Soapbox Where I Can Shout It Podcast

I’m teaching an online asynchronous introduction to literature class this summer and - blessedly! - we have arrived at the poetry section of the course. I always encourage students, readers, friends, anybody who will listen to read poetry aloud . It is an oral tradition, a multisensory experience. You can’t get poetry speed reading it off the microscopic pages of some arduous anthology (shout out...

A sloppy send-off of National Poetry Month 2026 with some original poems. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyisapoet.substack.com

Nick Axene joins the pod for the month’s penultimate episode celebrating National Poetry Month 2026 with a recitation and conversation about his excellent - and criminally un-titled! - poem about his guitar. You can see Nick’s poem in the Spring 2026 issue of Gesture , found at this link. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus epis...

A few choice cuts from Billy Collins’ latest collection, Dog Show to celebrate (belated) Desi’s birthday and an upcoming newsletter on recent books by “America’s favorite poet.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyisapoet.substack.com

Last night, ODU I hosted a poetry reading to celebrate the long and wonderful history of Ohio Dominican’s literary magazine, Gesture , and the future of Her wonderful writers. In this podcast you’ll hear a few cuts from the magazine’s history as well as a bit of an artist’s statement for what the literary arts means to me. Once the University gets around to publishing the full audio from the event...

Welcome to the audio version of the “Notes from the Classroom” newsletter published last weekend. Enjoy! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyisapoet.substack.com

Happy birthday to our featured poet, my mom, sharing work from when This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyisapoet.substack.com

Super-sized podcast episode today! We celebrate the work of Kaveh Akbar with a poem from his debut chapbook, Portrait of the Alcoholic and most recent monograph, Pilgrim Bell (2021) which I reviewed for my old blog. I thought it would be fun to revisit that review, sandwhiching it between an old Kaveh poem and a new Kaveh poem. The review can be enjoyed in newsletter form by clicking right here! A...

Featuring some poems from the recent(ish) collection by José Olivarez Promises of Gold . This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyisapoet.substack.com

I read Ben some Emily Dickinson last night and the jury is out on how much he enjoyed it, but it gave me a lot to think about this morning and maybe it will do the same for you! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyisapoet.substack.com

Sorry for the delay, here’s some e.e. cummings - a poet working on his own schedule by every possible interpretation of the word. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyisapoet.substack.com

Geese, not the band the waterfowl, is the subject of one last poem by Mary Oliver I’m sharing on the pod this month. Look for a longer piece of writing on this poem and a great day in creative writing class sooner, rather than later! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyisapoet.substack.com

How about some baseball poems to celebrate Ben’s first favorite baseball player (sorry buddy, he’s an OAKLAND A, get ready for a life of heartache). I found an old, pre-Ben pre-married to Rachel draft of a piece I wrote called “my boy, baseball” and thought it might make for a neat side-by-side with some updated information (namely: actually having a son). Stick around for some William Carlos Will...

Spend a moment or two or five with some poems by James Wright. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyisapoet.substack.com

Some Mary Oliver for your ears. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyisapoet.substack.com

It wasn’t enough to talk about Jack White yesterday, I had to do a whole episode featuring not just his face but also his poetry! Enjoy cuts from his recentish book Collected Lyrics & Selected Writing Vol. 1 as well as two recitations from a recent visit to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and a poem Jack shared with Meg White at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony earlier this year....

… so why not share every poem about “The Queen’s City” I’ve ever written? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyisapoet.substack.com

Continuing a great conversation in my Intro to Creative Writing class, I share two poems (and a third I don’t recite but will link below) written in the ghazal form, which is a very cool Persian form of poetry that is quite old, but has some nice modern implementations. The form’s tradition is a series of linked couplets with a final couplet where the poet names themself. Old Ghazals were often am...

… but we’re back, and it is to celebrate the milestone fifteenth anniversary of Panda Bear’s fourth studio album Tomboy and a few poems from 2011 when the album was released and 2014 when I revised the record frequently. I mentioned this song, I hope you’ll enjoy it: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyisapoe...

The first poem in this batch is about Desi so here is a picture of her basking in the sun, in case the poem isn’t visually successful! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyisapoet.substack.com

Wherein the poet-podcaster barely masks the bad vibes plaguing him and shares an original poem about outer space. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyisapoet.substack.com

Revising an old friend poet who I used to love. Weird to reflect on how deeply a poet - as a reader - can change over the years. I hadn’t opened Jon Sands’ books in over half a decade (when can you say nearly ten years? seven? six? eight?) so join me as I leaf through The New Clean (2011) and It’s Not Magic (2019) and wander through some old poems. In the pod, I mention a potty-mouthed epigraph. H...

Yesterday I was prepping some course materials for Intro to Creative Writing and I was, as one does when dealing with drama, looking to the words and wisdom of the Immortal Bard Himself. Well its too early to celebrate May the 4th and too early to celebrate old Bill Shakespeare but who gives a darn, here’s some Verily, A New Hope by Ian Doescher. This is a public episode. If you would like to disc...

Spring is upon us (and so is new music by Neko Case but here’s a great oldie ) and with that comes some bad weather. I haven’t lived through a tornado of my own, which I suspect would ruin tornadoes and the Twister films for me, but not yet. I have seen the wind and my roof get into a tussle that my roof ultimately lost. This is to say The Tornado Is the World by Catherine Pierce is a weird little...

Happy Easter! L ast year we celebrated the holiday with some more explicitly “Easter” poetry this year we’re into breezier territory. Today, hear poem by Philip Schultz, and a poem by me (full text below) I wrote over 10 years ago while living in San Francisco. What I Like and Don’t Like after Phillip Schultz I like Ohio and most of the people in it, I like my grandmother’s hands, how they swim li...