Words That Burn - Poetry Podcast

Should we accept the world as it is? Harsh realities and all? Langston Hughes certainly didn't think so. In his poem Tired, he lures the reader in with a soothing recognition of the exhaustion of the modern world. Then quickly uses their attention to deliver a call to action for change and revolution. In this deceptively brief poem, everything that made Langston Hughes a leading figure of the Harl...

Do you ever feel at odds with yourself or the world around you? I think it's an unavoidable truth of being human to be torn on occasion. U.S Poet Laureate Ada Limón has certainly felt and recognised this in others. In this poem, Torn, Limón examines the nature of division and dichotomy through an unusual image; a dead snake. This dead snake becomes a treatise for the poet to explore how separation...

What should we do in a time of crisis? Become stoic? Take stock? Flounder in existentialism? In the case of Frank O' Hara, why not all three? In Meditations In An Emergency, the speaker finds themselves in a spiral of self-doubt and melancholy self loathing. All this happening in the wake of a separation from their love. Frank O' Hara creates a stream of consciousness to document the highs and low...

Do you ever wish for a blank slate? What would it cost? These are exactly the questions that Rachel Long's The Yearner hopes to answer. This week's poem looks at the pressures we all face in modern life and the toll our own experiences take on us. Rachel Long weaves solid poetic technique and a unique ability to create intimacy together to show the lengths some people will go to to escape those pr...

Is love truly madness? It's certainly foolishness for Poet E.E. Cummings. In this episode I explore Since Feeling is First , one of his more famous love poems that looks at the way in which love almost always overrides reason. It is a fine example of the mastery Cummings held over form, grammar and syntax. On its surface it is a seemingly simple theme but, like all Cumming's works, that surface im...

What does Paranoia really feel like? It's an absolute nightmare according to poet Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill's S ceimhle. In this poem Ní Dhomhnaill fuses folklore and terror to create an allegory for a woman's experience in life. She weaves together a folkloric dreamscape in which to set all this. Death omens and portents of doom haunt every line as an unnamed character attempts to find any kind of refu...

What do you associate with the good times in your childhood? For Stephen Sexton it's Super Mario World, the classic 1991 video game for the SNES. In his truly moving poem Outrageous, Sexton takes on a journey of grief and possible consolation using the level as a lens. Memory and Reality merge together into a pixelated landscape that Sexton fills with emotion and exploration. It is all a stunning...

What is defiance exactly? Is it an act of bravery in the face of a tyrant? A bold battle cry against a Goliath? Or could it simply be a refusal to engage, to fuel, the passions of our abusers? The latter is certainly the case of this poem; The Courage of Shutting Up by Sylvia Plath. In the poem, Plath utilises her trademark mercurial imagery to paint a portrait of a woman long oppressed. She expre...

It's the season of things that go bump in the night! So in honour of Halloween I've brought you two poems about creatures that make a big bump. The first poem is Windigo by Louise Erdrich, a poem on the decaying spirit of cannibalism that haunts the North American wilderness. This is swiftly followed by Instructions for not becoming a werewolf by Abjgail Parry. A poem on battling the monsters with...

Is beauty more important than depth? Is nature the ultimate form of beauty? Do you believe in giving in to experience over rationality? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then this week's poem is for you. This episode looks at To Autumn by John Keats, the final full poem written by his hand. In it Keats writes the ultimate tribute to his favourite season and in doing so cemented hi...

Why do we find those who light fires within us? The people we know will burn us to the ground? The lure of chemistry and lust is a hard one to turn from and yet when we manage it, there is a quiet triumph to be felt. This battle of desire and restraint is explored in a subtle yet engaging way in this week's poem. at half eleven in the Mutton Lane in, I am fire, slaughter, dead starlin gs by Doirea...

To what extent can the natural world help inform our inner lives? More importantly can it paradoxically irritate and soothe some of the wounds we've managed to accrue? Séan Hewitt certainly seems to think it can. This week on the podcast I take a look at his poem Two Reflections from his collection Tongues of Fire. I take a look at the masterful way that he harnesses nature and the world of symbol...

What lurks behind the glory days? Is there salvation in nature? Or has humanity moved to far forward in it's relentless pursuit of progress? These are the questions that Charlotte Mew puts to us in her poem Fame. Though all this hides her true question; Can we ever find a peace between our inner desires and social contracts? Charlotte Mew is surely one of the most tragic figures to emerge from the...

Is love always a positive thing? How many forms can it take? More importantly, how can we learn to accept it. These are all questions tackled in Henri Cole's poem Gravity and Center. In this week's episode we look at Henri Coles uniquely direct and sometimes abrasive style of poetry. We examine the unflinching biographical elements of his work and his incredible ability to evoke emotions in reader...

How do we capture those brief and fleeting moments when we fall in love with someone? Might I suggest a ghazal? On this week's episode we take a look at Ghazal by Mimi Khalvati. Khalvati expertly navigates the rigorous Arabic form making it a perfect vehicle for the English Language. In the process of doing so she reconnects the native culture of her birth, Iran, with the adopted culture of her pr...

Can we ever really value what we have in the moment? Will we always realise too late what we've lost? These are two of the key questions tackled by Northern Irish Poet Michael Longley's poem Laertes. A self confessed ''lapsed classicist'' Longley expertly retells the famous story of Odysseus reuniting with his father Laertes and in doing so explores the themes of loyalty, family, and memory. Using...

What responsibility do we have to use our voice? More importantly who is that responsibility to? If we were to follow the example of poet and activist Audre Lorde, the answer would be everyone. Throughout her life Lorde sought for the inclusiveness of all, no matter what colour, preference or ethnicity. She worked tirelessly to ensure that every soul had a voice. Using her own experience in her po...

How do you grind through the day to day in a system that is designed against you? That is precisely the question at play in Fenton Johnson's poem Tired. Johnson was a figure of the Harlem Renaissance and this week's episode examines the movement and it's impact on African American Identity. Johnson's poem is the beleaguered cry of a man who has had enough from the society around him. It is a cry t...

Fear is one of our oldest companions and in many cases an unwelcome one. In her poem, I Give You Back , Joy Harjo explores the toxic and often suffocating relationship we can have with our fear. In this intensely biographical poem that showcases her own struggles with panic and anxiety, as well as her peoples struggles since the colonization of America. It is a poem that seeks to find way to heal...

Ireland might always be associated with the land. That's certainly the way it was for much of the 20th Century and while certain Irish poets sought to romanticise this connection between the land and it's people Patrick Kavanagh chose to do the exact opposite. Kavanagh was a poet who chose instead to look at every aspect of Irish society seeming to revel in the less polished side. In this poem Epi...

I was lucky enough to get to talk with poet and academic Katie Condon about her new poetry collection Praying Naked. In the interview Katie delves into what made her begin to write poetry, why it's often a refuge for her and just what it means to make poetry today. Her work encompasses so many different aspects ranging from an unflinching look at sexuality and desire, to challenging the narrative...

What happens when we completely lose touch with nature? What chaos could occur? That's exactly the question put forward by Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh in this week's show. In her poem Conriocht she invokes a more primal version of Ireland to explore the territory of miscommunication and isolation all through the Irish language. It's seachtain na gaeilge this week in Ireland and so the episode is intende...

What does it mean to make art in the modern world? Is it for public consumption or is it simply for personal expression and achievement? More importantly what happens when we grind down the time we should be setting aside for creativity? All these questions and more are tackled in this weeks poem: The Panther by Rainer Maria Rilke. Rilke was a modernist master and manages to create a poem that res...

How do you come to terms with loss? Is it simply part of life or should it be examined and carefully acknowledged? These are the themes and questions at play in One Art by Elizabeth Bishop. The poem looks at the difficulty of moving on from a loss and in some cases how it's simply not possible. You can find a copy of the poem here:  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47536/one-art The sho...

Which poet gives love a grander form? Byron? Keats? Cummings? What about the everyday love. The kind of love that stumbles and doesn't flare into a phoenix like eruption? The kind of love that hesitates and takes its time? In that case, Todd Colby's got you covered. In this week's excellent poem , You'd Think the Sky Would Run Out of Water, he employs his usual blend of chaos and humour to show ju...