The Hive Poetry Collective

We read and discuss "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats and poems from her newest book Burn , published in 2025 by Pitt Press. Barbara Hamby was born in New Orleans and raised in Honolulu. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, Yale Review, and The New York Times . She is the author of seven poetry collections including Holoholo (2021), Bird Odyss...

Roxi Power talks with co-editor Dion O’Reilly about poems in the second volume of En•Trance, an online journal about altered states, in particular, those that arise from entering “the lyric moment” in surreal and visionary poetry.  As always, we laugh, accepting “there is always more dark” as we enter the shadow in strangely humorous poems. In Liz Cambra’s “Survey,” she asks librarians, marmosets,...

We read from Matthew's newest book and also the poem My Father's Locker by James Ciano . Matthew Nienow ’s recently released collection,  If Nothing   (Alice James Books, 2025), has been recommended by the  New York Times Book Review , the  Washington Post  Book Club,  Publishers Weekly ,   and  Poetry Northwest.  He is also the author of  House of Water  (Alice James Books, 2016) and thre...

In this episode of  The Hive Poetry Collective , host  Julie Murphy  talks with poet  Preeti Vangani  about humor, loss, and the surprising ways joy can hold our grief. The episode opens with Vangani reading Ross Gay’s beloved poem  “T o the Fig Tree on 9th and Christian ,”  setting the tone for an exploration of abundance and community. Vangani then reads several poems from her new collection of...

Three “bees” from The Hive Poetry Collective warm your minds with cozy—and existential–conversation about winter poems as we draw closer to the Winter Solstice.   Roxi Power talks with Julia Chiapella and Parker Shabala live in the Santa Cruz KSQD radio station about poetry ranging from Shakespeare’s sonnet to his beloved about aging to Elizabeth Robinson’s new poetry about members of the unhoused...

Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate Nancy Miller Gomez founded the Rising Voices Program, providing Santa Cruz County high school students with workshops led by local poets devoted to introducing poetry to teens. Listen in to hear some of the students read their poetry and learn from the teachers participating how poetry is affecting young lives.

Jane and Dion plumb the mysteries when they read and discuss Hirshfield's newest book, The Asking: New and Selected , which recently came out in paper book. Award-winning poet, essayist, and translator Jane Hirshfield is the author of ten collections of poetry, including  The Asking: New and Selected Poems  (2023);  Ledger  (2020);  The Beauty  (2015), longlisted for the National Book Award; ...

Listen in as Farnaz Fatemi and Maggie Paul preview this year's Morton Marcus Memorial Poetry Reading, taking place Thursday November 20, 2025 at UCSC, featuring Ellen Bass. To register for this week's event go to ⁠thi.ucsc.edu⁠ Find out about the history of this reading series and the accompanying annual $1000 poetry prize . Hear poems from Morton Marcus and several of the past featured poets and...

Ruth Mota joins Julia and provisional Hive member Hannah Tool to read and discuss Dylan Thomas’s Fern Hill and share selections from her debut chapbook, Kitchen Table Midwife of the Dispossessed, which is available for pre-order here . You can hear more of Ruth’s poems on December 4th at “The Power of Her Voice,” a poetry benefit for Santa Cruz Community Health, at Temple Beth El in Aptos - ticket...

Victoria Bañales joins the Hive Live! at Bookshop Santa Cruz on Tuesday Feb 10, 2026 at 7pm. Event information here . Join our non-spamming email list here to keep up with Hive events. Victoria (Vicky) Bañales is the 2025-2027 Watsonville Poet Laureate. A Chicanx educator and writer, she is the author of the poetry collection, The Sun Will Not Harm You by Day, Nor the Moon by Night (Jamii Publishi...

Marie Howe buzzes into the Hive to read from her newest books and also to recite a little Juan Ramon Jimenez . Marie Howe is the author of  New and Selected Poems   (W. W. Norton, 2024), winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry;  Magdalene  (W. W. Norton, 2017), which was long-listed for the National Book Award;  The Kingdom of Ordinary Time  (W. W. Norton, 2009), which was a finalist for the ...

Keetje Kuipers and Dion read and discuss a poem  by Ruth Schwartz and then read from Kuiper's new book, Lonely Women Make Good Lovers. .Keetje Kuipers’ fourth collection of poetry, Lonely Women Make Good Lovers, was the recipient of the Isabella Gardner Award. Her poetry and prose have appeared in American Poetry Review, New York Times Magazine, and Poetry, and have been honored by publication in...

Join Julie Murphy and Dion O'Reilly for a conversation that moves through love, loss, and wonder — from Yeats’  “ The Wild Swans at Coole ”  to Andrea Cohen’s sharp humor in Something , Richard Siken's quiet reflections in  “ Kitchen Window, ”  and the stargazing tenderness of Keith Wilson's  “ there aren’t enough idioms about the stars .”  We’ll also talk about Gabrielle Calvocoressi’s moving  “...

Maxine Chernoff and Paul Hoover talk with Roxi Power in this second part of our interview, revealing their mutual love of film and poetry inspired by it. From Chernoff’s surreal meditations on François Truffaut’s French New Wave film, Jules et Jim, toHoover’s weaving of Wim Wenders’ Lisbon Story into his dreamlike language, we look through the lenses of other artforms—including the deep and unsett...

Emilie joins Farnaz Fatemi to discuss her new book, how poetry helps her stay in touch with "moments [she] felt truly like herself," and giving oneself permission to be in the state--like butterflies in chrysalis--of goo . Moving, wise, and funny thoughts are everywhere when you're talking with Emilie Lygren. Hive Live! hosts Emilie Lygren and Stephen Kuusisto at 7pm, November 4, at Bookshop Santa...

We read and discuss [It is abominable, unquenchable by touch] by Diane Seuss and then read from Kim's newest book Exit Opera. Kim Addonizio    is the author of nine poetry collections , two novels, two story collections, and two books on writing poetry,  The Poet’s Companion  (with Dorianne Laux) and  Ordinary Genius . She has received fellowships from the NEA and Guggenheim Foundation, Pushcart P...

Poet Roger Reeves , author of King Me , Best Barbarian and Dark Days: Fugitive Essays , is a National Book Award finalist, Griffin Poetry Prize Winner, Whiting Award winner and professor at UT Austin. His frank and gracious discussion of poetry, growing up in the Pentecostal church, parenthood, and the importance of silence, carves a path encouraging us toward the revelation that the life we want...

Nicelle Davis is a California poet, collaborator, and performance artist. Her poetry collections include  The Language of Fraction s (Moon Tide Press 2023).  The Walled Wife  (Red Hen Press, 2016),  In the Circus of You  (Rose Metal Press, 2015),  Becoming Judas  (Red Hen Press, 2013), and  Circe  (Lowbrow Press, 2011). Penguin Noir  recently won the Changing Light Novel in Verse Prize from Living...

Joseph Millar 's first collection of poems,  Overtime,   was a finalist for the 2001 Oregon Book Award. His second collection,  Fortune , appeared in 2007, followed by a third,  Blue Rust , in 2012.  Kingdom  was released in early 2017, and  Dark Harvest, New & Selected Poems , was released in 2021. His latest collection,  Shine , was published in October of 2024. Millar grew up in Pennsylvani...

Susan Browne and Dion read from Susan's new book, Monster Mash ⁠ , and talk about Nicole Sealey's poem Object Permanence Susan Browne is the author of four poetry collections, including  Monster Mash  (Four Way Books, 2025) and  Just Living  (Catamaran Literary Reader, 2019), winner of the 2019 Catamaran Poetry Prize. She is a recipient of the Four Way Books Intro Prize, the James Dickey P...

Julia Chiapella interviews the teen editors of the newly published anthology Waking Up (Sixteen Rivers Press). Editors Simon Ellefson and Sylvi Kayser are joined by project advisor, Farnaz Fatemi. The poets read and discuss contributions from the anthology, reflecting a range of themes which matter to young people in the current climate. Waking Up is a poetry anthology from youth throughout Santa...

Award-winning poets and founding editors of the groundbreaking journal, New American Writing, Maxine Chernoff and Paul Hoover talk with Roxi Power about their most recent books from MadHat Press and how poetry canreveal then reconstitute the brokenness of the world.  Hoover says of writing poetry, “You have to purposefully break a few dishes along the way. The brokenness and emotional force bring...

How to access the mind’s expansiveness? Geraldine Connolly reads poems from her new book, Instructions at Sunset , and talks about this as well as excavating the past, family, and how poetry serves as a means of interrogating the self. A two-time recipient of NEA fellowships and the author of four previous books of poetry, Connolly has taught workshops for the Maryland Poetry-in-the-Schools Progra...

In this episode of  The Hive Poetry Collective , host Julie Murphy talks with Leigh Sugar about her debut poetry collection FREELAND. Leigh’s poetry weaves memory, intimacy, and incarceration into lyric that’s as unflinching as it is tender. We chat about language, erasure, love under surveillance, and the ethics of naming. We’ll also discuss the poem  Claiming Language  by Shane McCrae, a poet wh...

Meet Santa Cruz County’s 2025-26 Youth Poet Laureate, Finn Maxwell along with the four inspiring finalists who are part of this year's cohort: Noemi Romero, Xander Shulman, Mason Leopold, and Sylvi Kayser. Each of these teens from different corners of Santa Cruz County will share two poems and talk about their experiences with poetry. To keep up with this year's events and otherwise suppor...