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
Feb 27, 2024 • 1h 10min
Let Light Form
Nam Le on commerce, irony vs. sincerity, and being in the Arctic.
Feb 13, 2024 • 46min
Stay in Character
Gregory Pardlo on improv, therapy, and driving around with his father’s ashes.
Jan 30, 2024 • 50min
Instructions for Divorce
Caitlin Cowan on rejection, tradwives, and poems from our better self.
Jan 16, 2024 • 1h
Make Art for Me
Blake Butler on complex mourning, the suicide of his wife Molly Brodak, and finding his way back.
Jan 3, 2024 • 45min
Poets We Lost in 2023
Remembering the lesbian poet and activist Minnie Bruce Pratt, as well as the Palestinian poet and symbol of the resistance, Refaat Alareer.
Dec 12, 2023 • 37min
The Utopian Business
Steve Zeitlin and Bob Holman on the healing act of writing, small frogs, and politics at the fiddle festival.
Nov 30, 2023 • 54min
Cease and Desist
Laura Mullen on academia, death threats, and doing the next brave thing.
Nov 14, 2023 • 46min
Falling Off the Stairs
Daniel Brock Johnson on risk, a T-shirt mantra, and life after the death of his friend James Foley.
Oct 31, 2023 • 47min
Ghost Sister
Sebastian Merrill on the voice of his former self, the underworld, and laughing during yoga.
Oct 17, 2023 • 53min
Living in And Times
Sahar Muradi on cyclical time, leather butterflies, and saying goodbye to her father.
