Poetry Medicine for the Soul

Poetry Medicine for the Soul, a podcast hosted by John Gillespie, invites poets to share and examine poetry. This episode is part of our mini series celebrating the 2025 National Poetry Month. Episode 19 features Angela Dribben reading "Animal Instinct" by Raye Hendrix, from her book What Good is Heaven. Angela and John then explore the question: What does National Poetry Month mean to you?  Angel...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie. Episode 18 celebrates National Poetry Month. This episode features Maine Poet Laureate Julia Bouwsma reading multiple poems from her forthcoming collection, Death Fluorescence. Julia Bouwsma is Maine’s sixth state Poet Laureate. Julia lives off-the-grid in the mountai...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie. Episode 17 features Angela Dribben reading “In my throat” and Caren reading “Not About Weather or Onions or the Poem You Wrote Twenty-four Years Ago Today.”   In my throat By Angela Dribben Another life. Lungs of the forest. Roots pulse comforts to one another. The fi...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie.  Episode 16 features Kathryn Petruccelli reading “Whales” and Paola Bruni reading “Limoncini".   Whales By Kathryn Petruccelli I have a photo of my mother in a gray hoodie on a boat—a whale watching trip. We see a few tails at a distance. Regardless, for the five-hour...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie. Episode 15  features Scott Cunningham reading “Hear The Offspring and 311 Cover Each Other’s Hits,” and Sarah Trudgeon reading “Miami Vacation!”   “HEAR THE OFFSPRING AND 311 COVER EACH OTHER’S HITS” By Scott Cunningham -SPIN magazine tweet, July 19, 2018   I can’t he...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie.  Episode 14 features James Davis and Jessica Hammack. James reads “Focus on the Family, 1996” which was originally published in The Sewanee Review. Jessica reads “Free Country” which was originally published in The Baltimore Review. Focus on the Family, 1996 By James...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie.  Episode 13 features five poets - Karren Alenier, Tara Betts, Bernadette Geyer, Fred Marchant, and Aaron Caycedo-Kimura - reading poetry in response to Gertrude Stein’s book Tender Buttons. In this episode, Karren brings together poets from From the Belly Volume II: P...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie. Episode 12 features Suzanne Frischkorn and Georgia Popoff. Suzanne reads “Dear America” from her book Whipsaw and Georgia reads “St. Anthony and Stephen Hawking Conspire to Maintain Order” from her collection Living with Haints. Dear America by Suzanne Frischkorn It's...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie. Episode 11 features Annie Lighthart reading her poems from various collections and books: “In the Middle of Human Invention,” “White Barn,” “Conditions of Happiness,” “Portable Typewriter on a Small Leaky Boat,” “For the New Year,” and “The Verge.” Annie Lighthart is...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie. Episode 10 features Dane Cervine reading from his new book DEEP TRAVEL - At home in the [Burning] World. Dane Cervine is a Poet, Zen practitioner, and Therapist who lives in Santa Cruz, California along the Monterey Bay coast.  Dane Cervine’s latest book is a contempl...

Jennifer Martelli (she/her/hers) has received fellowships from The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Monson Arts, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her work has appeared in The Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day, Poetry, Best of the Net Anthology, Braving the Body Anthology, Verse Daily, Plume, The Tahoma Literary Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of Psychic Party Under the Bot...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie. Episode 8 features Meg Weston and Margaret A. Haberman, both of The Poets Corner. Margaret reads “The Redemption Center” and Meg reads “The Island in the Middle” from Margaret and Meg’s collection, To the Point and Back: Swimming Poems.  The Redemption Center By Marga...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie.  Episode 7 features Lisken Van Pelt Dus and Robin Scofield. Lisken Van Pelt Dus reads “Remix: The Paper Brigade” from her forthcoming book How Many Hands to Home (January 2025). Robin Scofield reads “Small Pools in a Dry Río Grande” from her book Ridge of High Pressur...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie.  Episode 6 features Megan McDermott and Millie Tullis. Megan reads “Dear Ruth, on the Purity, or Impurity, of Attention,” published in the Vita Poetica Journal. Millie reads “Getting There” published in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. Ruth, on the Purity, or Im...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie. Episode 5 features Amanda Russell and Susan Ayres. Amanda Russell reads “Rediscovery” from her chapbook Processing . Susan Ayres reads “Unforeseeable” from her chapbook Walk Like the Bird Flies. Both poets are part of the Fort Worth Poetry Society .   Rediscovery By A...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie. Episode 6 features Emily Pérez and Sasha West. Emily Pérez reads “How I Learned to Be a Girl” from her book What Flies Want , and Sasha West reads “Habitable,” from her book How to Abandon Ship . HOW I LEARNED TO BE A GIRL By Emily Pérez If the beast is unpredictable...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie. Episode 3 features poets Malachi Black and George David Clark. Malachi reads multiple poems from his new collection Indirect Light : “Bildungsroman,” “Old Polaroids,” and “In Our Perishing Republic.” David reads multiple poems from his new collection Newly Not Eternal...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie. Episode 2 features Holly Iglesias and Landon Godfrey. Holly reads “Innocence Abroad,” a finalist for the Charles Simic Prize from Hole in the Head Review," and Landon reads “Junk Drawer” from Inventory of Doubts. INNOCENCE ABROAD   By Holly Iglesias Travel in Europe f...

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie. Season 5 Episode 1 features Andrea Deeken reading “Poem for my Daughter" from her chapbook Mother Kingdom, and Darla Himeles reading "Ferning" from their book Cleave. Poem for My Daughter on the Day They Announced the End of the World   By Andrea Deeken   The radio sa...