Rattle Poetry

Rattlecast #55 features novelist, poet, translator, and diagnostic nuclear radiologist Amit Majmudar. Amit has appeared in Poets Respond twice, and has another poem in the soon-to-arrive fall issue of Rattle. Amit Majmudar’s books include Godsong: A Verse Translation of the Bhagavad-Gita, with Commentary (Knopf/Penguin Random House India, 2018) and the mythological novel Sitayana (Penguin Random H...

This pre-recorded episode features Paul E. Nelson's interview for our summer issue, conducted in March, bookended by a more recent reading of some of his poems. As such, there is no opportunity for audience questions or an open mic, but we hope you still enjoy watching this episode together. The full transcript of his interview appears in Rattle #68: https://www.rattle.com/i68/ Paul E. Nelson is t...

Rattlecast #53 features Rhina P. Espaillat and her three most recent books, including And After All. Rhina was interviewed in Rattle #38 and has appeared in many issues, with both original poems and translations. Rhina P. Espaillat has published ten full-length books and three chapbooks, comprising poetry, essays, and short stories, in both English and her native Spanish, and translations from and...

Rattlecast #52 features longtime friend of Rattle and issue #12 interviewee James Ragan, and his new book, The Chanter's Reed. James Ragan is an internationally recognized poet, playwright, screenwriter, and essayist. He has a Ph. D. from Ohio University and two Honorary Ph. D’s (London’s Richmond U. and St. Vincent College). He served for three years as Poet-in Residence at Cal Tech and for 25 ye...

Episode #51 features Rattle Poetry Prize legend Courtney Kampa. Courtney is a five-time Rattle Poetry Prize finalist, and "Poems about Grace" was winner of the 2014 Readers' Choice Award. Courtney Kampa’s first book, Our Lady of Not Asking Why, was selected by National Book Award winner Mary Szybist for New Issues Press. Her work has received awards and distinctions from Best New Poets, Poets & Wr...

Episode #50 features long-time Rattle contributor David Romtvedt and his newest book, Dilemmas of the Angels, as well has his translations of Basque poetry. David has had poems in five issues of Rattle, including a issue #69 this fall. David Romtvedt is professor of creative writing at the University of Wyoming. The author of more than a dozen books, he has also served as the Poet Laureate of Wyom...

Episode #49 features long-time Rattle contributor Tom C. Hunley and his new book, Here Lies. Tom has appeared in issues 26, 40, 55, and 68 and is a 2020 Rattle Chapbook Prize winner. In a 30+ year publishing career, Tom C. Hunley has placed poems in journals beginning with every letter of the alphabet except for Y. The most recent of his six full-length collections is Here Lies (Stephen F. Austin...

Episode #48 features Kari Gunter-Seymour and her new book, A Place So Deep Inside America It Can't Be Seen. Kari appeared in Poets Respond in 2014, and has been up to a whole lot since, just recently being named Ohio Poet of the Year and Poet Laureate of Ohio. A ninth generation Appalachian, Kari Gunter-Seymour’s work is firmly and unapologetically attached to her home soil and is an examination o...

Episode #47 features frequent Rattle contributor Ron Koertge and his newest book, Yellow Moving Van. Ron Koertge is the author of many celebrated novels, including Stoner & Spaz, Strays, and The Brimstone Journals, all American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults; Shakespeare Bats Cleanup, an American Library Association Top Ten Sports Books for Youth Selection; and The Arizona Kid, an...

Episode #46 welcomes Erik Campbell, one of the most frequent Rattle contributors over the last 20 years. Erik Campbell’s poems and essays have appeared in New Letters, Tin House, Prairie Schooner, The Massachusetts Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Rattle, and other literary journals. His first poetry collection, Arguments for Stillness (Curbstone Press 2006), was named by Book Sense as one o...

Episode #45 welcomes Marc Alan Di Martino and his new book, Unburial. Marc has appeared in Rattle #62, Poets Respond,and was the featured artist for one of this February's Ekphrastic Challenge. Marc Alan Di Martino was born in the United States in 1974. He is the author of Unburial (Kelsay Books, 2019) and co-editor, along with Betsy Mars, of the anthology Unsheathed: 24 Contemporary Poets Take Up...

Episode #44 features Dorianne Laux and her recent recent new and selected collection, Only as the Day Is Long. Dorianne was interviewed in issue #8 of Rattle and has also appeared in issue #25 and Poets Respond. Dorianne Laux’s sixth collection, Only As the Day is Long: New and Selected Poems was named a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Her fifth collection,The Book of Men, was awa...

Episode #43 features John Philip Johnson and his two graphic poetry books, STAIRS APPEAR IN A HOLE OUTSIDE OF TOWN and BOOK OF FLY. The title poems for each of the books originally appeared in Rattle, and John worked with several well-known comic book artists to turn them into Kickstarted books. John Philip Johnson is a poet and writer, mostly doing science fiction and fantasy. He has had work in...

This week's episode of Poets Respond Live features Stephen Gibson's poem for Memorial Day, Tishani Doshi on a tragic mass-shooting in Kabul, Jennifer Jean with a speculative poem, Charles Harper Webb on Little Richard, and much more, including Megan Wildhood, Katie Entner, Harpreet Kathuria, Neal Lemery, Vidya Venkat, and Amit Saha. _____ A weekly livestreaming open mic for all of your news poems....

Episode #42 welcomes Meg Eden and her most recent book, Drowning in the Floating World, about the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Meg has appeared in issues #48 and #49 of Rattle. Meg Eden's father has worked in Japan for most of her life, so she considers Japan her second home. Her work is published or forthcoming in magazines including Prairie Schooner, Poetry Northwest, Crab Orchard Review,...

Episode #41 welcomes Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer and her most recent book, Naked for Tea. Rosemerry has been a regular contributor to Poets Respond and the Ekphrastic Challenge for years. Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer lives in southwest Colorado and is the author of eleven collections of poetry. Her poems have appeared in O Magazine, Rattle.com, TEDx, in back alleys, on A Prairie Home Companion, and on...

Episode #40 features Danusha Laméris and her latest book, Bonfire Opera. Danusha has appeared in issues #31, 33, and 68. Danusha Laméris is the author of The Moons of August (Autumn House, 2014), which was chosen by Naomi Shihab Nye as the winner of the Autumn House Press poetry prize and was a finalist for the Milt Kessler Book Award. Some of her poems have been published in: The Best American Po...

Episode #39 welcomes former Missouri Poet Laureate William Trowbridge and has new book, Oldguy: Superhero—poems from which have been featured regularly in Rattle for years. William Trowbridge holds a B.A. in Philosophy and an M. A. in English from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a Ph. D. in English from Vanderbilt University. He served as Poet Laureate of the State of Missouri from 2012-20...

Episode #38 features Wordplay host George Bilgere and his newest book, Blood Pages. George Bilgere is the author of six previous poetry collections, including most recently, Imperial. The White Museum was chosen by Alicia Suskin Ostriker for the Autumn House Poetry Series. His third book, The Good Kiss, was selected by Billy Collins to win the University of Akron Poetry Award. He has won numerous...

Episode #37 welcomes long-time Rattle contributor Charles Harper Webb and his latest book, Sidebend World. Webb was our very first interviewee, way back in issue #4 (1995). Charles Harper Webb has published twelve books of poetry, including Brain Camp. Webb’s awards in poetry include the Morse Prize, the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, the Felix Pollock Prize, and the Benjamin Saltman Prize. Webb is P...

Rattlecast #36 features Katherine Barrett Swett and her Donald Justice Prize-winning collection, Voice Message. A high school English teacher, Katherine Barrett Swett lives in New York City. She received a PhD in American Literature from Columbia University. Her poems have been published in various journals including, The Lyric, Rattle, Mezzo Cammin, The Raintown Review, and The Orchards Poetry Jo...

Rattlecast #35 features Wendy Barker and her new book Gloss. Wendy Barker’s seventh full-length collection of poems, Gloss, is due out in 2020 from St. Julian Press. Her sixth collection, One Blackbird at a Time, was chosen for the John Ciardi Prize and was published by BkMk Press in 2015. Recipient of an NEA fellowship, a Rockefeller residency fellowship in Bellagio, as well as other awards in po...

Episode #34 welcomes Rattle Chapbook Prize winner and Readers' Choice Award winner Jimmy Pappas and his new book Falling off the Empire State Building. Jimmy Pappas served during the Vietnam War as an English language instructor training South Vietnamese soldiers. He received a BA in English at Bridgewater State University and an MA in English literature from Rivier University. His poems have been...

Episode #33 features Ellen Bass and her new book Indigo. Ellen has appeared in Rattle three times and was the featured conversation in issue #40. Ellen Bass’s other poetry books include Like a Beggar, The Human Line, and Mules of Love. Her poems appear frequently in The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, and many other journals. Among her awards are Fellowships from the NEA, the California Arts C...

Episode #32 features Lola Haskins and her new book Asylum. Lola has appeared in Rattle seven times, including the just-released spring issue. Lola Haskins lives in Gainesville, Florida and Skipton, Yorkshire. Her poetry has appeared in The Atlantic, the London Review of Books, London Magazine, The New York Quarterly, Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner, Rattle and elsewhere, as well as having been br...