SLEERICKETS

By Matthew Buckley SmithArts Books

SLEERICKETS episodes

May 23 Ep 247: Listener Crit #11
NB: Apologies to all the people to whom I owe emails! Solo with the girls and trying to meet some deadlines, so I’ve been a zombie. I promise I’ll write you soon!
SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.
Make a one-time donation (not tax-deductible)
For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW!
Leave the show a rating here!
SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 32 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:
– Order Brian’s book The Optimists! It’s so good!Now give Brian’s book a 5-star review!
– My chapbook The Soft Black Stars is out now!
– The Frost Farm Prize results
– Why Don’t People Like Poetry? What Poetry Do People Like? by Daniel Cowper
– Ep 246: The Case for Didactic Poetry Part 1 & Part 2
– L’Allegro, Il Penseroso, and Lycidas by John Milton
– Odysseus’ Last Return to Ithaca by Pedro Poitevin
– XXIV by Philip Larkin
– Dune by Frank Herbert
– Dune (2021)
Frequently mentioned names:
– Joshua Mehigan
– Shane McCrae
– A. E. Stallings
– Ryan Wilson
– Morri Creech
– Austin Allen
– Jonathan Farmer
– Zara Raab
– Amit Majmudar
– Ethan McGuire
– Coleman Glenn
– Chris Childers
– Alexis Sears
– JP Gritton
– Alex Pepple
– Ernie Hilbert
– Joanna Pearson
– MattWall
– Steve Knepper
– Helena Feder
– David Yezzi
– Victoria Moul
– Katie Dozier & Tim Green
– George David Clark
– Tristram Fane Saunders
– Philip Metres
– Helena Feder
– Nida Sophasarun
Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
Poetry Says by Alice Allan
I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
Advice from an Unknown Poet by Alice Allan & Jonathan Farmer
Ratbag Poetics By David Jalal Motamed
Alice: In Future Posts
Brian: @BPlatzer
Cameron: Minor Tiresias
Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Music by ETRNL
Art by Daniel Alexander Smith
55 min
May 16 Ep 246: A Case for Didactic Poetry, ft. Daniel Cowper, Pt. 1
NB: Another poem (one of Jonathan’s favorites) about having an orange and not wanting to kill yourself.
SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.
Make a one-time donation (not tax-deductible)
For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW!
Leave the show a rating here!
SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 32 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:
– Order Brian’s book The Optimists! It’s so good!Now give Brian’s book a 5-star review!
– My chapbook The Soft Black Stars is out now!
– Why Don’t People Like Poetry? What Poetry Do People Like? by Daniel Cowper
– Kingdom of the Clock by Daniel Cowper
– A Review of The Soft Black Stars by Sunil Iyengar
– On Not Knowing How to Start by Sunil Iyengar
– What He Really Wanted by Zina Gomez-Liss
– If by Rudyard Kipling
– Ep 245: The Tuna Incident, ft. Nida Sophasarun
– Giving the Devil His Due by Elijah Perseus Blumov
– September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden
– On the Inner Nature of Art by Arthur Schopenhauer
– On the origin of poetry by Friedrich Nietzsche
Frequently mentioned names:
– Joshua Mehigan
– Shane McCrae
– A. E. Stallings
– Ryan Wilson
– Morri Creech
– Austin Allen
– Jonathan Farmer
– Zara Raab
– Amit Majmudar
– Ethan McGuire
– Coleman Glenn
– Chris Childers
– Alexis Sears
– JP Gritton
– Alex Pepple
– Ernie Hilbert
– Joanna Pearson
– MattWall
– Steve Knepper
– Helena Feder
– David Yezzi
– Victoria Moul
– Katie Dozier & Tim Green
– George David Clark
– Tristram Fane Saunders
– Philip Metres
– Helena Feder
– Nida Sophasarun
Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
Poetry Says by Alice Allan
I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
Advice from an Unknown Poet by Alice Allan & Jonathan Farmer
Ratbag Poetics By David Jalal Motamed
Alice: In Future Posts
Brian: @BPlatzer
Cameron: Minor Tiresias
Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Music by ETRNL
Art by Daniel Alexander Smith
1 hr 27 min
May 09 Ep 245: The Tuna Incident, ft. Nida Sophasarun
SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.
Make a one-time donation (not tax-deductible)
For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW!
Leave the show a rating here!
SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 32 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:
– Order Brian’s book The Optimists! It’s so good!Now give Brian’s book a 5-star review!
– My chapbook The Soft Black Stars is out now!
Novice by Nida Sophasarun
An Incomplete Mentorship by Rachel Jamison Webster
Ellen Bryant Voigt
Advice from an Unknown Poet Ep 05. Bad Advice
Ep 244: Possible Horrible Truth, Pt. 1
Nida's poem Violent Femmes
Corniche by Les Murray

Secret show notes

Dead Poets Society (1989)
Paterson (2016)
A Quiet Passion (2016)
Yasujiro Ozu
Last Chance U (2016)
Friday Night Lights
I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
Reality Bites (1994)
Matthew's essay Where the Money Is
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
Film Quarterly
Frequently mentioned names:
– Joshua Mehigan
– Shane McCrae
– A. E. Stallings
– Ryan Wilson
– Morri Creech
– Austin Allen
– Jonathan Farmer
– Zara Raab
– Amit Majmudar
– Ethan McGuire
– Coleman Glenn
– Chris Childers
– Alexis Sears
– JP Gritton
– Alex Pepple
– Ernie Hilbert
– Joanna Pearson
– Matt Wall
– Steve Knepper
– Helena Feder
– David Yezzi
– Victoria Moul
– Katie Dozier & Tim Green
– George David Clark
– Tristram Fane Saunders
– Philip Metres
– Helena Feder
– Nida Sophasarun
Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
Poetry Says by Alice Allan
I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
Advice from an Unknown Poet by Alice Allan & Jonathan Farmer
Ratbag Poetics By David Jalal Motamed
Alice: In Future Posts
Brian: @BPlatzer
Cameron: Minor Tiresias
Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Music by ETRNL
Art by Daniel Alexander Smith
1 hr 12 min
May 03 Ep 244: Possible Horrible Truth, Pt. 1
NB: Sideways was actually co-written by Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne.
SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.
Make a one-time donation (not tax-deductible)
For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW!
Leave the show a rating here!
SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 32 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:
– Order Brian’s book The Optimists! It’s so good!Now give Brian’s book a 5-star review!
– My chapbook The Soft Black Stars is out now!
– Poems Beautiful and Useful, ed. Victoria Moul
– To Lucasta, Going to the Wars by Richard Lovelace
– Greater Metropolitan Shatador, ft. Victoria Moul
– The Matrix (1999)
– Jenny, the Halloween Spy by Lillie Patterson
– The Statue of Responsibility (the one about Man’s Search for Meaning)
– The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
– Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
– The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
– The Optimists by Brian Platzer
– The Mattering Instinct by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein
– The Last Messiah by Peter Zapffe
– The Conspiracy Against the Human Race by Thomas Ligotti
– Inferno I, 32 by Jorge Luis Borges
– Sideways (2004)
– The Gay Science by Friedrich Nietzsche
– Big in Romania, ft. Versecraft (the one where Elijah talks with Alice about The Denial of Death)
– St. Judas by James Wright
– The Mountain Pass, ft. Philip Metres, Part 1 & Part 2
– Tichborne’s Elegy by Chidiock Tichborne
– Happy were he could finish forth his fate by Robert Devereaux
– Ode on Solitude by Alexander Pope
– Ars Poetica by Horace
– Epode ii by Horace
– The Fall of Rome by W. H. Auden
– Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
Frequently mentioned names:
– Joshua Mehigan
– Shane McCrae
– A. E. Stallings
– Ryan Wilson
– Morri Creech
– Austin Allen
– Jonathan Farmer
– Zara Raab
– Amit Majmudar
– Ethan McGuire
– Coleman Glenn
– Chris Childers
– Alexis Sears
– JP Gritton
– Alex Pepple
– Ernie Hilbert
– Joanna Pearson
– Matt Wall
– Steve Knepper
– Helena Feder
– David Yezzi
– Victoria Moul
– Katie Dozier & Tim Green
– George David Clark
– Tristram Fane Saunders
– Philip Metres
– Helena Feder
– Nida Sophasarun
Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
Poetry Says by Alice Allan
I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
Advice from an Unknown Poet by Alice Allan & Jonathan Farmer
Ratbag Poetics By David Jalal Motamed
Alice: In Future Posts
Brian: @BPlatzer
Cameron: Minor Tiresias
Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Music by ETRNL
Art by Daniel Alexander Smith
1 hr 33 min
April 26 Ep 243: Literary Matters 18.2
SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.
Make a one-time donation (not tax-deductible)
For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW!
Leave the show a rating here!
SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 32 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:
– Order Brian’s book The Optimists! It’s so good!Now give Brian’s book a 5-star review!
– My chapbook The Soft Black Stars is out now!
– On Marriage by Victoria Moul
– Literary Matters 18.2
– Not the Greatest Time to Be a Poet, ft. Horace & Friends, Part 1 & Part 2
– Handbook for the Recently Deceased Poet
– A dolphin for the Dutch; or, is there any verse culture without occasional poems? by Victoria Moul
– Merrily We Roll Along by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth
– The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky
– Rachel Getting Married (2008)
– Glee (2009–2015)
– Sinners (2025)
Frequently mentioned names:
– Joshua Mehigan
– Shane McCrae
– A. E. Stallings
– Ryan Wilson
– Morri Creech
– Austin Allen
– Jonathan Farmer
– Zara Raab
– Amit Majmudar
– Ethan McGuire
– Coleman Glenn
– Chris Childers
– Alexis Sears
– JP Gritton
– Alex Pepple
– Ernie Hilbert
– Joanna Pearson
– Matt Wall
– Steve Knepper
– Helena Feder
– David Yezzi
– Victoria Moul
– Katie Dozier & Tim Green
– George David Clark
– Tristram Fane Saunders
– Philip Metres
Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
Poetry Says by Alice Allan
I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
Advice from an Unknown Poet by Alice Allan & Jonathan Farmer
Ratbag Poetics By David Jalal Motamed
Alice: In Future Posts
Brian: @BPlatzer
Cameron: Minor Tiresias
Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Music by ETRNL
Art by Daniel Alexander Smith
1 hr 28 min
April 19 Ep 242: Not the Greatest Time to Be a Poet, ft. Horace & Friends, Pt. 1
SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.
Make a one-time donation (not tax-deductible)
For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW!
Leave the show a rating here!
SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:
– Order Brian’s book The Optimists! It’s so good!Now give Brian’s book a 5-star review!
– My chapbook The Soft Black Stars is out now!
– I’ll be doing the Rattlecast this Monday, April 13, at 8:00 p.m. US Eastern! Check it out!
– Kronos by Joshua Mehigan
– Does it help to be religious? by Victoria Moul
– Horace & Friends by Victoria Moul
– Poems Beautiful and Useful, ed. Victoria Moul
– Poetry, Poetics, Poesia by Tamarah Rockwood
– The Rattlecast went well, I think!
– Church Going by Philip Larkin
– Ep 241: A Serious House
– The Poet’s Vision by Ryan Wilson
– As I Prefer Them Well Cooked Through (from the French of Valérie Rouzeau) trans. Victoria Moul
– A Deer Comes to Mind by Simon Armitage
– The Birth of the Sonnet (from the French of Nicolas Boileau) trans. Elijah Perseus Blumov
– Ken Gordon
– My chapbook’s hatred-filled Goodreads page
Frequently mentioned names:
– Joshua Mehigan
– Shane McCrae
– A. E. Stallings
– Ryan Wilson
– Morri Creech
– Austin Allen
– Jonathan Farmer
– Zara Raab
– Amit Majmudar
– Ethan McGuire
– Coleman Glenn
– Chris Childers
– Alexis Sears
– JP Gritton
– Alex Pepple
– Ernie Hilbert
– Joanna Pearson
– Matt Wall
– Steve Knepper
– Helena Feder
– David Yezzi
– Victoria Moul
– Katie Dozier & Tim Green
– George David Clark
– Tristram Fane Saunders
– Philip Metres
Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
Poetry Says by Alice Allan
I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
Advice from an Unknown Poet by Alice Allan & Jonathan Farmer
Ratbag Poetics By David Jalal Motamed
Alice: In Future Posts
Brian: @BPlatzer
Cameron: Minor Tiresias
Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Music by ETRNL
Art by Daniel Alexander Smith
56 min
April 11 Ep 241: A Serious House
NB: Advent wreath, obviously. One probably shouldn’t set fire to an advent calendar.
SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.
Make a one-time donation (not tax-deductible)
For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW!
Leave the show a rating here!
SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:
– Order Brian’s book The Optimists! It’s so good!Now give Brian’s book a 5-star review!
– My chapbook The Soft Black Stars is out now!
– I’ll be doing the Rattlecast this Monday, April 13, at 8:00 p.m. US Eastern! Check it out!
– Does it help to be religious? by Victoria Moul
– Along the Road by Winslow Homer
– Sea Legs by Andrew Wyeth
– La toilette de Diane by Antonin Merci
– The Martyrdom of St. Catherine of Alexandria by Mattia Preti
– Rock Bottom by Joan Mitchell
– Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut at Ronchamp by Le Corbusier
– Austin by Ellsworth Kelly
– Churchgoing by Philip Larkin
Frequently mentioned names:
– Joshua Mehigan
– Shane McCrae
– A. E. Stallings
– Ryan Wilson
– Morri Creech
– Austin Allen
– Jonathan Farmer
– Zara Raab
– Amit Majmudar
– Ethan McGuire
– Coleman Glenn
– Chris Childers
– Alexis Sears
– JP Gritton
– Alex Pepple
– Ernie Hilbert
– Joanna Pearson
– Matt Wall
– Steve Knepper
– Helena Feder
– David Yezzi
– Victoria Moul
– Katie Dozier & Tim Green
– George David Clark
– Tristram Fane Saunders
– Philip Metres
Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
Poetry Says by Alice Allan
I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
Advice from an Unknown Poet by Alice Allan & Jonathan Farmer
Ratbag Poetics By David Jalal Motamed
Alice: In Future Posts
Brian: @BPlatzer
Cameron: Minor Tiresias
Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Music by ETRNL
Art by Daniel Alexander Smith
1 hr 11 min
April 02 Ep 240: AMA #3, Pt. 1
SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.
Make a one-time donation (not tax-deductible)
For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW!
Leave the show a rating here!
SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:
– Order Brian’s book The Optimists! It’s so good!
– Now give Brian’s book a 5-star review!
– My chapbook The Soft Black Stars is out now!
Timothee Chalamet's statements on ballet and opera, and on not having children
All Fours by Miranda July
Heart the Lover by Lily King
Night by Elie Wiesel
Schopenhauer Cocktail Hour on Versecraft
Reference Back by Philip Larkin
Donald Justice
Atmosphere in Eight Lines by Maryann Corbett
Down in the Valley by Joshua Mehigan
Done on This Side by Joshua Mehigan
Poetry Says Ep 242. with Joshua Mehigan
The Sponge by Joshua Mehigan on Versecraft

Secret show notes
Poetry Says Ep 219. This is scripture
Blues in Dallas, Old College Try, Going to Georgia, and This Year by The Mountain Goats (also No Children for Timothee)
Thomas Hardy
Edwin Arlington Robinson
Black Books: I Love Books guy
Black Sparrow Press
Faber
Literary Matters
HEAT
New Verse Review
Image Journal
London Review of Books
32 Poems
no more poetry
Everybody wants to waste your time by Drew Gooden
Wildflower and Barley by Hozier
Frequently mentioned names:
– Joshua Mehigan
– Shane McCrae
– A. E. Stallings
– Ryan Wilson
– Morri Creech
– Austin Allen
– Jonathan Farmer
– Zara Raab
– Amit Majmudar
– Ethan McGuire
– Coleman Glenn
– Chris Childers
– Alexis Sears
– JP Gritton
– Alex Pepple
– Ernie Hilbert
– Joanna Pearson
– Matt Wall
– Steve Knepper
– Helena Feder
– David Yezzi
– Victoria Moul
– Katie Dozier & Tim Green
– George David Clark
– Tristram Fane Saunders
– Philip Metres
Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
Poetry Says by Alice Allan
I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
Ratbag Poetics By David Jalal Motamed
Alice: In Future Posts
Brian: @BPlatzer
Cameron: Minor Tiresias
Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Music by ETRNL
Art by Daniel Alexander Smith
1 hr 21 min
March 26 INTRODUCING Advice from an Unknown Poet
SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.
Make a one-time donation (not tax-deductible)
For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW!
Leave the show a rating here!
SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:
– Advice from an Unknown Poet
– Berryman by W.S. Merwin
– Proxies by Brian Blanchfield
Frequently mentioned names:
– Joshua Mehigan
– Shane McCrae
– A. E. Stallings
– Ryan Wilson
– Morri Creech
– Austin Allen
– Jonathan Farmer
– Zara Raab
– Amit Majmudar
– Ethan McGuire
– Coleman Glenn
– Chris Childers
– Alexis Sears
– JP Gritton
– Alex Pepple
– Ernie Hilbert
– Joanna Pearson
– Matt Wall
– Steve Knepper
– Helena Feder
– David Yezzi
– Victoria Moul
– Katie Dozier & Tim Green
– George David Clark
– Tristram Fane Saunders
– Philip Metres
Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
Poetry Says by Alice Allan
I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
Ratbag Poetics By David Jalal Motamed
Alice: In Future Posts
Brian: @BPlatzer
Cameron: Minor Tiresias
Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Music by ETRNL
Art by Daniel Alexander Smith
45 min
March 26 Ep 236: Listener Crit #9
SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.
My book Midlife now exists. Buy it here, or leave it a rating here or here
For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW, join the group chat, and send me a poem for Listener Crit!
Leave the show a rating here (actually, just do it on your phone, it’s easier). Thanks!
Wear SLEERICKETS t-shirts and hoodies. They look good!
SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:
– Order Brian’s book The Optimists! It’s so good!
– Let me know if you’d like a review copy of my forthcoming chapbook The Soft Black Stars: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
– Vanderpump Rules Season 12
The Great Pottery Throwdown
Selling Sunset
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
Queen of Chess (2026)
how i be revising by Brandon Taylor
Sashay away
Coming down in Ohio by Dave Smith
Ep 234: Midlife Show-and-Tell, ft. Katie Dozier
Contrapoints Tangent: Liminal Spaces
Step wells
Secret show notes
Meanjin lives!
Tropical Skiing by John Forbes
Limiting Poetry’s Feedback Loop by Steven Searcy

Ep 231: Insidious Tendencies, ft. Steven Searcy
A Caveat-Filled Case for Atheism
The Via Negativa of R.S. Thomas on Versecraft
Nick Cave’s Red Hand Files Issue #265
The Siberian unicorn
A Holy Dread by R. A. Villanueva
Bill Hicks: Pro Life
1 hr 22 min