Poetry Off the Shelf

Camille Dungy on her garden, writing from the provinces, and the poetry of Anne Spencer. 

Dorothea Lasky on The Shining, writing what you fear, and the ferocity of color.

Merlin Sheldrake on fungi, creativity, and the queerness of nature.

Elisa Gonzalez on bisexuality, humor, and working in finance.

Joyelle McSweeney on sound, style icons, and the Ovidian landscape of her ear canal.

Sara Henning on radical truth, obsessive forms, and letting go of grief. 

Philip Metres on middle age, writer's block, and praying for the people of Palestine.

April Gibson on chronic illness, religion, and being a teenage mother.

Declan Ryan on his father's construction job, tenderness between boxers, and the inevitable tragic end.

Monica Rico on cooking, grunt work, and the heat at General Motors.