we explore how this relates to the recent fallout with Ticketmaster regarding her tour. Then we talk about how the album is reflective of Taylor's own personal an...

TW: Spiritual abuse, evangelicalism, toxic religion   Today I'm joined by Carissa ( @carissaexplainsnothing ) who courageously shares her story, including her deconstruction and experience of toxic religion. She talks about her upbringing with evangelicalism, and a path she began to see as already pre-determined and inevitable. Carissa shares some of the spiritual abuse she experienced, and the gr...

This week I'm honoured to be joined by Candice Czubernat. She is a therapist (known as @lesbiantherapist on IG), and founder of The Christian Closet, an LGBTQ affirming counseling, coaching and spiritual direction organization. She is also the founder of Gloriously Queer a conference for LGBTQ people of faith developed by LGBTQ people of faith. Today Candice shares her own story, talks about her w...

Today I'm joined by returning guests Trace Bell and Tina Olsen to discuss grief and the spirituality of dogs.  Tina shares her experience of grief, and both her and Trace share their experiences with dogs, and learning and understanding their consciousness and building relationship with them, and how this can improve our mental health. They discuss how dogs can be extra intuitive and aware of our...

In this week's episode author Amanda Held Opelt joins me to discuss the cultural and historical impact of the Black Death during the 1300's.  We discuss the collective grief and trauma experienced by the countries impacted by the Black Death, and the longer term consequences for the church, culture and ultimately the history of western culture. We explore the consequences of collective cultural gr...

In today's episode we return to our irregular pop culture series, with author Marla Taviano joining me to discuss the popular show - and one of our favourites - Schitts Creek.  We talk about the various character arcs, and how these explore personal deconstruction and transformation after a major life change. We also explore the culture of the show which normalised LGBTQ inclusion and was such an...

I'm honoured to be joined today by my friend, colleague Maria Francesca French today. Maria is a professor, theologian, author and coach, exploring all things Christian and post-Christian.  Today she shares her personal journey, and talks about her first book, Safer than the Known Way, and we discuss together the root of the term deconstruction. We explore the concept of event, and how event begin...

**Trigger warning: religious abuse, toxic religion** Today author and podcaster Nikki Pappas joins us to talk about her book "As Familiar As Family: Leaving Toxic Religion". Nikki tells us her powerful story of how she experienced abuse as love from a young age, being brought up in an evangelical family, being groomed for unhealthy relationships and toxic religion.  She talks about she finally bro...

Today author, YouTuber and public theologian Damon Garcia is my guest, as we explore the call of Jesus to social activism. Damon shares his own spiritual journey, and how he discovered a Jesus who takes sides with the marginalised and the oppressed and who fights for their liberation. Damon then explores how we need to follow this example, in the oppressive systems we currently find ourselves in,...

Today my friend author, podcaster and tik tok star Rev Brandan Robertson joins me to talk about his new book 'Dry Bones and Holy Wars'. In this episode he and I explore how the teachings of Jesus can inspire us bring social and spiritual renewal in a world engulfed by toxic systems of oppression, and where there is so much grief, trauma, inequality, and marginalisation. Brandan talks about what a...

**TW: Eating disorder**   This week author, podcaster & speaker Jackie Gronlund (she/her) is my guest. Jackie shares her story, talking about her relationship with her body, and learning self acceptance.  Jackie talks about the challenges of living with an eating disorder and other coping mechanisms and escapes, and how this impacted her life, spirituality, relationships with others. and her relat...

Today my friend, podcaster, coach, speaker and author Rev Sarah Heath returns to Poema! In this episode we catch up with what she's been up to, and she shares the story of how she chose to leave working in ordained ministry to create a life which was truly her own, and becoming fully embodied in her vocation and her life.  Sarah talks about the challenges of moving out of ordained ministry, and th...

I'm honoured to be joined by Thomas Floyd LCMHC, a psychologist and therapist. He tells us a little of his story, and then we explore the connections between the process of deconstruction and issues of co-dependency and attachment types in relationships of all kinds  We talk about how toxic religious systems can teach us co-dependency and unhealthy attachment models, and how we can unlearn these t...

Honoured today to be joined by my friend Erin Green M.Div (she/they). Erin is a queer activist and scholar. Today their share their story of deconstruction, and discovery and exploration of their queer identity. They discuss how they reconciled the two, how this impacted their life, faith & relationships, in particular their relationship with Christianity & the church, and finding healthy communit...

Today I'm joined by Sarah Kimble, as we continue my exploration of pop culture with a discussion on the book / movie "Pride & Prejudice".  We explore the cultural context it was written and how this impacts how we read and interact with the story and characters. We also discuss the character of Mr Darcy and make the argument that he may well be autistic, and explore examples of this, and how this...

This week I'm joined by Dr Amy Marschall. Dr Amy is a licensed psychologist and certified in telemental health, working with children aged 2-18 and experienced and qualified in giving ADHD & autism diagnoses. She's also authored or co-authored several books.  In this episode she talks about her experiences working with children with ADHD and autism. She shares about how her reaction to the dramati...