Close Talking: A Poetry Podcast

By Cardboard Box Productions, Inc.

What's Close Talking: A Poetry Podcast about?

Close Talking is a poetry podcast hosted by good friends Connor Stratton and Jack Rossiter-Munley. In each episode the two read a poem and discuss at length. The pop culture references fly as freely as the literary theories. Close Talking is a poetry podcast anyone can enjoy.

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Close Talking: A Poetry Podcast episodes:

07.07.2023
Episode #179 [Hiatus!] Tune - Kay Ryan
Connor pops in to announce incredibly belatedly what has already been apparent for months: Close Talking is on a hiatus! We've had some big life and career changes that have unexpectedly cut into our capacity for the podcast, but it's...
01.16.2023
Episode #178 Remembering Charles Simic
A slight departure from our regular format. On today's show, Connor and Jack remember the recently departed poet Charles Simic. They read some of his poems, reflect on them, discuss his life and legacy, and even give a shoutout to...
12.24.2022
Episode #177 [Flicking off the light switch.] - Sherwin Bitsui
Connor and Jack bid farewell to the year they've taken to calling "Twenty Twenty Poo" and contemplate the complexities of language in a wide-ranging conversation about a spectacular untitled poem by Diné poet Sherwin Bitsui, from his 2009 collection Flood...
12.09.2022
Episode #176 Topsoil, In Repentance - Sherry Shenoda
Connor and Jack discuss the sonically and thematically dense poem "Topsoil, in Repentance" by Sherry Shenoda. Shenoda's book MUMMY EATERS was longlisted for the National Book Award in 2022. The conversation moves from an exploration of internal rhymes and alliteration,...
11.25.2022
Episode #175 - Poetry Spoken Here Ep. 132: Black Lives Matter
After a busy couple weeks at Close Talking headquarters, a slightly different show. This episode is from our sister-podcast, Poetry Spoken Here. The episode first aired in the summer of 2020 and was simply called "Black Lives Matter." The poems...
11.18.2022
Episode #174 National Book Award Winner John Keene and Punks - SPECIAL EPISODE
In this special episode, Connor and Jack discuss the 2022 National Book Awards — the long list, the finalists, and the winner "Punks: New and Selected Poems" by John Keene. They read and explore a marvelous poem from the collection,...
11.12.2022
Episode #173 The Dancing - Gerald Stern
Connor and Jack discuss a classic poem from a classic poet: The Dancing by the recently departed Gerald Stern. They marvel at how the poem is constructed, get deep into a discussion of encroaching fascism, and even have time to...
10.29.2022
Episode #172 A Time - Allison Adelle Hedge Coke
Connor and Jack have a time talking about the poem "A Time" by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke. She is a multi-award winning poet whose latest book-length poem "Look at This Blue" is on the short list for the 2022 National...
10.19.2022
Episode #171 Not Writing - Anne Boyer
Connor and Jack dig into the list/poem/prose piece/literary mystery Not Writing by Anne Boyer. Along the way they discuss what they are and are not writing themselves, Jack asks about why the poem never becomes monotonous, and Connor offers his...
09.26.2022
Episode #170 america, MINE - Sasha Banks
Connor and Jack discuss Sasha Banks' poem, america, MINE from her collection of the same name. They start by examining some of the poem's formal elements like its lack of traditional punctuation, and quickly jump to big themes like how...
09.10.2022
Episode #169 I Hear A Dog Who Is Always in My Death - Samuel Ace
Posted at long last after overcoming major technical difficulties!! Connor and Jack dive into the poem "I Hear a Dog Who is Always in My Death" by Samuel Ace. They discuss the poem's evocative imagery, ruminate on it's call to...
07.26.2022
Episode #168 First Snow - Arthur Sze
Connor and Jack discuss the poem "First Snow" by Arthur Sze. They discuss life, death, being, nothingness, and all the hidden meaning waiting to leap out of the every day. They also talk about how some poems can urge us...
07.09.2022
Episode #167 REBROADCAST: The Lynching Postcard, Duluth, Minnesota - Ray Gonzalez
A dive into the Close Talking archives - one of the first episodes we ever recorded in which we discuss the poem "The Lynching Postcard, Duluth, Minnesota" by Ray Gonzalez. Poetry can seem a little insignificant in the face of...
06.11.2022
Episode #166 Small Illuminations from REFUSE TO DISAPPEAR w/Special Guest Tara Betts
Connor and Jack are joined by special guest Tara Betts to discuss the poem "Small Illuminations" from her forthcoming collection REFUSE TO DISAPPEAR. They discuss the legacy of Margaret Taylor-Burroughs, the realities of incarceration, and how the collection REFUSE TO...
05.27.2022
Episode #165 Self-Interrogation from DEAR GOD. DEAR BONES. DEAR YELLOW. w/Special Guest Noor Hindi
Connor and Jack are joined by poet, essayist, and journalist Noor Hindi. They dig into the poem "Self Interrogation" the first poem in Hindi's new collection DEAR GOD. DEAR BONES. DEAR YELLOW. coming out on 5/31 from Haymarket Books. She...
05.20.2022
Episode #164 Elegy - Aracelis Girmay
Connor and Jack explore Aracelis Girmay's poem "Elegy" from her 2011 collection Kingdom Animalia. They talk through the opening line's call to community and the ways it resonates with Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese," they get scientific while discussing the nature...
05.01.2022
Episode #163 Revelations, Time Distortion, and Surprise - Line Break Week Ep. 7
Connor and Jack conclude their exploration of poetic line breaks with a bit of a catch all episode looking at how line breaks can reveal information, play with time, and enhance surprise. They pull examples from Audre Lorde, Chris Tse,...
04.30.2022
Episode #162 Ambiguity in Line Breaks - Line Break Week Ep. 6
As line break week hurdles towards its conclusion, Connor and Jack pause to consider ambiguity in line breaks. When the meaning of a word or phrase is altered by the positioning of a line break. They discuss the classic WB...
04.30.2022
Episode #161 From Meters to Measures: Rhythm in Line Breaks - Line Break Week Ep. 5
Connor and Jack delve ever deeper into the world of poetic line breaks. This time they're looking at how line breaks build rhythm in poems. They discuss rhythm within lines running through various literary terms and talking through some of...
04.29.2022
Episode #160 Using Poetic Line Breaks for EmPHAsis - Line Break Week Ep. 4
Connor and Jack continue their exploration of all the ways lines can be broken and all the reasons a poet might have for breaking a line. Today they discuss using line breaks for emphasis focusing on the poem "The Pope's...
04.28.2022
Episode #159 Drama's Silent Cousin: Miming with Line Breaks - Line Break Week Ep. 3
Connor and Jack continue their dive into the intricacies of the poetic line break this time discussing miming in line breaks. They draw examples from Pierre Joris, James Wright, and Frank O'Hara to close out National Poetry Month 2022 in...
04.28.2022
Episode #158 Who Will Bring the Drama? The Line Break! - Line Break Week Ep. 2
Connor and Jack continue their week-long exploration of line breaks in poetry closing out National Poetry Month 2022. Today they focus on how line breaks can build drama in a poem. Do they take a detour into discussing Entourage along...
04.26.2022
Episode #157 Why Break a Line? - Line Break Week Ep. 1
Starting a little later than planned, but it's time for the fourth annual last-week-of-poetry-month Close Talking extravaganza! In past years Connor and Jack have talked about haiku, shared comforting poems, and investigated the sonnet. Now, they take on their grandest...
04.23.2022
Episode #156 Beckoned - Forrest Gander
Connor and Jack discuss "Beckoned" by living legend Forrest Gander. The poem, from Gander's Pulitzer Prize winning collection "Be With" grapples with grief and loss. In the discussion, Connor and Jack touch on the poem's use of anaphora and use...
04.08.2022
Episode #155 Buttercream w/Special Guest Caitlin Scarano
Connor and Jack are joined by special guest Caitlin Scarano to discuss the poem "Buttercream" from her new collection THE NECESSITY OF WILDFIRE. The collection won the Wren Poetry Prize, selected by final judge Ada Limón. Scarano discusses the poem,...
03.26.2022
Episode #154 A Sunset of the City - Gwendolyn Brooks w/Special Guest Michael Kleber-Diggs
Connor and Jack are joined by special guest Michael Kleber-Diggs for a conversation about the Gwendolyn Brooks poem "A Sunset of the City." Michael Kleber-Diggs won the 2020 Max Ritvo Poetry Prize, has been widely published, and teaches poetry through...
03.16.2022
Episode #153 The Snow Man - Wallace Stevens
Connor and Jack discuss a classic poem by a classic poet - The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens. They talk about something. They talk about nothing. They talk about how the something of the poem perhaps resides in the nothing....
02.11.2022
Episode #152 I.R.L. - Chris Tse
Connor and Jack discuss the poem I.R.L. by New Zealand poet Chris Tse. They talk about how media representations and creations can cross into reality, the meaning of "gritty," and why S.O.S is so evocative. In the second part of the...
01.29.2022
Episode #151 Hear the Dogs Crying - Christy Passion
Connor and Jack discuss the generation melding poem "Hear the Dogs Crying" by Christy Passion. They discuss the power of car radios, the way the language of the poem leaps along with its subject matter, and even arrive at new...
01.14.2022
Episode #150 Dreams - Nikki Giovanni
Connor and Jack celebrate the 150th episode of Close Talking with a classic poem from a living legend - "Dreams" by Nikki Giovanni. They dig into poem's coming-of-age narrative discussing and along the way make musical references galore. Ray Charles...
12.24.2021
Episode #149 Epistemology - Catherine Barnett
Connor and Jack discuss Catherine Barnett's beautiful poem "Epistemology." Fittingly for the season of solstice logs, Hannukah bushes, and Christmas trees, this poem - which contemplates the nature of knowing - name checks "The Secret Life of Trees" and considers...
12.11.2021
Episode #148 If God Is A Virus - Seema Yasmin
Connor and Jack discuss a poem from Seema Yasmin's book "If God Is A Virus." They discuss Yasmin's status as a journalist, poet, and medical doctor; the way she weaves her many areas of expertise together in the poem; and...
11.27.2021
Episode #147 Remembering Kamilah Aisha Moon, Etel Adnan, and Robert Bly
In a slight departure from our regular format, Jack offers a brief remembrance of three recently departed poets - Kamilah Aisha Moon, Etel Adnan, and Robert Bly. Links to more information about the poets and to the poems read in...
11.18.2021
Episode #146 National Book Award Winner Martín Espada and Floaters - SPECIAL EPISODE
In this special episode, Connor and Jack discuss the 2021 National Book Awards - the long list, the finalists, and the winner "Floaters: Poems" by Martín Espada. They dig into an excerpt from the title poem "Floaters" and discuss how...
11.12.2021
Episode #145 Episode 3: Amanda Waller Has a Woman-to-Woman with Harley Quinn w/Dr. Len Lawson
Connor and Jack are joined by special guest Dr. Len Lawson, co-editor of the new collection "The Future of Black: Afrofuturism, Black Comics, and Superhero Poetry." just released from Blair Publishing. Together they discuss Lawson's poem "Amanda Waller Suite Episode...
10.23.2021
Episode #144 We Are Going - Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker)
Connor and Jack dive into an iconic poem by an iconic poet - Oodgeroo Noonuccal, also known as Kath Walker, a trailblazing indigenous Australian writer and activist. They discuss the history of racism towards indigenous Australian people, explore the ways...
10.08.2021
Episode #143 REBROADCAST: Additional Notes On Tea - Fady Joudah
A return to when Connor and Jack explored Fady Joudah's poem "Additional Notes on Tea." They discuss how the poem moves around the globe, how it interrogates history, and engages with the concept of God. Close Talking Ep. 132: Poetry and...
09.25.2021
Episode #142 The Nightmare Touched Its Forehead to My Lips - Andrés Cerpa
Connor and Jack discuss a poem by Andrés Cerpa whose book "The Vault" was recently long-listed for the 2021 National Book Award in Poetry. They dive into the short poem "The Nightmare Touched Its Forehead to My Lips" unpacking the...
09.17.2021
EXTRA: Foreign Policy Follies and Congressional Subcommittees - More on Shitty Kitty by Don Mee Choi
In this bonus episode Connor and Jack continue their discussion of Don Mee Choi's poem, Shitty KItty. This time they focus on (rant about?) the history of US foreign policy failures, the lack of consequences for the architects of those...
09.11.2021
Episode #141 Shitty Kitty - Don Mee Choi
Connor and Jack discuss Don Mee Choi's "Shitty Kitty" from her 2016 book "Hardly War." They enmesh themselves in the tangled histories the poem explores - racial violence on US Navy ships in the 1970s, massacres committed by South Korean...
08.28.2021
Episode #140 First Snow - Aria Aber
Connor and Jack discuss the poem "First Snow" by Aria Aber. They explore the poem's subtle and marvelous use of perspective, the representation of snow and frost, and the poem's resonances with the devastating impact US war and intervention has...
08.14.2021
Episode #139 Excerpt from John Brown's Body - Stephen Vincent Benét
Connor and Jack dig into an excerpt from the epic, book-length poem "John Brown's Body" by Stephen Vincent Benet. In the late 1920s the book was a mega-best seller and won the 1929 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. They discuss...
07.23.2021
Episode #138 Why I Am Silent About The Lament - Abdullah Al-Baradouni
Connor and Jack discuss the poem "Why I Am Silent About The Lament" by Abdullah Al-Baradouni, translated by Threa Almontaser. Despite being one of the most prominent and influential poets in the Arab world, until recently only one of Baradouni's...
07.09.2021
Episode #137 Time Traveler - Patrick Cotter
Time travel stories are everywhere - Avengers: Endgame, Loki, Back to the Future, Outlander, the list is endless - but what happens when a poem takes on the question of time travel? Connor and Jack dive into Irish poet, Patrick...
06.27.2021
Episode #136 Coping - Audre Lorde
Connor and Jack discuss the Audre Lorde poem "Coping." They discuss Lorde's legacy as a writer and theorist, how poems and other pieces of culture can be palatable containers for unruly emotions, and the nature imagery the poem uses. They...
06.12.2021
Episode #135 Pulitzer Prize Winner Natalie Diaz and Postcolonial Love Poem - SPECIAL EPISODE
The Pulitzer Prizes just announced the 2021 winners and in poetry, Natalie Diaz won for her collection "Postcolonial Love Poem." In this special episode, Connor and Jack discuss the title poem, the histories at play in the collection, Diaz's well-deserved...
06.12.2021
Episode #134 Into The Racism Workshop - Chrystos
Connor and Jack explore the poem "Into the Racism Workshop" by award-winning, Menominee, two-spirit poet, Chrystos. Along the way they discuss the long, complex histories held in the term two-spirit, the wry humor in Chrystos' poem, and the note of...
05.28.2021
Episode #133 REBROADCAST: Say Grace - Emily Jungmin Yoon
This episode revisits Connor and Jack's discussion of Emily Jungmin Yoon's poem "Say Grace." They explore how gender and religion intertwine in the poem, talk about the difficulties immigrant populations face in new oppressive states, and reflect on Emily Jungmin...
05.21.2021
Episode #132 Poetry and Palestine
Connor and Jack share poetry from Palestinian poets and reflect on the power of poetry as a form of resistance. Poems shared: "Resist, My People, Resist Them" by Dareen Tatour: https://arablit.org/2016/04/27/the-poem-for-which-dareen-tatours-under-house-arrest-resist-my-people-resist-them/ "The House Murdered" by Mahmoud Darwish: https://progressive.org/dispatches/the-house-murdered/ "Israelis Let Bulldozers Grind...
04.30.2021
Episode #131 Beyond the Sonnet - Sonnet Week Ep. 7
Connor and Jack close out National Poetry Month 2021 with a series of episodes exploring the history and enduring popularity of one of poetry's iconic forms: the sonnet. To finish off a full week of episodes, a look at some...

What's Close Talking: A Poetry Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Close Talking: A Poetry Podcast episodes:

Episode #179 [Hiatus!] Tune - Kay Ryan

Episode #178 Remembering Charles Simic

Episode #177 [Flicking off the light switch.] - Sherwin Bitsui

Episode #176 Topsoil, In Repentance - Sherry Shenoda

Episode #175 - Poetry Spoken Here Ep. 132: Black Lives Matter

Episode #174 National Book Award Winner John Keene and Punks - SPECIAL EPISODE

Episode #173 The Dancing - Gerald Stern

Episode #172 A Time - Allison Adelle Hedge Coke

Episode #171 Not Writing - Anne Boyer

Episode #170 america, MINE - Sasha Banks

Episode #169 I Hear A Dog Who Is Always in My Death - Samuel Ace

Episode #168 First Snow - Arthur Sze

Episode #167 REBROADCAST: The Lynching Postcard, Duluth, Minnesota - Ray Gonzalez

Episode #166 Small Illuminations from REFUSE TO DISAPPEAR w/Special Guest Tara Betts

Episode #165 Self-Interrogation from DEAR GOD. DEAR BONES. DEAR YELLOW. w/Special Guest Noor Hindi

Episode #164 Elegy - Aracelis Girmay

Episode #163 Revelations, Time Distortion, and Surprise - Line Break Week Ep. 7

Episode #162 Ambiguity in Line Breaks - Line Break Week Ep. 6

Episode #161 From Meters to Measures: Rhythm in Line Breaks - Line Break Week Ep. 5

Episode #160 Using Poetic Line Breaks for EmPHAsis - Line Break Week Ep. 4

Episode #159 Drama's Silent Cousin: Miming with Line Breaks - Line Break Week Ep. 3

Episode #158 Who Will Bring the Drama? The Line Break! - Line Break Week Ep. 2

Episode #157 Why Break a Line? - Line Break Week Ep. 1

Episode #156 Beckoned - Forrest Gander

Episode #155 Buttercream w/Special Guest Caitlin Scarano

Episode #154 A Sunset of the City - Gwendolyn Brooks w/Special Guest Michael Kleber-Diggs

Episode #153 The Snow Man - Wallace Stevens

Episode #152 I.R.L. - Chris Tse

Episode #151 Hear the Dogs Crying - Christy Passion

Episode #150 Dreams - Nikki Giovanni

Episode #149 Epistemology - Catherine Barnett

Episode #148 If God Is A Virus - Seema Yasmin

Episode #147 Remembering Kamilah Aisha Moon, Etel Adnan, and Robert Bly

Episode #146 National Book Award Winner Martín Espada and Floaters - SPECIAL EPISODE

Episode #145 Episode 3: Amanda Waller Has a Woman-to-Woman with Harley Quinn w/Dr. Len Lawson

Episode #144 We Are Going - Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker)

Episode #143 REBROADCAST: Additional Notes On Tea - Fady Joudah

Episode #142 The Nightmare Touched Its Forehead to My Lips - Andrés Cerpa

EXTRA: Foreign Policy Follies and Congressional Subcommittees - More on Shitty Kitty by Don Mee Choi

Episode #141 Shitty Kitty - Don Mee Choi

Episode #140 First Snow - Aria Aber

Episode #139 Excerpt from John Brown's Body - Stephen Vincent Benét

Episode #138 Why I Am Silent About The Lament - Abdullah Al-Baradouni

Episode #137 Time Traveler - Patrick Cotter

Episode #136 Coping - Audre Lorde

Episode #135 Pulitzer Prize Winner Natalie Diaz and Postcolonial Love Poem - SPECIAL EPISODE

Episode #134 Into The Racism Workshop - Chrystos

Episode #133 REBROADCAST: Say Grace - Emily Jungmin Yoon

Episode #132 Poetry and Palestine

Episode #131 Beyond the Sonnet - Sonnet Week Ep. 7