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
Mar 8, 2022 • 53min
Listen for My Name
Julie Enszer and Elena Gross on community care, the AIDS epidemic, and OutWrite, the conference that shaped queer literary history.
Feb 22, 2022 • 45min
Ghost Diplomat
Hoa Nguyen on photographs, her mother's past with the motorcycle circus, and the quiet ways to talk to ghosts.
Feb 8, 2022 • 53min
My Body, My Stones
Poet and playwright Malcolm Tariq on listening, field trips with his brother, and the perils of dating while Black.
Jan 25, 2022 • 56min
The Big Hollow
Kaveh Akbar on human wondering, fat squirrels, and the best spouse in the world.
Jan 10, 2022 • 58min
A Little Wrong
Bianca Stone on family trauma, wrinkled towels, and the case against self-improvement.
Dec 21, 2021 • 31min
Poets We Lost in 2021
Remembering the life, poetry, and activism of Janice Mirikitani, plus a few words on love by bell hooks.
Dec 7, 2021 • 49min
Bird in a Drawer
Keats Conley on smelly ducks, spiders, and the limits of the human perspective.
Nov 23, 2021 • 1h 2min
How to Be a Family of One
Steven Espada Dawson on possibility, toothpaste, and the grief of cosmic aloneness.
Nov 9, 2021 • 1h 2min
Heart of a Reporter
Noor Hindi on home ownership, evictions court, and her father's grief.
