Poetry Off the Shelf

By Poetry Foundation

What's Poetry Off the Shelf about?

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.

4.5

244244 ratings

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Poetry Off the Shelf episodes:

04.09.2024
My Awesome Stoma
April Gibson on chronic illness, religion, and being a teenage mother.
03.26.2024
Working-Class Superheroes
Declan Ryan on his father's construction job, tenderness between boxers, and the inevitable tragic end.
03.12.2024
All the Shiny Knives
Monica Rico on cooking, grunt work, and the heat at General Motors.
02.27.2024
Let Light Form
Nam Le on commerce, irony vs. sincerity, and being in the Arctic.
02.13.2024
Stay in Character
Gregory Pardlo on improv, therapy, and driving around with his father’s ashes.
01.30.2024
Instructions for Divorce
Caitlin Cowan on rejection, tradwives, and poems from our better self.
01.16.2024
Make Art for Me
Blake Butler on complex mourning, the suicide of his wife Molly Brodak, and finding his way back.
01.03.2024
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.
12.12.2023
The Utopian Business
Steve Zeitlin and Bob Holman on the healing act of writing, small frogs, and politics at the fiddle festival.
11.30.2023
Cease and Desist
Laura Mullen on academia, death threats, and doing the next brave thing.
11.14.2023
Falling Off the Stairs
Daniel Brock Johnson on risk, a T-shirt mantra, and life after the death of his friend James Foley.
10.31.2023
Ghost Sister
Sebastian Merrill on the voice of his former self, the underworld, and laughing during yoga.
10.17.2023
Living in And Times
Sahar Muradi on cyclical time, leather butterflies, and saying goodbye to her father.
10.03.2023
Pen Pals
Sean Cole on loneliness, fear of aging, and what poems can do.
09.19.2023
Notes From the Bathhouse
Eric Sneathen on queer utopia, bad writing, and San Francisco in the ’70s.
09.05.2023
The Magic Section
Irène Mathieu on pediatrics, suburbs without a TV, and our body's unknown terrain.
08.22.2023
My Totally Normal Crisis
Natalie Shapero on Wheel of Fortune, babysitting for her landlord, and pretending not to grieve.
08.08.2023
The Eldest Daughter
Rosanna Young Oh on her parents’ grocery store, leaving poetry, and the duties of the firstborn.
07.25.2023
Invisible Hands
Airea D. Matthews on self-interest, starry skies, and her parents’ fateful wedding day.
07.11.2023
Chaos Reigns
Sophus Helle on empire, Calvin and Hobbes, and the world's first author.
06.27.2023
The Fact of a Suitcase
Leslie Sainz on Bill O’Reilly, glassblowing, and the lure of praise.
06.13.2023
Good Old Sonnet
Diane Seuss on New York in the ’70s, virtue, and her father’s early death.
05.30.2023
Add Me to the Forest Floor
Katie Farris on cancer, desire, and her early-menopause care package.
05.16.2023
Let the Record Hide
Paisley Rekdal on maps, Sisyphus, and the dangers of beauty.
05.02.2023
As Best I Could
Aaron Smith on shame, telling the truth, and his mother's last lipstick.
04.18.2023
A Human Joy
Rebecca Gayle Howell and Ashley M. Jones on working-class poems, good food, and their fathers’ bodies.
04.04.2023
Center Stage
Jennifer Jean on foster care, finding her voice, and loving her father as he was.
03.21.2023
Mom, I Love You
Mahogany L. Browne on her first kiss, family secrets, and having your book banned.
03.11.2023
My Alleged Accident
Janine Joseph on memory loss, car sounds, and a mirror that loves you.
02.21.2023
The Book of Possibilities
Peter Cole on his brother's death, finding his vocation, and the erotic pull of letters.
02.08.2023
New Parents
Raymond Antrobus on late-night BBC poetry dubs, real people, and becoming a father.
01.24.2023
Intimate Distance
Gabrielle Bates on betrayal, home church, and living in her mother's slaughterhouse.
01.10.2023
Sonic Trust Fund
Marisa Tirado on Selena, cow skulls, and the memory of adobe brick.
01.10.2023
Sonic Trust Fund
Marisa Tirado on Selena, cow skulls, and the memory of adobe brick.
12.27.2022
Poets We Lost in 2022
Remembering Richard Howard as a poet, mentor, and friend, plus a few words on money by Bernadette Mayer.
12.13.2022
Attica, Again
Celes Tisdale on similarities, teaching after the uprising, and his mother's favorite poet.
11.29.2022
Hiding Between the Loaves
Belarussian poets Valzhyna Mort and Julia Cimafiejeva on magic, transformation, and what's hidden underneath the forest floor.
11.17.2022
The Poet and the Riot
Shortly after Martin Luther King's assassination in 1968, Gwendolyn Brooks wrote a poem about the power of riots. Need a transcript of this episode? Request a transcript here.
11.15.2022
Please Poem
JoAnna Novak on islands, a plush placenta, and a gift from the suicide hotline.
11.14.2022
The Poet and the Riot
Shortly after Martin Luther King's assassination in 1968, Gwendolyn Brooks wrote a poem about the power of riots. Need a transcript of this episode? Request a transcript here.
11.01.2022
Give Me a Sign
Alexandra Lytton Regalado on fate, snake mirrors, and the daily work of letting go.
10.04.2022
As I Am
Ama Codjoe on normal naked bodies, solving problems, and her childfree life.
09.20.2022
The Land Is the Center
Noʻu Revilla on ancestral history in newspapers, ocean consciousness, and how to be a guest.
09.06.2022
Remember Every Ginseng Seed
Chelsea Harlan on knowledge, creaturehood, and the quest for her mother’s secret sadness.
08.23.2022
Before We Return to Dust
André Naffis-Sahely on desert sand, rootlessness, and the long shadow of fascism.
08.09.2022
The Future Trembles
Elisa Gabbert on commitment, boredom, and the poem as theater.
07.26.2022
Trickster God
Saeed Jones on accuracy, being funny, and creating what we need.
07.14.2022
The Healing Brush
Chantal Gibson on ancestors, laundry, and Frantz Fanon for Beginners.
06.28.2022
Yelling Down the Phone
Nina Mingya Powles on muscle memory, Haka tutorials, and the shock of home.
06.14.2022
Telling the Truth
Niina Pollari on sunflowers, redemption, and the most depressing phone note in the world.

What's Poetry Off the Shelf about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Poetry Off the Shelf episodes:

My Awesome Stoma

Working-Class Superheroes

All the Shiny Knives

Let Light Form

Stay in Character

Instructions for Divorce

Make Art for Me

Poets We Lost in 2023

The Utopian Business

Cease and Desist

Falling Off the Stairs

Ghost Sister

Living in And Times

Pen Pals

Notes From the Bathhouse

The Magic Section

My Totally Normal Crisis

The Eldest Daughter

Invisible Hands

Chaos Reigns

The Fact of a Suitcase

Good Old Sonnet

Add Me to the Forest Floor

Let the Record Hide

As Best I Could

A Human Joy

Center Stage

Mom, I Love You

My Alleged Accident

The Book of Possibilities

New Parents

Intimate Distance

Sonic Trust Fund

Sonic Trust Fund

Poets We Lost in 2022

Attica, Again

Hiding Between the Loaves

The Poet and the Riot

Please Poem

The Poet and the Riot

Give Me a Sign

As I Am

The Land Is the Center

Remember Every Ginseng Seed

Before We Return to Dust

The Future Trembles

Trickster God

The Healing Brush

Yelling Down the Phone

Telling the Truth