Poem Talk

89

Kelly Writers House impresario Al Filreis leads a lively roundtable discussion of a single poem with a series of rotating guests including Tracie Morris, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, erica kaufman, Charles Bernstein, Sawako Nakayasu, Simone White, and others.

Recent Episodes
  • Passion Shields Its Servants: A discussion of “Souvenir of the Manassah Ball” by Lorenzo Thomas
    Sep 23, 2024 – 00:47:27
  • Don’t Refuse to Breathe: A discussion of Frank O’Hara: “Song (Is it dirty)” & “Poem (Lana Turner Has Collapsed)”
    Jun 28, 2023 – 00:52:23
  • The Whole World Smiles: A discussion of John Giorno’s “Everyone Is a Complete Disappointment”
    May 22, 2023 – 00:51:53
  • Present Plans Succeed: A discussion of Dodie Bellamy’s “Vomit Journal”
    Apr 17, 2023 – 00:55:04
  • Woot of the Century: A discussion of “Welter” and “Static” by Douglas Kearney
    Mar 17, 2023 – 00:51:34
  • Rhetorical Happenings: A discussion of Hoa Nguyen, “Long Light.”
    Feb 24, 2023 – 00:46:05
  • Nothing Made of Ink: A discussion of seven poems by Lisa Fishman
    Jan 11, 2023 – 00:55:09
  • Untranslatable: A discussion of Armand Schwerner’s “Tablet 25” & “‘daddy, can you staple these two stars together to make an airplane?’”
    Dec 22, 2022 – 01:00:56
  • Downgraded to Scribble: A discussion of four poems from Dead Winter by Matvei Yankelevich
    Nov 25, 2022 – 00:53:40
  • Paw Mouthings: A discussion of Maggie O’Sullivan’s “Hill Figures” and “To Our Own Day”
    Oct 31, 2022 – 00:56:16
  • Touch, Love, Then Explain: A discussion of “Some Trees” by John Ashbery
    Sep 28, 2022 – 00:58:15
  • Composition of Life, as Life: A discussion of Joan Retallack’s The Poethical Wager (a several-page excerpt)
    Aug 26, 2022 – 01:03:30
  • Girls in the Supply Chain: A discussion of Sawako Nakayasu’s book Some Girls Walk into the Country Where They Are From
    Jul 25, 2022 – 01:02:29
  • When a Name Falls from a Face: A discussion of a selection from Divya Victor’s book Curb
    Jun 15, 2022 – 01:02:45
  • Trance of Language: A discussion of “Sleeping with the Dictionary” & “Dim Lady” from Sleeping with the Dictionary by Harryette Mullen
    May 23, 2022 – 00:51:50
  • Teach Us Love: A discussion of “Language” and “The Anatomy of Monotony” by Eugene Ostachevsky
    Apr 22, 2022 – 00:58:08
  • Better To Lose & Win: A discussion of Diane di Prima’s Revolutionary Letters
    Mar 14, 2022 – 00:55:31
  • Far in Toward the Far End: A discussion of George Quasha’s “preverbs.”
    Feb 11, 2022 – 00:53:30
  • Hot and Cold: A discussion of Jayne Cortez’s “She Got He Got”
    Jan 14, 2022 – 00:55:23
  • Must It Ring True: A discussion of Myung Mi Kim’s “And Sing We”
    Dec 22, 2021 – 00:55:22
  • Coup Created by Our Thoughts: A discussion of “Colliding and Not Colliding at the Same Time” by Cecilia Vicuña
    Nov 24, 2021 – 00:52:42
  • Punch Fascists: A discussion of “Yes I Do Want to Punch” by Stephen Collis
    Oct 18, 2021 – 00:42:00
  • As Words Label Space: A discussion of Leslie Scalapino’s “‘Can’t’ is ’Night’”
    Sep 27, 2021 – 00:48:00
  • Perilous Bodies: A discussion of “Steveston, B.C.” by Daphne Marlatt
    Aug 27, 2021 – 01:01:52
  • In My Rotting Place: A discussion of “Morning, Morning” & “No Deposit, No Return" by Tuli Kupferberg
    Jul 26, 2021 – 00:58:00
  • This Unwitting Monument: A discussion of two poems from Sarah Dowling’s book Entering Sappho
    Jun 17, 2021 – 00:53:33
  • Biologically Speaking: A discussion of “Love Is Not All” and “I Shall Forget You Presently” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
    May 14, 2021 – 00:50:56
  • Adore Adore: A discussion of “Dada Lama” and “A Small Song That Is His” by bpNichol
    Apr 22, 2021 – 00:52:21
  • With a Little String & a Sharp Stone: A discussion of “Suicide” by Bob Kaufman
    Mar 10, 2021 – 00:53:15
  • A Way to Haunt Me: A discussion of “It All over My Face?” by Kevin Killian
    Feb 17, 2021 – 00:57:45
  • A Way to Haunt Me: A discussion of “It All over My Face?” by Kevin Killian
    Feb 17, 2021 – 00:57:45
  • Damned Fruitflies: A discussion of “With Shelter Gone” by Steve Dalachinsky
    Jan 25, 2021 – 00:56:08
  • Promise To Go On: A discussion of “The Similitude of This Great Flower” by Elizabeth Willis
    Nov 25, 2020 – 00:42:00
  • Rousing Earth to Excel: A discussion of “Arriving” by Daphne Marlatt
    Oct 23, 2020 – 00:55:42
  • Word for Word: A discussion of “The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain” by Wallace Stevens.
    Sep 25, 2020 – 00:50:30
  • That’s Right: A discussion of Eileen Myles’s “Writing” and “Mount St. Helens”
    Aug 26, 2020 – 00:52:38
  • Ominous Pre-tingling: A discussion of “MJ Fan Letter” and “RSVP” by Terrance Hayes
    Jul 24, 2020 – 00:52:56
  • Find Me the Rage: A discussion of “Negus” by Kamau Brathwaite
    Jun 24, 2020 – 00:48:00
  • A Word For Me: A discussion of “Should You Find Me” by Erica Hunt
    May 27, 2020 – 00:49:45
  • Begin to Awaken: A discussion of “By the road to the contagious hospital” by William Carlos Williams
    Apr 24, 2020 – 00:49:18
  • The Gaps I Mean: A discussion of “Mending Wall” by Robert Frost
    Mar 27, 2020 – 00:54:30
  • Knots of a Woman: A discussion of A Swarm of Bees in High Court by Tonya Foster
    Feb 20, 2020 – 00:56:42
  • Mammal Patriot: A discussion of Ghost Tantras by Michael McClure
    Jan 22, 2020 – 00:49:15
  • Beside the Mind: A discussion of Clairvoyant Journal by Hannah Weiner
    Dec 20, 2019 – 00:48:32
  • These Squiggles: A discussion of “As if the Trees by Their Very Roots Had Hold of Us” by Charles Bernstein
    Nov 22, 2019 – 00:44:50
  • September 1941: A discussion of “Memory Tree” by Rosmarie Waldrop
    Oct 28, 2019 – 00:47:30
  • The Republic of Space: A discussion of “The Blue Stairs” by Barbara Guest
    Sep 27, 2019 – 00:47:11
  • Worker’s Tanka: A discussion of six tankas (2 each) by three worker poets, Christine Yvette Lewis, Lorraine Garnett and Davidson Garrett
    Aug 27, 2019 – 00:48:02
  • Written in Water: A discussion of Bluets by Maggie Nelson
    Jul 19, 2019 – 00:47:37
  • Laying Poems Away: A discussion of “The Ambition Bird” by Anne Sexton
    Jun 21, 2019 – 00:47:24
Recent Reviews
  • Literally Upsidedown
    MFA via podcast
    Feels like listening to an MFA seminar. Cool resource that’s taught me lots and opened my perspective on familiar and new poems.
  • Jeffreypoetbaltimore
    Something Imagined, not recalled.
    Providing the original recordings of poets reading their work and the subsequent close readings provided by the podcast editors and guests gives me hope that poetry is not dead. Please keep up the great work. Thank you.
  • toshokes
    Men spoil things for me
    What a shame it is to have a host for a poetry podcast - speak over guests - not taking standard cues of breaks and breaths - and curtailing and controlling the art of conversation. The form has great potential, but the ego here trumps the magic.
  • Daveiii
    Poem Talk? More Like Poem Rawk
    Al Filreis has a gravely, made-for-radio voice in the tradition of Bobby Dylan and Tommy Waits. The conversations are insightful and inviting. The breadth of poets covered is wonderful. The back catalog is extensive. What’s not to love?
  • ALham the fatAL
    Awful
    I love poetry but the poems presented here are ‘meh’ at best, performed lazily, and the discussion that follows is nothing but effete say-nothingness that speaks more to the sensibilities of the “hosts” rather than the craft, history, or medium of poetry itself. If you like poetry that lacks spirit in favor of experimentation, and analysis akin to fly-fishing on a frozen lake then go right ahead.
  • jahoolsbandana
    🐯
    The best available poetry podcast.
  • atreble
    Keeps updating with 20 unplayed episodes
    For some reason, over the past month or so, this podcast keeps updating with 20 unplayed episodes. The problem is, there are no new episodes...all 20 are past episodes. So you have to go through and click "mark as played" on all of them. Big pain. Deleting.
  • pb111
    entertaining and informative
    The "close but not too close reading" descriptor that is used to open these podcasts is accurate. It is typically three folks chatting about what they like about a poem, its structure, word choices and some historical information about the author and the poem. Al Filreis does a good job of keeping the discussion moving as well as from becoming too pedantic. The only recurring weakness is that the sound quality of some of the readings (all of the poems are read by the author) are not that good. The audio quality of the discussions is fine. It would be helpful, if copyright permits, to have the poem presented in the lyrics part of the podcast. Have been able to find them on the web.
  • petrarka
    An astonishing resource.
    I recommend this podcast most highly to teachers, students, writers, & lovers of poetry. The conversation is spirited and unscripted; the choice of poems is superb, running a gamut unmatched by most literary reviews. It's a rare thing to devote an entire conversation to a single poem these days. If only the papers covered poetry with such concentration and verve!
  • Bob's yer uncle
    Good, but not too good
    Nice podcast, but at times it sounds like exactly what it is: poets in a closed room talking about poetry. I have listened to the podcast for several months, and found some of the readings are tight, and others drain the life blood from a poem ("I don't even accept my own reading, but I suppose I can accept hers"). Still one of the better podcasts on poetry.
  • faketattoo
    Breaking down the wall
    Love that this podcast breaks down the thick wall between the sometimes-perceived "esoteric" poetry world and the everyday reader/listener. Poetry can be for everyone! I also hope that these podcasts make for better poets. Nobody likes an under-read poet.
  • Julivox
    I Love PoemTalk!
    "A close...but not too close reading": perfect description. Panelists don't get so close to the poem that we can't see it, but they don't talk around the poem, either. Terrific podcast.
  • mcsbst
    Really, really wonderful
    I was fortunate enough to attend an undergrad institution with small classes. My creative writing advisor would hold classes in his living room, a tray of coffee and tea in the middle. Each discussion harkens back to those days of learning about and interpreting poetry with others. It even improves upon the experience in a specific area: every contributor is distinguished and has interesting insight into the works. (No stinky, weird guy who always has super weird feedback that seemingly has nothing to do with the topic at hand!) Thank you and please, please keep up the wonderful work!
  • s0uthPAW11
    A big thank you to poemtalk
    A wonderful addition to the podcast library! Love that the poems are read by the actual authors. Insightful and entertaining discussion. Please make more!
  • afilreis
    proud and happy it's here
    Well, I'm biased...but I'm very proud and happy that PoemTalk is finally launched. We are having fun with it. Next episode due out January 7, 2008. Then one new one after that every 3 weeks. Subsequent shows feature poems by Adrienne Rich, Allen Ginsberg singing Blake, Ted Berrigan, George Oppen, Jaap Blonk, Jerry Rothenberg. Stay tuned.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork on this page are property of the podcast owner, and not endorsed by UP.audio.