Poet's Return - The Poetry Podcast

Poet's Return - The Poetry Podcast

By Melissa BooeyArtsPerforming Arts
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Poet's Return - The Poetry Podcast episodes

  • Knowing You're Enough TRAILER
    This week's episode "Knowing You're Enough" features Elena Scarlett Murray, whose poetry has a wide range of topics, colors and styles. Listen to the trailer to hear a small excerpt from one of Elena's poems titled, "What I Should Have Written", and also hear us goof around for a bit as we're known to bring levity to just about any topic. A true poet knows not to take themselves too seriously! 
    Follow Elena at @elenascarlettmurray and follow us at @poetsreturn
    DM us if you'd like to be on the podcast! Or if you have any feedback :)
    Original music by tbc.records visit their social @tbc.records featuring DeShawn Cavanaugh, Ravel Ward and Christopher Schuchert 💜💜
    HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    10 min
  • How it All Comes Together

    Cairo Spencer is a 23 year old, Bay Area Native with a background in dance and theatre. Although he has primarily focused on film since his move to L.A, performing the Milkcrate Monologues in October encouraged him to continue his acting onstage, and on another level, to continue writing and sharing his poems and raps. (Especially through the support of his fellow cast mates' group text titled "bad raps crew" wherein they tell each other not to overthink their rhymes and just spit.) Since then, Cairo has actually filmed and starred in NYR Banter, which is the first poem you will hear recited.  At only 21, he worked an internship where he got a taste for the fast-paced, high profile world in L.A, and realized that it only reaffirmed his long time knowledge that he would eventually pursue a career here.  As he says in this episode, his process of becoming a writer has been “built up in phases…”, and as part of Cairo's philosophy as an artist you can't force anything, because it "all comes together naturally." The young wordsmith has a tendency towards spoken word, but his poetry has vivid imagery and rhyme schemes  compelling for any audience. Delving deeper into rap and poetry has been rewarding and challenging for him, since, like many artists, it's often difficult not to put ourselves in a box. 

    Pieces Cairo shares on today's episode: 

    1. NYR Banter (check out his Instagram to see this visualized and acted out)
    2. Bff’s
    3. NO TITLE (intro to rap: One of the first raps he ever wrote. Also the piece he used to audition for Milkcrate with.)

      4. Cairo's Instagram: @theelokuent8

      Original music by @philasocial AKA Philasifer. Copyright of RJ Wayne/Ron Johnson

      Follow us on Instagram @poetsreturn or on Facebook at Poet's Return. Message us if you're interested in being a featured writer on the podcast! And remember friends: use your words well. 

      39 min
    4. Creating a Safe Space with Kingdom of Pavement
      Amy Suto and Flannery Maney are the co-founders of Kingdom of Pavement, a local online publication serving as a platform for artists of all backgrounds to share their work, and collaborate within a safe space. Finding an artistic community is vital to inspiration, encouragement and support in one's art, and Kingdom of Pavement's mission statement is allowing for that community to flourish with opportunity for growth and outreach. Since their launch in the Spring of 2019, their goal has been to get more and more artists to reach out and share their work, recently making online publication an official reality. Not only do they support local art online, but every month they host an open mic night with featured performers to kick off the show and get everyone comfortable taking the stage. Storytellers, poets, musicians, rappers, motivational speakers, and more are all welcome to share, and every month their pool of creatives and patrons continues to expand. Flannery and Amy have facilitated their website and live performance opportunities so that connecting and feeling safe is a seamless and accessible experience, and in this episode we get to hear how they came to grow this business as young female entrepreneurs and writers themselves, while laughing at ourselves along the way. You won't want to miss the two of them doing a full on reenactment of how Kingdom of Pavement came to be! 
      Check out their website at kingdomofpavement.com where you can access their podcast, merchandise, articles, and online forum of amazingly talented artists. 
      @flannerymaney @sutoscience @kingdomofpavement @tbc.records 
      Musical credit to local band tbc.records featuring Deshawn Cavanaugh, Ravel Ward and Christopher Schuchert
      44 min
    5. TRAILER FOR THURSDAY'S EPISODE! LISTEN FOR A CHANCE TO GET TWO FREE TICKETS TO SATURDAY'S SHOW!!
      Thursday's episode is titled, "Creating a Safe Space with Kingdom of Pavement." Kingdom of Pavement is an amazing online publication that supports local artists here in Los Angeles. Following the launch of the podcast episode featuring Kingdom co-founders Amy Suto and Flannery Maney, there will be a LIVE performance at Aunt Bessie's on Pico this Saturday, February 15th,. The show starts at 7pm at $5 a ticket, and it opens with featured artists performing their work, followed by an open mic where anyone of any art form can get up and share. Poet's Return podcast hostess Melissa Booey will be one of this Saturday's featured poets to open the show! DM us @poetsreturn or message us on Facebook and let us know your favorite love poem, and in honor of the Valentine's Day Holiday, we will give a select listener two free tickets to this Saturday's show! Courtesy of the very generous Kingdom of Pavement ladies, don't miss this opportunity to see some amazing local live artists perform, as well as have the chance to meet the founders of this incredible platform! 
      Tickets will be given out by Friday at midnight. 
      Direct message the Poet's Return podcast @poetsreturn on Instagram, or find us on Facebook under Poet's Return. And check out the amazing Kingdomofpavement.com website! And don't forget to listen to this Thursday's episode featuring these talented and driven entrepreneurs! 
      Original music by tbc.records @tbc.records DeShawn Cavanaugh, Ravel Ward and Christopher Schuchert
      4 min
    6. Some Assembly Required
      Carlos Diego Mendoza is a Bay Area native who has always loved live theatre. He came to LA to pursue acting both onstage and in film, but hadn't considered his pass time of writing to be a serious career pursuit. He reconnected with an old friend and fellow performer he'd met up north, and auditioned for the Milkcrate Monolgoues with Towne Street Theatre. After becoming a part of the cast, he has begun to take ownership of his passion and talent for writing and rap after performing in this ten-monologue play executed hip hop style. Since then, he and some of his fellow cast mates, including their playwright and director, have taken to sharing more of their beats and words with each other and the world. 
      Carlos shares his own process and poetry, while challenging and encouraging me to share a rap of my own, titled "Blood." We also gush about our love of José Rivera for a good minute or two.
      "No Lie" by Carlos Mendoza
      "Blood" by Melissa Booey
      “The world is set up to condition us; to warp us, to disfigure us, it’s set up that way no matter what, that’s why we’re always surviving. I think that’s what makes life so beautiful, because you’re constantly putting yourself back together, or discovering how to best assemble yourself.” -Carlos Ep. 4 "Some Assembly Required."
      @carlosdmendoza
      @townestreetheatre 
      #milkcratemonologues
      #rap #hiphop # livetheatre
      41 min
    7. Hootsuite advertisement with original music by Tbc.records

      Hootsuite is an amazing app to help you plan your social media life! With how busy everyone is these days, it's hard to stay on top of posting and staying relevant. Hootsuite helps you coordinate your Instagram, Facebook and Twitter handles all at once so you don't have to worry about whether or not you posted today! Download the app now!! 

      @hootsuite https://hootsuite.com 

      @poetsreturn

      @tbc.records

      Original music "Good Vibes" by local LA music group tbc.records 

      ---
      Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/poetsreturn/support
      4 min
    8. Finding the Light
      DeShawn Cavanaugh is a Minnesota native. He moved to Los Angeles to become a professional actor, and has done so very well, booking numerous roles in TV, film and commercials. He is also part of local music group tbc.records whose music is featured on the episode today! He hosts a weekly open mic at Crave Cafe in Studio City featuring poets, spoken word artists and musicians, while he also performs his own words and music at multiple LA venues. His lyrics and beat poetry focus on maintaining positivity and childlike naïveté in a sometimes daunting and dark world; DeShawn focuses on making his words and music a force of light.
      From DeShawn: “Finding the light in hopelessness is made easier by holding onto the inner child. Being an actor and a writer makes us the vessel as well as the curator, which can either help or hinder us in maintaining naïvete, depending on our perspective. This is why we must choose to think and write positively. Our pieces are like our children, and we want them to be beacons of light.”
      @deshawncavanaugh @tbc.records @shoeshirt @ravelward @nfandango
      Pieces shared on this episode:
      Photograph
      The Gun
      Behavior (to visualize)
      41 min
    9. Sharing your Story
      Natalie Beisner is an amazing short story and essay writer with her own blog, www.thisisnotalie.com. (Clever, right? I love it.) She discusses painful and difficult topics in a simultaneously visceral and beautiful way. Although her blog isn't strictly poetry, so to speak, her style and imagery are both extremely poetic, and any listener or reader can see the story playing out in front of them, while also relating to the emotion of the story. In this Thursday mini episode, we get to know Natalie and a little about her process, background, and the inspiration for her potent words. Find Natalie on instagram, @nataliejeanbeisner, or on Facebook as Natalie Beisner with www.thisisnotalie.com
      Original music by RJ Wayne, AKA Philasifer. 
      Narrated by Melissa Booey.
      All rights reserved Poet's Return
      Find us on instagram @poetsreturn or on Facebook as Poet's Return
      Contact us if you're interested in sharing your words!
      25 min
    10. Owning Your Voice
      Kate Strauss is a self-published poet whose book DASH-Y can be found on Amazon for purchase. Her work delves into learning self-love through overcoming body struggles, addiction and misplaced ideas of our own worth. We discuss these topics as well as the process Kate went through publishing her own work and using social media as a public journal to reach and connect with the artistic community and beyond.
      Find her book at:  https://www.amazon.com/DASH-Y-Kate-Strauss-ebook/dp/B079TYQHS7
      Instagram: @katestrausspoetry
      Pieces shared from DASH-Y:
      #30 : Kate talks about the themes in this piece, including not allowing ourselves to be used, which is a difficult lesson to learn.
      “We’re meant to cherish our bodies” is an untitled piece on her Instagram page that deals with loving our imperfections- something we're often taught the opposite of in life and society. 
      #23: Needing more intimately is more easily understood when it comes from a man, but as women we need these things just as intensely.
      “Pain is the touchstone to recovery.” Kate went on to describe her experience getting sober: “It’s really freeing to do a lot of the things that I thought I couldn’t do sober. It’s freeing to dance sober. It’s freeing to have deep conversations sober, and you remember them. And it’s really freeing to do all this stuff, stand up in front of crowds, do stupid things and think that you could never do those things because you had to have a drink to do them, and you don’t have to.”
      -Kate Strauss 
      Original music by artist RJ Wayne, AKA Philasifer, featuring his track "That Magic."
      Poet's Return is available on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @PoetsReturn
      48 min

    About Poet's Return - The Poetry Podcast

    From the publisher's feed

    Poetry is everywhere. Everyone can witness this powerful, timeless medium, in mainstream art and underground alike. Meet talented, evocative, rising artists as they perform their words and tell the…