In Three Poems

The Sin of Being Okay, that’s the title of the most recent book of poetry by Dawn Leas, published by Kinsman Quarterly, and we’ll talk with Dawn about two of the poems from that collection and one she has chosen to share by Ada Limón.

Dawn is also the author of A Person Worth Knowing (Foothills Publishing), Take Something When You Go (Winter Goose Publishing), and I Know When to Keep Quiet (Finishing Line Press). Her poetry has appeared in Literary Mama, The Pedestal Magazine, SWWIM, New York Quarterly, The Paterson Literary Review, Wild Roof Journal, and elsewhere.

I’m David J. Bauman, your host, and your listening to a conversation In Three Poems.

Poem 1: Written by Dawn Leas, and read by David J. Baquman

 "Trowel, Screen, Camera" 

I never wanted to be an archeologist. Until I met you. Wide-brim
hat and hiking boots. Reach of the mid-summer sun long
over the Rockies. Dust of dry season and sweat staining back
of a linen shirt. Sleeves rolled up to my elbows. I crisscross
time zones searching your history. Traipsing across topographies,
I trowel Colorado sandstone. Sift soil through screens. I hike
the mountains of North Carolina with a backpack full of supplies.
Toggled metal bottle bounces off my hip with each step.
Listening to “Rhymes and Reasons” on repeat, I collect artifacts.
Your elementary school pictures. Home-movie footage of you
learning to skip. The last page of a high-school essay about Bowie.
Newspaper feature on your college band. A photo of you
with long-hair, lips just a millimeter from mic. First page of your
first screenplay. I dig and dig to learn who you are. Yes, I am
writing another poem to teach you who I am.

Poem 2: Written and read by Dawn Leas 

"Sin of Being Okay"
A cadralor
1.
You drew triangles, circles,
squiggly lines in margins above
math problems with purple pen,
under reading notes. Teachers
expected answers you couldn’t
find outside the windows past
the flat playground, horse farms
and cow pastures, just
the tip of your imagination.

2.
He dreams in tie-dye
each bright yellow flowing
into pink, green, blue, orange.
He sees dream you before real you
teased hair, Rugby shirt
three sizes too big. Real you
rarely smiles, worry lines
setting into forehead. But his voice
reaches you, unfolds your mouth.

3.
How you describe the color of water –
blueberry, shallow as
your grandmother’s eyes, violet
like your cousin’s middle name,
blue as a marble skittering
across terrazzo in mid-summer sun.
Muted trumpet in a city club.
Your favorite pair of Levi’s decades old.
A lover’s voice saying, I’m sorry.

4.
Define sinoky –
Sin of being okay.
Collage of photos with faded edges.
Lying naked in the woods.
Late-spring snow.
Gold star for breaking the rules.
Crying during sex.
A dream that can be let go.
A period with hot flashes.
Underwater sounds of an abandoned ocean.

5.
From an early age
you learned to be small
could fit in a Jack-in-the-Box
at the slightest raised voice,
even brief eye contact, embarrassing
hair out of place. Each person
cranked – one click, two clicks, three.
The tighter the turn, the tinier
you became until the pop splintered your life.

Poem 3:
"Instructions on Not Giving Up," by Ada Limón, as published in her book 
The Carrying (Milkweed Editions, 2018). Our thanks to Ada Limón and Milkweed Editions for the use of the poem here on the podcast. 

Links:

The Sin of Being Okay

Other books by Dawn Leas 

"Instructions on Not Giving Up" by Ada Limón as published on Poets.org. 

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Welcome to In Three Poems, the show were we get to know today's poets three poems at a time. Today's guest is Dr. Chrissy Martin.

Chrissy  is the author of Whole, Holy, Hot (Write Bloody, 2026). She is an Assistant Professor of English at Centenary College of Louisiana. She holds a PhD in poetry from Oklahoma State and an MFA in Poetry from Columbia College Chicago. She is the Poetry Director and a founding editor for Arcturus. Her work has appeared in Harpur Palate, Cherry Tree, Cream City Review, and the minnesota review. 

Poem 1. 

"Pasta Night with Diagnosis," from Whole, Holy, Hot (Write Bloody, 2026), written by Chrissy Martin and read by David

Pasta Night Without Diagnosis

The water is hot and well-oiled,
your wide hand dropping salt.
When we eat, we watch the melting
butter pat on our noodles. I like
to think quiet moments like this
make me a better listener.
You tell me you joined a gym
and I make my face into a smile.
I tell you the doctor says she still
can’t find what’s wrong and you
make a frown and eat a meatball.
You don’t know how to talk
about illness and sometimes
I forget you have a body.
I’d love to measure my body
only by my body and your body
by yours, but neither of us is that flexible,
and besides, the bread in the oven
is burning. We move to a table outside
where there is plenty to look at
behind each other’s shoulders.
I tell you I don’t know how
to mourn my body and celebrate
yours at the same time so we break
out the wine, toast to something. 

Poem 2.

"Nail Harmony," written and read by Chrissy Martin

Nail Harmony

Dolly Parton wrote “9 to 5” to the acrylic zip zip of her nails,
like a washboard, a typewriter, a worn-out woman’s anthem.
Wikipedia: Dolly Parton—lead vocals, nails. My friends and I
talk how we’d fight off men. It’s a game but not. They say
keys, pepper spray, knees, but I’ve always been partial to nails.
When my mother left for the man with a cruel son, I kept
my nails sharp for when he’d draw back, swing. I left
deep moons on both his wrists. I watched diamonds redden
across his back. When the police came to ask questions
I said protection, smaller. I said fists. I didn’t say help.
What would they take away when I was the weapon.
Dolly loves her men earthy, rail thin. She loves her husband:
The way he lets me be free. And lets me be me. He don’t try to choke me
and demand anything from me. The cruel son passed away
the cruelest way: farm equipment tip, teen body underneath,
grandmother’s house. I am still so sorry. I am still so afraid
to wear my nails short. Dolly and Patti LaBelle play their nails
together on daytime TV, sing, Mama’s little baby loves shortnin’, shortnin’,
Mama’s little baby loves shortnin’ bread. Patti takes the high notes,
voice and nails. Dolly’s nails are thicker; maybe she waited
longer for a fresh set so her acrylics skewed alto. When my nails
break to the quick, wear tissue thin: press-ons. When the press-ons
split like the tongue of a snake: even better. When I go home
there are so many truck-back window memorials to the cruel son.
How do we mourn those who made us sharpen ourselves into weapons. 

Links:

BBHMM by Tiana Clark

The Music Video

Chrissy Martin's Website

Order Whole, Holy, Hot

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

We talk about rural life, family tension, horror and grief, along with the things we don't or cannot say, today with poet Daniel Lurie.

Guest Bio: Daniel is a writer, editor, and educator from eastern Montana. He holds an MFA from the University of Idaho. Daniel writes about the environment, Judaism, rural life, gentrification, and grief. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in literary journals and magazines like Pleiades, The Iowa Review, swamp pink, Poetry Northwest, Gulf Coast, and CutBank, among many others. 

He’s the co-founder and co-editor of Outskirts Literary Journal.

He served as the 2025-2026 Ronald Wallace Poetry Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is a current Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider supporting it!

Poem 1 

“Letter I Wish My Father Wrote from Eastern Montana,” By Daniel Lurie, read by David, as it appeared in The Shore Poetry.

Poem 2: 

“Family Portrait: Featuring a Talala, Oklahoma Sunset,” written and read by Daniel Lurie. Published in Southwest Review

Poem 3: 

“You Guys,” by Ocean Vuong, read by Daniel Lurie

From TIME IS A MOTHER by Ocean Vuong, published by Penguin Press, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2022 by Ocean Vuong. 

Thank you to Penguin Press for permission to read it here on the podcast.

Don't forget to let us know what you think!

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Support the show

Welcome to In Three Poems, where each episode, we talk with a guest poet, read two poems by them and one by a poet of their choice. And we explore what connections the works may have. Coincidentally, our guest today, Jessica Whipple has chosen a poem by first-season guest Grant Clauser.

Jessica Whipple writes for adults and children. Her poetry has been published most recently in Paddler Press, Wild Roof Journal, Philadelphia Stories, Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies, Anti-Heroin Chic, Pine Hills Review, and ONE ART.

By the way, if you enjoy this podcast, help us get noticed by more people by giving us a review on Apple or Spotify. And if you just want to send us a message, click on the “Text the Show” link in the show notes. 

Poem 1:

"Poem on the Last Day of My Thirties," written by Jessica Whipple and read by David. 

I find a can of beans in the kitchen.
Great Northern, left there open the night before.
They're past their prime now. Into the trash they go.

I'm ashamed of the waste. I didn't intend to wake 
wondering if I've spent well the years in this vessel 
but sometimes a question needs to be left out on the counter 
to know what should be done with it in the morning. 

Poem 2:

"Mother Coyote Explains a Wildlife Crossing," written and read by Jessica Whipple.

It is new like you are new. Yet,
it is again, and again is open.
It is there like the water is there
and always, like weather.
Because of it, only is gone.
It’s been replaced by over,
which, before this, was
something only mountains gave us.
Yes, there will be lost.
We’ll slink under its fog
until we raise our heads
to see all of where.
And where is worth seeing.
Where is quiet, but
it will awaken
and surge
and you will, too

Poem 3

"Watching a Flying Squirrel by Grant Clauser from his book Temporary Shelters

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

In Three Poems, where we get to know today’s poets through reading a couple of their own poems, as well as the works of others who have had an influence on them in some way. Without further delay, today’s poet is Pulitzer Prize winner Carl Phillips

Poem 1: 

“Sunlight and Fog” by Carl Phillips from Scattered Snows, to the North, published in 2024 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, read here by David J. Bauman.

Poem 2: 

“And If I Fall” from Then the War, and Selected Poems, 2007 - 2020, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (2023), written and read by Carl Phillips.

Poem 3:

“Chinese Bowls” by Stefanie Marlis, from her book Slow Joy, published by University of Wisconsin Press, 1989. 

Carl Phillips is the author of 17 books of poetry, most recently Scattered Snows, to the North (2024) and Then the War: And Selected Poems 2007-2020, which won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize. His other honors include the 2021 Jackson Prize, the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry, the Kingsley Tufts Award, a Lambda Literary Award, the PEN/USA Award for Poetry, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Library of Congress, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Academy of American Poets.

Phillips has also written three prose books, most recently My Trade is Mystery: Seven Meditations from a Life in Writing (Yale University Press, 2022); and he has translated the Philoctetes of Sophocles (Oxford University Press, 2004).

Links:

Scattered Snows, to the North

Then, the War

My Trade Is Mystery

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Welcome to the podcast where we talk with poets at various stages of their poetry craft and get to know them, In Three Poems. This episode we talk with journalist-turned poet, Justin Strawser about his book Those Who Wait. 

Poem One: 

“Tree Bark” by Justin Strawser, read by David J. Bauman

Poem Two: 

“Moments That Feel Big” by Justin Strawser

Poem Three:  

“January,” from Swallowtail (Button Poetry, 2019) by Brenna Twohy, read by Justin Strawser. Thank you to Button Poetry and Brenna Twohy for permission to read the poem on the podcast. 

Links:

Those Who Wait, by Justin Strawser

Swallowtail, by Brenna Twohy

And last, but not bad:

The Fourth Poem! Support the podcast and get first access to bonus content. Thank you so very much!

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

In Three Poems is the poetry podcast where we read two poems by our guest and one by another poet of their choice. We talk about the poems and let the poems talk among themselves.

If you want to help us, please visit our Ko-Fi page at 

https://ko-fi.com/inthreepoems or just click “support the show!"

Guest Bio:

Mai-Linh K. Hong is a Vietnamese American poet and literary scholar. Her work explores how refugees know, tell about, and creatively reimagine their worlds during and after migration.  She has been a Voices of Our Nation Fellow and Tin House Scholar. Her research has been supported by fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, American Association of University Women, and the Institute for Citizens & Scholars.​​ ​

Poem 1:

“Blue Ridge Elegy” from Continental Drift, written by Mai-Linh Hong, read by David

Poem 2:

“Plum Jam” also from Continental Drift, read by Mai-Linh Hong

Poem 3:

“ABC for Refugees” by Monica Sok, from A Nail the Evening Hangs On (Copper Canyon Press, 2020). Read by Mai-Linh. Thank you to Monica Sok and Copper Canyon Press for permission to read the poem on the show. 

Links:

Mai-Linh Hong's Website 

Instagram for Continental Drift: @continentaldrift_poems

"ABC for Refugees" by Monica Sok (on the Poetry Foundation Website)

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

We talk with poet and editor Katie Manning about poetry and Red Tailed Hawks, as well as being disappointed by our heroes. 

Poem 1: 

"On the Origin" by Katie Manning, read by David

Poem 2: 

"At the Bird Rehab Facility in Vermont" Written and read by Katie 

Poem 3 

"Family Portrait with Time Travel and Dirty Wings" by Sally Rosen Kindred, first published in Whale Road Review (see link), read by Katie. 

We thank Sally Rosen Kindred for permission to read her poem. 

Music by Brian P. Kelly: https://www.youtube.com/user/wbarreguy

Other Links:

Katie's Website, where you can find her books as well as news and information about her work. 

Sally Rosen Kindred's Website, where you can read selected poems by Sally and learn more about her book Where the Wolf, Book of Asters, and others. 

Katie's Bio:

Katie Manning is the author of Hereverent (Agape Editions), Tasty Other (Main Street Rag), and six chapbook collections: How to Play (Louisiana Literature Press), 28,065 Nights (River Glass Books), A Door with a Voice (Agape Editions), I Awake in My Womb (Yellow Flag Press), Tea with Ezra (Boneset Books), and The Gospel of the Bleeding Woman (Wipf & Stock). Her poems have been published in many anthologies and literary journals, including American Journal of Nursing, HAD, The Lascaux Review, New Letters, Poet Lore, Relief, So to Speak, Stirring, SWWIM, and Verse Daily. She has received the Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award, The Nassau Review Author Award for Poetry, and The Thimble Prize, among other honors and nominations. She is the founder and editor-in-chief of Whale Road Review. 

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

In Three Poems, the podcast where poets and poems talk among themselves. This is Season 2, episode 3.

David chats with Crystal Simone Smith, author of seven books of poetry and nonfiction, most recently, Common Sense: Addressed to Today’s Citizens of America, published by Beacon Press (September 2025),  and upcoming Ghostwoman, Arising.

Poem 1:

"Induction" from Crystal's book Common Sense, read by David

Poem 2:

“Loose Ends” from Crystal's upcoming book Ghostwoman, Arising, due out in November. 

Poem 3:

“Cry Me a River,” was from Roberta Beary’s 2025 collection of haibun called Crazy Bitches, published by Macq books. We thank Roberta for her kind permission to share her poem on the Podcast.

You can learn about all Crystal Simone Smith's books on her website at CrystalSimoneSmith.com.

Music licensed through Soundstripe.

Code: JQEBU6547CH0DYBF

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show

Welcome to season two of the In Three Poems Podcast with host David J. Bauman.

We're talking with Claudia Saleeby Savage, author of 4 books of poetry, including most recently: First You Must Destroy the World  (First Matter Press, fall 2025).

Her other books are Metal Used for Beauty Alone (from The Poetry Box for print + voice), Bruising Continents (Spuyten Duyvil), and The Last One Eaten: A Maligned Vegetable's History. Claudia also has recent work in Poetry Northwest, Nimrod, About Place, and River Teeth.

More Links: 

To Claudia’s Books

And her website

Poem 1:

“My Daughter Discovers Synchronicity,” by Claudia, read by David.

Poem 2:

“They Named their child Thawra,” from First You Must  Destroy the World, written and read by Claudia. 

Poem 3:

“They Said it Was Morning,” by Nathalie Khankan, as published in her book Quiet Orient Riot (Omnidawn Publishing, 2020).

Our Deep thanks to Nathalie Khankan and Omnidawn for allowing us to read the poem on the podcast. 

Send us Fan Mail

Support the show