The Talking Poem Podcast

I talk with Cornell Classics faculty Athena Kirk about Thomas Hardy's Victorian-era--not ancient--poem " Shut Out That Moon ." As a bonus, we discuss Louise Glück's " Afternoons and Early Evenings " and discover connections and contrasts between two poems that we did not intend to pair. Lost to a recording glitch, for better or worse: a reference to 1994's Reality Bites . You also get to hear a sn...

I talk with poet, editor, teacher, et. al. Rebecca Morgan Frank ( Oh You Robot Saints! ; Memorious ) about Louise Glück's poem "Snowdrops" from her 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning collection The Wild Iris . Then we play a game called "Oh, You Robots Ain't S." Bonus: I forget the word "grammatical" exists, and Morgan shares a great Allen Ginsberg story. Also referenced: "charity supergroup" The Rock Bo...

In this tribute to my cat Sophie who recently passed, I talk about two poems that evoke him in particular, odd ways: Marge Piercy's "The cat's song" and Edward Hirsch's "Fast Break." Fun fact: I recorded this four times before I was satisfied enough.

I talk with comedian, podcaster, and teacher John Cullen ( Blocked Party , Most Likely to Be a Comedian ) about Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop for Death." Then we play a game called " Who Didn't Start the Fire." Also mentioned: Charles Simic's "Eyes Fastened with Pins"; Canadian poet Shane Koyczan .

Aid for Palestinians in need: Anera ; Palestine Children's Relief Fund ; Medical Aid for Palestinians . I talk with poet Joy Priest ( Horsepower ; Once a City Said: A Louisville Poets Anthology ) about Carl Phillips' "Somewhere Holy. " Afterward, we talk about Joy's poem "All the Men that Summer who Said I Love You " (scroll down for her poem). Finally, we play a game I call "Mommas, Don't Let You...

I talk with Julie Phillips Brown ( The Adjacent Possible, editor of House Mountain Review ) about Mark Doty's elegy "The Embrace" (at this link, missing the word "you" before "warm brown tea"). We also mention scholar Peter Sacks's book The English Elegy, Jahan Ramazani's Poetry of Mourning, and Doty's poem "Brilliance," from his collection Sweet Machine (the poem is online in several places but i...

I talk with poet Kim Addonizio about Ruth Stone's poem "Train Ride," then about Kim's poem "Kansas 4 a.m." Other poets and poems mentioned include Kay Ryan , Elizabeth Bishop's "The Moose," Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 , James Dickey's "The Heaven of Animals," and Ruth Stone's "Curtains."

In this episode, William Callahan brings in Ocean Vuong's poem "Beautiful Short Loser." We talk about trans experience and the revised edition of the poem that appears in Vuong's collection Time Is a Mother . I forget to make the joke that I'm a beautiful tall loser.

Several guests postponed due to illness, so here's a "Short Form" episode on sound in Robert Hayden's classic "Those Winter Sundays." I draw attention to sound effects in the poem that receive less attention. Also, I give you a little peek behind the curtain of the show in the silliest segment to date.

I'm introducing a new kind of episode that I'm calling Short Form, in which I'm going solo about a poem or poems. In this episode, I talk about vowel sounds in Gerard Manley Hopkins' "God's Grandeur," Gwendolyn Brooks's "kitchenette building," and some of T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." I also offer a bribe for positive reviews.

I talk with Erica Dawson ( When Rap Spoke Straight to God , The Small Blades Hurt ) about Anne Sexton's poem "Her Kind." We also talk about the term "confessional poetry," listen to a recording of Anne Sexton reading "Her Kind," and dip into the obsessive prose of one of Sexton's fans.

I talk with poet and long-time friend Andrea Hollander ( Blue Mistaken for Sky , And Now, Nowhere but Here ) about Catherine Barnett's poem " Son in August ." Andrea also shares a fantastic poem from her new collection.

I talk with critic and colleague Roger Gilbert (author of Walks in the World: Representation and Experience in Modern American Poetry and co-editor of Considering the Radiance: Essays on the Poetry of A. R. Ammons ) about A. R. Ammons' poem "Mechanism." Roger is working on a critical biography of Ammons and brings in an earlier draft of the poem.

I talk with Cynthia Arrieu-King ( Continuity , The Betweens ) about Adam Zagajewski's incredible poem "To Go to Lvov," translated by Renata Gorczynski. I also put her through the paces of an impossible game. Also mentioned: John Ashbery's "The Instruction Manual."

This is a short intro to the format of the podcast and why I'm doing it. Poems live in and among readers. Brought to you by Williams Hardware.