The Poetry Space_

Poetry Anthologies have more than a nodding acquaintanceship with Dickens—anthologies seem to be the best of poetry and, at times, the worst of poetry. In this episode, we look at the history of Best American Poetry, which was retired last year, and touch on the Pushcart Prize. We also bring up ethical considerations and look at Billy Collins'  Poetry 180 . Lastly, we make an announcement: the Fir...

In the absence of fake blood and stick-on fangs, what makes a poem spooky? In this episode, we examine the old standbys (Poe and Dickinson) as well as go on the hunt for haunting new favorites. At the Table: Katie Dozier, Timothy Green, and Brian O'Sullivan.

Poets known for writing short poems are all too uncommon. In this episode, Katie & Tim look at two of contemporary poetry's best: Andrea Cohen and Mike White. What is the strength in brevity? Tune in to get the long and short of it! At the Table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green.

Our Prufrock deep dive continues as the table turns from the poem to everything it set loose. We take on the most controversial aspects of the long poem, and what about those the 38 lines Eliot cut? We dare to eat the peach. At the Table:  Katie Dozier, Timothy Green, Brian O'Sullivan, Dick Westheimer, and Joe Barca.

T.S. Eliot was 22 when he drafted it, 26 when Ezra Pound finally strong-armed it into print, and the first edition took five years to sell 500 copies. In this episode, we walk "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" from that etherized evening sky down to the ragged claws—Dante's epigraph, the yellow fog that's a cat, the coffee spoons, and the overwhelming question nobody ever ask...

Our Mary Oliver deep dive continues as Katie Dozier and Timothy Green take a closer look at her craft, philosophy, relationship with her audience, and enduring influence on contemporary poetry. Through readings and close discussion of work from across her career, we consider what Oliver understood about clarity, attention, accessibility, and the reader—and why her enormous popularity may have caus...

Mary Oliver is one of the most beloved—and most often most dismissed—American poets. Katie Dozier and Timothy Green look beyond the familiar story of the nature poet, exploring Oliver’s life, craft, popularity, and the tension between the deeply personal and strangely impersonal in her work. Along the way, we read and discuss some of her most famous poems, including “The Journey” and “Wild Geese,”...

Over twenty years ago, the  Los Angeles Times called our guest "the most despised—some would say most feared—man in American poetry.” We invited Alan Cordle Villegas to talk about Foetry.com—the website he created, initially anonymously, with the tagline: “Exposing fraudulent contests. Tracking the sycophants. Naming names.” Would he do it all again? What does it mean to be transparent in an...

Marie Howe went from eldest of nine in Rochester, to winning a Pulitzer Prize last year. Lucia Perillo was a wildlife biologist and park ranger, and later a MacArthur genius—writing about MS with more jokes than most poets manage about anything. This week’s Duel puts  What the Living Do  head-to-head with  Inseminating the Elephant —Who wins? Tune in and see whose lines land the strongest! At the...

With the aim of getting to more listener questions, Rattle editors Timothy Green and Katie Dozier return to demystify the editing process. When is a poem publishable? Tune in to hear our thoughts on many different aspects of poetry editing.

What goes into editing one of the largest poetry magazines? In this multi-part series, Rattle editors Timothy Green and Katie Dozier pull the curtain back on the process, offering up their own insights into surprising aspects of the process as well as fielding questions from listeners. More to come! At the Table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green.

Timothy Green and Katie Dozier go head-to-head in a Poetry Duel between  The Arkansas Review  and  Fourteen Hills , each armed with randomly-picked poems they think can take the other magazine down. They read, debate, and question each other’s taste, as always! Together, they decide which literary journal wins bragging rights—all while talking contemporary poetry, editing, and what actually makes...

Part two of our "bring a poem you love" experiment picks up where we left off, finishing out Joe Barca's pick, James Wright's "A Blessing" (yes, THAT ending). Then Dick Westheimer digs into the dirt with Ada Limón's "The Burying Beetle," and we close out with Billy Collins' "The Art of Drowning." Craft talk, scansion, and a few strong opinion...

This week, everyone at the table comes bearing gifts — not their own poems, but someone else's genius they can't stop thinking about. Tim kicks things off with Alan Shapiro's "Closer," a breakup poem disguised as a baseball play-by-play, before Brian O'Sullivan brings us Alicia Ostriker's "Demeter to Persephone," a myth retelling with a shockingly modern mom...

Mary Oliver is widely considered the most popular English-language poet of recent generations. In this episode, we put her work head-to-head against revered poet Jack Gilbert by analyzing three random poems from each of their collections. We explore themes of light and darkness, accessibility, and poetic craft in this lively discussion. It's poet vs. poet. Who will win this time? At the Table:...

Katie & Tim take a look at his new book,  Poems for Katie . Tim shares his poems, discusses how the subconscious comes into play, and talks about the power of prompts. How did poetry help him find his way? Tune in this week to find out. At the table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green.

In this raw episode, Katie talks about  Residency Review: A Memoir in Verse . She shares poems from her new book, and together Katie and Tim explore the emotional landscape that went into crafting it. At the Table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green

It’s AGNI vs.  New England Review  in a literary-magazine duel for the ages—or at least for the slightly over-caffeinated poetry set. As always, we never know where these duels will lead us, and this one includes a heated discussion of imagism and its evolution. Which journal will reign supreme? Tune in to turn the pages. At the table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green

When it comes to meter, free verse poets have been known to ask, “what’s in it for me?!” In part two, Katie and Tim keep the party going with Susan Spear, Brian O’Sullivan, Chelsea McClellan, and Christiana Doucette, moving into visible form, hidden form, terza rima, repetition, rhyme, humor, and one thing not often discussed within the realm of meter: free verse!  At the table: Katie Dozier Timot...

Patterns are all around us, and meter doesn’t have to be scary--even with its mysterious little slash marks reminiscent of gaping wounds. In part one of this two-part conversation, Katie and Tim talk with Susan Spear, Brian O’Sullivan, Chelsea McClellan, and Christiana Doucette about how English verse actually moves—from the big drumbeat of alliterative verse to the sneakier pleasures of iambs, sp...

In this episode, we're once again joined by ONE ART: A Journal of Poetry's editor, Mark Danowsky to talk about how Katie and Mark began curating the yearly haiku anthology. We continue sharing some of the great poems curated in this years' anthology. At the Table: Katie Dozier Timothy Green Mark Danowsky

In this episode, we're joined by ONE ART: A Journal of Poetry's editor, Mark Danowsky to talk about how Katie and Mark began curating the yearly haiku anthology. We share some of the great poems curated in this years' anthology. At the Table: Katie Dozier Timothy Green Mark Danowsky

It's been a while since our last duel, so we were primed to come out swinging for this episode, which pits Volume 57.1 of Modern Haiku up against Poetry magazine's March 2026 issue. How will the short poems stack up against the longer ones? Tune in to find out who reigns victorious! At the Table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green

Episode 134 finds us joining Rhina Espaillat at her kitchen table, along with Pedro Poidevin. After enjoying lunch Rhina prepared, she talks about verse feels like a dance to her. Along the way, Rhina reads from  For Instance , bringing wit, grace, and the kind of effortless music that makes you want to pull up a chair and stay awhile. At the Table (Rhina's!): Katie Dozier Timothy Green Rhina...

Part two of this mini-series on songwriting continues backstage at the House of Blues, only a few hours before Frank Turner's concert. This episode further explores metaphor and we finally get to hear Frank's poem! At the Table: Katie Dozier  Timothy Green Frank Turner