Present Poetry

Aristotle was born in 384 BC in the town of Stagira, located in the Macedonian region of Greece. 

He was sent to Athens at 17 to learn under Plato at Plato's Academy, one of the most prominent schools in the ancient world. HE stayed there until Plato's death in 347 before traveling to Assos, a village on the northwest coast of present-day Turkey. He then moved to Lesbos, where he married Pythias, the niece of his friend Hermeias, and had a daughter. 

In 343, Aristotle went to Pella to tutor the king's 13-year-old son, who the world would come to know as Alexander the Great. 

By all accounts, Aristotle led a fascinating life full of traveling and teaching, and he founded his own school in Athens, known as the Lyceum. 

Then, in 322 BC, Aristotle died of natural causes. However, his legacy lives on, and the world still regards him as one of the greatest philosophical minds of all time. He gave us logic, or the "principles of correct reasoning," enhanced our understanding and acceptance of science, and provided a host of other philosophical ideas and understandings. 

This week, we're reading from his lecture on poetry, known as The Poetics, to get his view on the art form we love.  

To learn more about the artist and his works, click the link above or check out his Wikipedia page! 

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Are you a poet? Want your work to be on the podcast? Then email [email protected] with your submissions, or check out the form at LadyErynn.com!

Also, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share!

Tamiko Dooley is a Poet, songwriter, lawyer, and mother of two.

She learned to play the piano as a child, and music quickly became the dominant hobby throughout her life. She also Read Latin and French at New College, Oxford, and won the BBC Radio 3 carol competition in 2021.

Since the lockdown, she’s also started writing poetry, and various online journals have published her works. She also has a few Poetry pamphlets to be released in 2022/23 with Alien Buddha Press, Broken Sleep Books, and Cephalo Press.

If you'd like to learn more about this author and her works, check out her Twitter page!

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Are you a poet? Want your work to be on the podcast? Then email [email protected] with your submissions, or check out the form at LadyErynn.com!

Also, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share!

Stephen Carbon is a debut author, lifelong musician, writer, photographer, and business entrepreneur from Lewes, Delaware.

Performing live music with his band, Carbon 14, for over 25 years has allowed him to entertain the musical spirit of many people from all walks of life. He witnesses the enjoyment that music and lyrics bring to people and the happiness it brings from the creative realm.

The embrace of Polynesian culture, life ambitions, and soul wanderings have brought him to the island of Kauai, Hawaii. There, Carbon resides on the sunny south shore of Poipu beach- heart blessed to write and express the Aloha spirit and imagery nature in his creative experience.

To learn more about this author and his works, visit his website at www.poetryofaloha.com or follow him on Twitter. 

We are reading five Polynesian-inspired poems from his new book, The Fires of Love, which he submitted through email. 

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Are you a poet? Want your work to be on the podcast? Then email [email protected] with your submissions, or check out the form at LadyErynn.com!

Also, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share!

Amos Cotter was born and raised in upstate New York and is one of 7 children, all from the same parents.

Even from a young age, Amos was drawn to the power of the written word. He wrote his first story at age 7 and has written more poems and rhymes than he can count. At 23, he wrote his first book-A Grandmaster's Tale-and has been writing ever since. That diligence has earned Amos the nicknames of Wordsmith, Bard, and other things because, in his words, "I am not content with ordinary. I strive for excellence. If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right."

We are reading five of his numerous poems, including one from A Grandmaster's Tale, which he submitted to us by email. 

If you'd like to learn more about Amos Cotter and his works, check out his Facebook page! 

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Are you a poet? Want your work to be on the podcast? Then email [email protected] with your submissions, or check out the form at LadyErynn.com!

Also, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share!

Carla Sarett is a poet and fiction writer based in San Francisco. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and has written two novels - A Closet Feminist, published through Unsolicited Press, and The Looking Glass, published through Propertius Press. However, her poems have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Blue Unicorn, Prole, The Naugatuck River Review, Hamilton Stone Review, Thimble, and more.

You can connect with Carla through Twitter, or find a collection of her works on Goodreads, Amazon, or through her blog.

Today, we're reading from She Has Visions, her debut poetry collection, published through Main Street Rag Press. 

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Are you a poet? Want your work to be on the podcast? Then email [email protected] with your submissions, or check out the form at LadyErynn.com!

Also, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share!

Linda M. Crate (she/her) is a Pennsylvanian writer whose poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. 

She has a Bachelor's in English Literature from the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and published eleven chapbooks- the latest being: fat & pretty from Dancing Girl Press in June of 2022. She also has a few poetry collections and one Fantasy novella, titled Mates, which she published through Alien Buddha Publishing in March of 2022.

You can connect with Linda through her social media pages, including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You can also find her collection of works on Goodreads and Amazon. 

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Are you a poet? Want your work to be on the podcast? Then email [email protected] with your submissions, or check out the form at LadyErynn.com!

Also, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share!

Walter "Walt" Whitman was born May 31, 1819, in West Hills, Virginia to Walter Sr and Louisa Van Velsor and was one of several children. Because of his father's poor investments and the family's constant moving from house to house, Walt had a restless and difficult childhood. At 11, he dropped out of school and began working to help the family. His first job taught him about the printing press, and he soon became immersed in the literary world.

At 36, Walt self-published Leaves of Grass, his first (and most notable) collection of poetry inspired by his travels across America, as well as his admiration for Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson himself called Leaves of Grass "The most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed."

Despite that, Walt received little public acclaim for his poems due to the poems' openness about sex, his self-presentation as a working man, and a penchant for writing outside the established poetic styles of his peers. However, he found fame in England, where the likes of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Algernon Swinburne celebrated his works.

During the civil war, Walt published Drum-Taps, a sequence of poems about the war known as the "finest war poetry written by an American." He also penned a Civil War autobiography called Memoranda During the War, which covered his life during the war, but couldn't get it published until 1876.

Unfortunately, Walt suffered a paralytic stroke that left him bedridden in 1873, forcing him to move in with his brother, who owned a home in Camden, New Jersey. He lived there until 1883 when he bought his own house and was taken care of by his tenants.

Walt Whitman died on March 26, 1892, at 73. Before he did, he prepared one last edition of Leaves of Grass, a version nicknamed the Deathbed Edition, and he finally called it complete with the words: "L. of G., at last complete—after 33 y'rs of hackling at it, all times & moods of my life, fair weather & foul, all parts of the land, and peace & war, young & old."

Whitman is buried at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, and his home is now known as the Walt Whitman house and museum.

To learn more about this esteemed poet, visit the link above or check out his Wikipedia page!

Poems in this episode are As I Pond'erd in Silence, Poets to Come, On the Difficulties of Appearances, Gods, and O Captain! My Captain!

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Are you a poet? Want your work to be on the podcast? Then email [email protected] with your submissions!

Also, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share!

William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, where he lived with his father, John Shakespeare, and his mother, Mary Arden. William was the third of eight children and the only surviving son. 

We don't know much about his early years, but at 18, he married Anne Hathaway (a woman eight years his senior) and had three children- Eldest daughter, Susanna, and fraternal twins Hamnet and Judith. 

Hamnet, unfortunately, passed when he was only eleven, and it's widely speculated that his relationship with Shakespeare inspired one of his most well-known plays- Hamlet. 

Around 1585, Shakespeare appeared on the scene and began his long and successful career as an author, playwright, and actor. He was also the co-owner of a playing company known as the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and they quickly became the leading playing company in London. 

They were so popular that in 1599, the company built their own theater on the south bank of the river Thames and named it The Globe. 

Despite his fame as an actor, Shakespeare is touted as one of the best dramatists of all time for his plays and poetry. Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Coriolanus, A Midsummer's Night Dream, Othello, and King Lear are just a few of his works. Most scholars estimate that he wrote 38 plays and over 150 poems, some of which are classified as the finest poetry written in the English language. 

Shakespeare died at the young age of 52 on April 23, 1616, at his home in Stratford-upon-Avon- a mere month after signing his will, a detailed document that began with a description of Shakespeare being in perfect health.  He's buried in the Chancel of the Holy Trinity Church, and there's a curse written on his tomb that reads: 

Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear,

To dig the dust enclosed here.

Blessed be the man that spares these stones,

And cursed be he that moves my bones.

To learn more about the Bard's fascinating career, click the link above or check out his Wikipedia page! 

Sonnets in this episode are 14, 18, 19, 36, and 130.

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Are you a poet? Want your work to be on the podcast? Then email [email protected] with your submissions!

Also, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share!

Kristine Carrerow was born in 1954 in San Jose, California, and she didn't have any experience with poetry until the third grade.  

In the 8th grade, she had a teacher enter one of her poems in a contest, which she did not win. However, in her senior year in high school, Kristine had a teacher that was such a force in her writing that she knew she would always write. 

Over the years, she stayed involved in writing classes and poetry readings, and The San Jose Mercury News published her 'Firefighters Tribute' poem in 2002. Ten years later, that same poem was published in a commemorative book for the 10th anniversary of the California Firefighter's Memorial- an accomplishment with significant meaning because her Grandfather's name is on that wall in Memorial Park in Sacramento, CA. 

Kristine has written many memorial poems over the years, but she recently returned to her roots and began writing poems about the Cherokee Indians. 

Her grandmother, Lora Ross, was very proud of her Cherokee heritage, and Kristine is also a Citizen of the Cherokee Nation. To honor that connection, she wrote a collection of poems reflecting Cherokee issues and stories, which she self-published during the pandemic as "Cherokee Poetry" and dedicated to her grandmother. 

Kristine now lives in Tahlequah, Ok, about 40 miles from where her grandmother was born.

Lora Lealer Ross was born June 20, 1890, in Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, and was the second youngest of nine siblings. She grew up on a farm in the heart of the Cherokee Nation, where she learned how to sew clothes, quilt, knit, can food, and find mischief with her sister, Nora. Lora was also fluent in the Cherokee Language- a language she would use to reclaim her identity later in life. She passed away at 91, but not before rekindling the Cherokee flame in her granddaughter, Kristine. 

Poems used are Cherokee Trail, Cherokee Solidarity, Cherokee Missing, Cherokee Culture, and Cherokee Sisters. 

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Are you a poet? Want your work to be on the podcast? Then email [email protected] with your submissions!

Also, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share!

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson of Aldworth and Freshwater, was Born August 6, 1809, in Lincolnshire, England, to George Clayton Tennyson, an Anglican clergyman, and Elizabeth Fytche. Tennyson was the fourth of 12 children and had a rather difficult childhood. His father was often cruel and had known mental issues, and several of Alfred's siblings were committed to mental institutions for various addictions and outbursts. 

Tennyson had a form of Epilepsy, but that didn't stop him from writing poetry and emulating his favorite authors- such as Alexander Pope, John Milton, and Sir. Walter Scott. 

Tennyson attended the King Edward VI Grammar School in Louth from 1816 to 1820 but dropped out to pursue his writing. In 1827, he joined the Trinity College of Cambridge and became a member of the Cambridge Apostles. He also published his first volume of poetry, which he called "Poems by Two Brothers," and included poems by his brothers Frederick and Charles. 

In 1829, at 20 years old, Tennyson received Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for his poem, "Timbuktu, making him one of the youngest recipients of the time. That encouraged his career, and he published his first solo collection of poems in 1830, titled "Poems Chiefly Lyrical." 

In 1833, he had to return to the parish after his father's death. Tennyson used that time to publish his second book of poetry, but it met heavy criticism and discouraged him so much that he didn't publish anything for ten years. He was also dealing with the death of a close friend, his father's financial ruin, and his sister's illness- a dark time in Tennyson's life. 

In 1842, Tennyson published two volumes of poetry and found almost immediate success. In 1850, he published "In Memoriam A.H.H.," a tribute to his lost friend, and it skyrocketed his career. He soon succeeded William Wordsworth as the poet laureate of the United Kingdom and held the position until his death. 

Tennyson also married his childhood friend Emily in 1850, and they had two children, Hallam and Lionel. Hallam became an aristocrat and the eventual Governor-general of Australia, while Lionel became a wanderer and author like his father. 

In 1862, Tennyson met Queen Victoria, who became an admirer of his work thanks to her husband, the Prince Consort. He met her once more in 1883 when she told him his poems were a comfort after the late Prince Consort's death. 

Alfred Tennyson died on October 6, 1892, at 83 and is buried at Westminster Abbey. His last recorded words were: "Oh, that press will have me now!"

To learn more, visit the link above or check out his Wikipedia page. 

The Early Poems of Alfred, Lord Tennyson is a collection of poems compiled by John Churton Collins and released on Project Gutenberg in 2003. Poems in this episode are The Poet's Mind, The Goose, Deserted House, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Lady of Shalott.