Queer Poets Society

“But for practicality and to save time, in the vast universe, they put tiny elevators in every apartment building, and now, in my wheelchair, there is no room for me to go up, no room for me to go down, there is not room for me to live in the vast universe, where Up and Down are relevant” (Αρτέμης Μαυρομμάτης / Artemis Mavrommatis). In today’s episode Mars Tarassenko is joined again by Eleftheria...

One day, Avery Selk was working at their local bookstore when Will Tosh, the head researcher of the Shakespeare Globe and author of Straight Acting: The Hidden Queer Lives of William Shakespeare, moseyed on in. Naturally they had to get their hands on a copy (a signed one at that!). In today’s episode, Mars Tarassenko and Avery Selk explore the nature of homosexuality along with the metatheories o...

Ever feel like you're living in the shadow of a thousand-year-old statue? In today’s episode, Mars Tarassenko sits down with Eleftheria Papanikolaou to talk about Greek queer identity, tradition, and the weight of legacy. We lay the groundwork for a bigger conversation on Greek queer poetry—digging into how Ancient Greece still shapes the present, how national identity is built around the past, an...

No voice is unwanted, representation is key to self discovery. In today’s episode of QPS, Mars Tarassenko is joined by Renata Pérez-Hernández in exploring the intersectionality of Latine and Queer identities in poetry and literature. Join us as we pad the reading list for our roomie book club and share stories of our personal experiences with recognizing ourselves in the works we read. We discuss...

Poetry doesn’t change the world, poetry changes people, and people change the world. In today’s episode of QPS, Mars and Sophia discuss poetry as a personal and political tool to make the world a better place. Sophia publishes her writing for free on Substack at Thoughts Across Bostonia , and she has an upcoming chapbook, Alchemies, Arrivals , through Quillkeepers Press. 

You heard it here first folks, if you want to make friends, go to poetry open mics. In today’s episode, Mars Tarassenko and Cameron Vanderwerf discuss all things weird and silly, and how comedy is a crucial aspect of poetry that helps contribute to the creative outlet and community as a whole. Join us as we discuss memorizing poetry, laughs as external validation and other elements of performance...

Mars and Chinyere take a dive into the history of poetry vs plays, and how many writers have struggled to categorize themselves into either label (or even both). Does reading poetry versus having it read aloud change the experience for you? Does seeing a play versus reading it do something similar? Come along and ‘nerd out’ with us over this fun Venn diagram of art forms. 

Mars and Ollie sit down and discuss how being disabled/chronically ill inherently changes one’s view on the world, and how, through poetry, one can better cope with the flawed systems that are meant to take care of us. With topics ranging from the rise of the Cripple Punk movement, to mainstream artists such as Halsey using their voice to raise awareness, we explore how disabled poetry is a corner...

Mars Tarassenko is joined in today’s episode of Queer Poets Society by Kapil Kachru, a Boston based writer and fellow regular at Trident Open Mic Poetry who has started to become obsessed with the musings and writings of Canada’s most famous word jockey, Leonard Cohen. We honor those who embrace the precarious balance between poetry and song-writing, light and dark, and the masculine and feminine...

In today’s episode of Queer Poets Society, Mars Tarassenko is joined by their first guest on the show, Mary Schwab, to discuss her experience in slam poetry and writing and performing “weird shit” as a therapeutic hobby. Delve with us into her slam “eras”, including sex with god and clones, as we discuss all things slam poetry!

Starting off Season 2 of Queer Poets Society, Mars Tarassenko reads from the Collected Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950), a Pulitzer Prize winning poet who ventured fearlessly beyond familiar poetic subjects to tackle political injustice, social discrimination, and women’s sexuality in her poems and prose. Featured poems include “Short Song”, “Renascence”, and What thing is this that, b...

In today’s episode of Queer Poets Society, Mars Tarassenko revisits Richard Siken’s work, this time via his 2016 poetry collection War of the Foxes. They read and explicate four poems from the book: The Way the Light Reflects, Landscape with Fruit Rot and Millipede, War of the Foxes, and Three/Four Proofs.

In today’s episode of Queer Poets Society, Mars Tarassenko reads from The Heartbreaks, a chapbook published by the Trident Poetry Collective in Boston, MA. The authors featured are Brynna Boyd, Sage Futterman, Mary Schwab, and Camila Martorell Michell. And yes, the title is a pun from Nicole Kidman’s AMC ad :)

In today’s episode of Queer Poets Society, Mars Tarassenko reads from the poems The Orange, by Wendy Cope, Two-Headed Calf, by Laura Gilpin, Tomato, by Joy Sullivan, as well as some of Mars’ personal work, evoking that fresh, hopeful feeling of summertime.

In today’s episode of Queer Poets Society, Mars Tarassenko reads from Sylvia Plath The Collected Poems.

In today’s episode of Queer Poets Society, Mars Tarassenko reads from Richard Siken’s award winning book, Crush. Siken's work is 'confessional, gay, savage, and charged with violent eroticism' and 'his manner is sheer manic improv'.

Mars Tarassenko delves into the world of mental health in today's episode. Trigger Warning: Discussions involve topics of mental health including depression and anxiety.

Today we delve into the world of Sappho, an ancient Greek poet from the island of Lesbos. Known for her lyric poetry, she focused on love, desire, and passionate personal emotions. Often called the "Tenth Muse," her work was highly admired in antiquity, though much of it survives only in fragments. Little of her work remains, and little is known about her life, we do know she is associat...

The Iliadic Sappho Diaries is a project in which Mars Tarassenko rewrites the story of book 18 of The Iliad (when Achilles learns of Patroclus' death) in the style and worldview of Sappho.

In the pilot episode of Queer Poets Society, Mars Tarassenko reads aloud from their own works of poetry, discusses Emily Dickinson's queerness, and talks about the importance of the presence of poetry in the podcast scene.