Poetry Off the Shelf
Poetry Foundation
Producer Helena de Groot talks to poets about language, dreams, love and loss, identity, connection, anger, discomfort, the creative process, the state of the world and the world of the soul. Hard conversations are welcomed—laughter is, too.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jul 16, 2024 • 53min
Ecology of Love
Camille Dungy on her garden, writing from the provinces, and the poetry of Anne Spencer.
Jul 2, 2024 • 46min
Good For the World
Dorothea Lasky on The Shining, writing what you fear, and the ferocity of color.
Jun 18, 2024 • 53min
A Stone Worth Addressing
Merlin Sheldrake on fungi, creativity, and the queerness of nature.
Jun 4, 2024 • 58min
Habitual Sins
Elisa Gonzalez on bisexuality, humor, and working in finance.
May 21, 2024 • 53min
Style All the Way Down
Joyelle McSweeney discusses integrating poetic elements into everyday life, crafting poetry in a peripheral location, creating a crown of sonnets dedicated to John Keats, unveiling hidden atrocities through poetry, recounting personal experiences with hearing loss, recounting a heartbreaking journey through hospital stays, overcoming a writing block through rules and style icons, and reflecting on loss and beauty through tactile memories.
May 7, 2024 • 53min
The Fire in Which We Burn
Sara Henning on radical truth, obsessive forms, and letting go of grief.
Apr 23, 2024 • 1h 5min
My Heart and Its Borders
Philip Metres on middle age, writer's block, and praying for the people of Palestine.
Apr 9, 2024 • 45min
My Awesome Stoma
April Gibson on chronic illness, religion, and being a teenage mother.
Mar 26, 2024 • 47min
Working-Class Superheroes
Declan Ryan on his father's construction job, tenderness between boxers, and the inevitable tragic end.
Mar 12, 2024 • 55min
All the Shiny Knives
Monica Rico on cooking, grunt work, and the heat at General Motors.
