The Poetry Space_

I’m Nobody. Who are you? This week we take a close look at the loaded gun that is Emily Dickinson, one of the most influential poets in history. Gwendolyn Soper joins Katie, Tim, and friends to talk about queen of the em-dash and the way she changed the poetry world. As always, great poems abound!

From the big twist to the soft landing, there are 1,000 ways to end a poem. This week, Katie, Tim, and Friends talk about all the things that make a last line sing—sharing a rich selection of favorites along the way.

We meant to talk about poetry contests in general, but ended up spending almost the entire time on the Rattle Poetry Prize. It's behind the scenes with the editor! Katie, Tim, and friends discuss the ethics of poetry contests.

Let's discuss the ways we generate poems. Katie is the Prompt Poem of the Month editor for Rattle and just published her first selection, a senryu series about cooking. We discuss writing prompts and share some of the poems they've inspired.

Poetry was the first digital technology—storytelling through the repetition of sound and rhythm is the foundation of human development. This week, we discuss metrical poetry: why does it work? how does it work? how should we talk about it? Katie, Tim, and friends discuss it all, and share some unforgettable formal poems in the process.

A title is the doorway into a poem, and the way store it in the catalogues of our memory. What makes a good title? What makes a bad title? Katie, Tim, and friends discuss titles from every angle, and work at live-titling one of Katie's poems in the process.

Let's tackle the touchy subject: money! There's little money in poetry, but poetry is endlessly valuable. What does it all mean? From MFA programs to NFTs, Katie, Tim, and friends discuss it all, and share a few priceless poems in the process.

Let's talk about our favorite thing—favorite poems! Katie, Tim, and friends share their personal favorites, and talk about what makes that so. We share poems by Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Ada Limon, Billy Collins, David Kirby, Julie Kane, E.E. Cummings and more in the process.

Every poet knows the feeling of rejection. That's the game we play when we send our work out into the world. This week, Katie, Tim & friends talk about rejection, rejection letters, how to react, and more, while sharing a pair of rejection-inspired poems.

Poetry book sales are dismal—so why publish poetry books at all? And if we do still have good reasons, how do we make the most of those goals beyond the numbers? Katie, Tim, and friends discuss, along with special guests Amelie Lasker of Alexandria Labs and Justin Tagg of Hyperreal Films.