SLEERICKETS

By Matthew Buckley SmithArts Books

SLEERICKETS episodes

March 21 Ep 239: Listener Crit #10
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!
– A conversation Alice & I had for Poetry London!
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 26 min
March 13 Ep 238: AWP 2026
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’m reading this Saturday, March 14, at 6:00 p.m. at the Mettlesome Theater in Durham, NC
– Brian’s appearance on The Gist
– The Mysterious Case of Gothic Verse Narratives by Brian Brodeur
– Pre-order Sixteen Games of Hide and Seek by Stephen Bass and Steve Teare!
– Sofia Kavlin Castaneda of Unsent Letterbox
– Rosanna Oh
– Sonnet 130
– One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
– Poetry by Joseph Harrison
– Moira Egan
– Joe Osterhaus
– Robert Schreur
– Sunil Iyengar
– The Same City by Terrance Hayes
– Maps by James Baker Hall
– Michael Theune
– Kim Noriega
– Kim Addonizio
– Poetry Says Ep 294. The American Ecstatic
– Dan Kois
– The Martin Chronicles
– Lauren Wethers
– Reclaiming Jane
– Jordan Kisner
– Thresholds
– The Critic and Her Publics
– Michele Moses
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
57 min
March 03 Ep 237: If it doesn’t taste good, you can’t serve it
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!
– My chapbook The Soft Black Stars is out now!
– Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
Queen of Chess (2026)
Poetry Says Ep 296. Gena Rowlands Poetics
Adam Curtis
Night by Ellie Wiesel
Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life by Francesc Miralles and Hector Garcia
Marie Kondo
After Apple-Picking and Mending Wall by Robert Frost
Malcolm Gladwell
Tim Ferriss
Julie Steiner
Egg and Dart by Matthew Buckley Smith
Deceptacon by Le Tigre
The touch move rule
The Queen’s Gambit (2020)
Judit’s TED talk
My Best Game Ever: Vishy Anand vs. Judit Polgar
Judit Polgar tricks Magnus Carlsen in a game of blitz in the park
Nigel Short vs. Judit Polgar
Two Catholic sonnets by Julie Steiner
On Noticing How Many Pro-Life Men Are Smokers by Julie Steiner
Julie’s Sapphics thread on Eratosphere

Secret Show notes
The Sparrow by Mary Roia Russell
Dana Gioia
Weldon Kees
I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
Supernatural Horror and Literature by H.P. Lovecraft
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
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
– Tristram Fane Saunders
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 12 min
March 03 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
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
– Tristram Fane Saunders
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 22 min
February 21 Ep 235: Romanticon Now, ft. Paul Franz & Elijah Perseus Blumov, Pt. 1
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:
– Pre-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
– Bad Lieutenant (1992)
– Will Diana
– Romanticon
– Literary Imagination
– Serpent Club
– Rathlin Island by Paul Franz
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
– Tristram Fane Saunders
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 34 min
February 15 Ep 234: Midlife Show-and-Tell, ft. Katie Dozier
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:
– Pre-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
– All That Glitter by Katie Dozier
– The Poetry Space
– Rattle
– The Rattlecast
– Good Bones by Maggie Smith
– The Trouble with Poetry by Billy Colins
– Limiting Poetry’s Feedback Loop by Steven Searcy
– Ep 231: Insidious Tendencies, ft. Steven Searcy
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
– Tristram Fane Saunders
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 13 min
February 06 Ep 233: In Fair Verona
NB: Oops, I forgot about 2.5, which is the extremely brief wedding scene, which includes both R & J but which is also only barely a scene and which thus is very easy to forget.
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:
– Pre-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
– Romeo and Juliet
– A Midsummer Night’s Dream
– Macbeth
– Hamlet
– Twelfth Night
– & Juliet
– Romeo and Juliet (1996)
– Romeo and Juliet (1968)
– Ep 224: Broadway Omnibus
– Grendel by John Gardner
– Micah Mattix
– Noises Off by Michael Frayn
– Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
– Endgame by Samuel Beckett
– Fargo (1996)
– Barton Fink (1991)
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
– Tristram Fane Saunders
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 37 min
January 31 Ep 232: Mr Bones, ft. Shane McCrae
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:
– Pre-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
– Only Sing by John Berryman, ed. Shane McCrae
– New and Collected Hell by Shane McCrae
– Dream Song 26 by John Berryman
– Dream Song 14 by John Berryman
– Dream Song 29 by John Berryman
– Dream Song: For Louis MacNeice by John Berryman
– A Most Marvelous Piece of Luck by Greg Williamson
– Cynara by Ernest Dowson
– Shadow of the Colossus
– Fallout
– Fallout (TV series)
– Robert Frost’s original inaugural poem, Dedication
– Democracy and Poetry by Robert Penn Warren
– Fall of the Star High School Running Back by The Mountain Goats
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
– Tristram Fane Saunders
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 17 min
January 25 Ep 231: Insidious Tendencies, ft. Steven Searcy
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:
– Pre-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
– A Crown for the Kings by Zina Gomez-Liss
– The things you’ve said and done: Jeremy Wikeley’s review of Midlife
– Limiting Poetry’s Feedback Loop by Steven Searcy
– Below the Brightness by Steven Searcy
– On Fear by Alice Allan
– The Christian Poetry Comeback by Paul J. Pastor
– Can Poetry Matter? by Dana Gioia
– Poetry as Enchantment by Dana Gioia
– When I consider how my light is spent by John Milton
– On first looking into Chapman’s Homer by John Keats
– Decorum by Stephen Dunn
– Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
– The Little Review
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
– Tristram Fane Saunders
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 9 min
January 18 Ep 230: The Christian Poetry Shell Game
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:
– Pre-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
– The Christian Poetry Comeback by Paul J. Pastor
– Can Poetry Matter? by Dana Gioia
– Poetry as Enchantment by Dana Gioia
– The Colosseum Book of Contemporary Narrative Verse by Sunil Iyengar
– Bill Hicks
– Air Force Academy cancels lecture after discovering speaker disparaged Trump by Mary Shinn
– CC hosts speaker whose appearance at USAFA was canceled by Ashley Eberhardt
– Intimacy by Paisley Rekdal
– To Crawl Under the Earth: The Persistence of Expansive Poetry by Brian Brodeur
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
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 9 min