The Lean Out podcast has covered lots of books in recent years. We have never covered a poetry book. But all it took was one read of a striking new collection of poems for us to know that we had to have its author on the show. The Canadian writer Stephen Marche said it best when he described this collection: “Like supremely eloquent graffiti written on the wall of a magnificent palace, except the palace is the world, and the world is on fire.”

Michael Lista is a Canadian essayist, investigative journalist, and poet. His new book is Barfly and Other Poems.

You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com