Beetroot Podcast

In this Episode, Marta and Lottie sit back and relax. Exploring the idea of rest the pair come to Ocean Vuong's 'Someday I'll Love Ocean Vuong' a heartfelt appeal to the self when you're feeling a little low. Hannah Sullivan's 'When the Egg Meets the Whisk' portrays the new mother seeking familiarity and comfort in her newly aligned universe. World a little overwhelming right now? Take some time out with poetry. 

In this Episode, Marta and Lottie look to the skies. Approaching the idea of Paradise the pair consult Roger Robinsons 'A Portable Paradise' an offering of pocket sized bliss and white sandy beaches amongst the hustle and bustle of London. John Donne's 'The Sun Rising' offers a portrait of lovers against a perfect landscape watching the sun awaken and sleep, but why would Derek Jarman embellish such a poem onto his own house? Walk with us through the Garden of Paradise to find out. 

Poetry made headlines. Yes, it happened - rarely have we seen a poet on the cover of Vogue, shared widely around Instagram and Facebook or popping up on international TV stations. We of course had to dedicate an episode to Amanda Gorman, the youth national poet laureate of the United States and the Inaugural poet. Her poem 'The Hill We Climb' has since made its way around media outlets everywhere, has been translated into several languages and was published by Penguin Random House. In this episode we examine the inner workings of American democracy and culture through the only voice we should be listening to. What comes next?

The public has become precarious. In a post-pandemic world, those foundational moments of collective expression, collective joy, must be reformulated, alchemized into something new and sustainable.

Poetry is so often thought of as a solitary pursuit, one that highlights interiority, but in the face of our rapidly shifting culture, it is crucial to understand how poetry exists in the public sphere, its function, and its power.

Writer/director John Mcilduff has years of experience producing works for the public sphere and will be joining us at Perdu alongside Lottie and Marta of Beetroot Podcast. The three of them will explore poetry in public, helping us to understand how the written word creates a collective experience, and how it can continue to do so.

The public has become precarious. In a post-pandemic world, those foundational moments of collective expression, collective joy, must be reformulated, alchemized into something new and sustainable.

Poetry is so often thought of as a solitary pursuit, one that highlights interiority, but in the face of our rapidly shifting culture, it is crucial to understand how poetry exists in the public sphere, its function, and its power.

Writer/director John Mcilduff has years of experience producing works for the public sphere and will be joining us at Perdu alongside Lottie and Marta of Beetroot Podcast. The three of them will explore poetry in public, helping us to understand how the written word creates a collective experience, and how it can continue to do so.

The public has become precarious. In a post-pandemic world, those foundational moments of collective expression, collective joy, must be reformulated, alchemized into something new and sustainable.

Poetry is so often thought of as a solitary pursuit, one that highlights interiority, but in the face of our rapidly shifting culture, it is crucial to understand how poetry exists in the public sphere, its function, and its power.

Writer/director John Mcilduff has years of experience producing works for the public sphere and will be joining us at Perdu alongside Lottie and Marta of Beetroot Podcast. The three of them will explore poetry in public, helping us to understand how the written word creates a collective experience, and how it can continue to do so.

Lets talk about sex baby! This week Marta and Lottie delve deep into all things sensual. Yes, poetry can be sexy. Lottie brought along a fragment from the Ancient greek poet Sappho, an exploration into Queer sexuality and a beautiful expression of desire. Marta brought along a segment from Jenny Hval’s Paradise Rot, an invesitgation into companion species and a rewriting of Genesis through sharp sexual and political imagery. In this episode, we go deeper.

Breathe. It’s been a tough week. Lottie and Marta are taking the time to heal, to bring each other poems that restore the soul and move the heart to reconsider. This week Marta brought along Stuart Hensons ‘The Price’ from William Siegharts Poetry Pharmacy. Balm for the soul on a double decker bus. Lottie offered us Anne Sextons ‘Yellow’, A hopeful proclamation as we head into the dark winter months. Will they ever turn the sun back on again?

We hope you’re hungry. In this Episode Lottie and Marta prepare a poetic meal for you, with an appetiser of metaphors and side salad of groceries. Marta brought along Allen Ginsberg’s “A Supermarket in California”, a supermarket trip which questions consumerism and philosophises the nuclear family. Lottie offered us Li-Young Lee’s “Persimmons”, an exploration of identity and cultural assimilation through bright Chinese fruit and childlike innocence. Literally, food for thought.

This week, Lottie and Marta brace the subject of Goodbyes. Bittersweet and agonising, until we meet again or the final farewell. We explored what saying goodbye means through the poems that were there when we said it. Lottie brought along Natalie Diaz’s ‘Grief Work’, a heart wrenching wrestle with grief – a slow hug. Marta brought along Paul Éluard’s ‘Négation de la poésie’, an elegy to his late wife – a meditation on time overflowing. Don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere.