Poet Talk

For episode 9, Sanna discusses crushes with local love expert EJ Kneifel. EJ and Sanna define crushing through concentric circles; compare and contrast their poetic natures; and strike the gong of ekphrasis and guides.  The spirit of Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid broadly informs the conversation: mothering, dreams of oneness, and relentless, even vicious, desire for freedom. Together, the duo explores q...

Episode eight marks a transition! This episode of Poet Talk is just Sanna and she explains why. Learn more about new directions, returning to newsletters, and practical and poetic reasons why this poet, at least, is talking about newness. * ⛰️ Another Mountain  💌 The letter a.k.a transcript of this episode "Starlings in Winter" 🐦‍⬛ The poem by Mary Oliver the newsletter is named after...

In episode seven of Poet Talk, Jody and Sanna are joined by award-winning Toronto poet, Farah Ghafoor, to talk about trees. Together, the trio explores photos of snails after the rain; the ethos of commas; power and prestige as barriers to poetry; and the practice one creates the feeling of time in a poem. Against the backdrop of the magic and factuality of long poems—and the sharp political and e...

In the sixth episode of Poet Talk, we’re joined by one of our favourite poets: Diana Khoi Nguyen . Together, we explore swimming as both a poetic and life practice. A master class on the body's inherent abilities as well as the legacy of inherited sound, this episode dives deep into what it means to sculpt language like water.  What does learning to speak have to do with learning to swim? How...

In the last episode of 2024, Jody and Sanna reflect on the first year of the podcast and their own places in writing community. They also do a close reading of one of their favourite poems: “God is an American” by Terrance Hayes. Together, they investigate beauty’s difficulty and longing’s limits, informed by the wisdom of Audre Lorde, Heather Christle and Lena Khalaf Tuffaha among others. How is...

In the fourth episode of Poet Talk, Jody and Sanna talk to poet, linguist and lawyer Chim Undi about language. Why do adults tell certain kids to become lawyers? How do people find themselves in the world of spoken word poetry? From erasure poetry to text trajectory, Canadian court cases to poetry's penchant for uncertainty, the trio traverse interpersonal beliefs, linguistic axioms and the p...

In this episode of Poet Talk, Jody and Sanna dive into one of our favourite topics: dogs. What kind of poems would a dog write? How do they see (or smell) the world? The duo share their favourite dog poems and earliest dog memories. From protest dogs to canine colonial history, Eileen Myles to Mary Oliver, join us as we talk play, mastery, grief, devotion, freedom and more. * Cool Stuff Below! 🛍️...

Welcome to the second episode of Poet Talk! In this episode, Jody and Sanna talk to Palestinian poet, critic and editor Summer Farah about the parasocial. Together, they delve into all things online: video games, prose poems and Tumblr as a critical space. The trio defines the parasocial by analyzing pop culture, like Chappell Roan and Mitski's “solidarity” with Palestine and Richard Siken&ap...

Join us for the pilot episode of Poet Talk, a podcast where poets talk. In this episode, future cohosts Jody Chan and Sanna Wani delve into beginnings with questions like, "How does a poem begin?" and "What is the beginning of poetry?" Chan and Wani share some of their favourite poem beginnings, etymologies and more. From politics to gossip to lore, this epsiode is an introduct...