"This book feels very much…drawing from the Black Saints: Whitney Houston, Paul Mooney, Little Richard, Luther Vandross, almost my own canon, my own tradition, my own history, to make sense of what's happening now. I'm not going back to Homer, necessarily. I'm kind of trying to create a new lineage, because I feel that we've been betrayed by our presented histories." Saeed Jones joins us on the show to riff on his incredibly personal and indelible new poetry collection Alive at the End of the World, along with the pervasiveness of grief, how both he and his writing have changed since he published his memoir, what's up with his new podcast, Vibe Check, and much more with Poured Over's host Miwa Messer.

Featured Books (episode)

Alive at the End of the World by Saeed Jones

Prelude to Bruise by Saeed Jones

How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones

Furious Cool by David Henry and Joe Henry

Poured Over is produced and hosted by Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang. Follow us here for new episodes Tuesdays and Thursdays (with occasional Saturdays).

A complete transcript of this episode is available here.