Tim likes to say that art is the opposite of propaganda—but what does that actually mean? Katie, Tim, and friends discuss the relationship between poetry and propaganda, including discussion of Amanda Gorman, Robert Frost, Wilfred Owen, Iain McGilchrist and more.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Brian O'Sullivan

Joe Barca

Dick Westheimer

Nate Jacob

Appalachia is home to over 25 million people with rich roots in storytelling and family lore. This week, Katie, Tim & friends explore the region, joined by special guests Kari Gunter-Seymour and Pauletta Hansel, who share their poetry and their their thoughts on being Appalachian Poets.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Kari Gunter-Seymour

Pauletta Hansel

Dick Westheimer

Nate Jacob

Brian O'Sullivan

Joe Barca

What makes certain poems more welcoming to a reader? Should poems be accessible? Katie, Tim, and friends discuss, joined by special guest George Bilgere, one of the most hospitable poets alive.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

George Bilgere

Dick Westheimer

Nate Jacob

Joe Barca

Haibun might be the most exciting form being written today. It seems not too long ago that haibun was just journal entries that included haiku. Over the last decade, poets have begun pushing the form past those old bounds. Katie, Tim, and friends discuss, joined by two of the premiere haibun explorers, Kat Lehmann and Roberta Beary.

At the Table

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Kat Lehmann

Roberta Beary

Dick Westheimer

Brian O'Sullivan

With Voltas in hand, Katie and Tim set out to re-explore bad poems. The first victims? Themselves! On this date night, no one is safe from honest criticism.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Let's think outside the literary box! It's a big world, and there's no reason to limit our poems to lit mags. Why not publish on billboards and sidewalks and bars of soap? There are thousands of other magazines newspapers with big circulations that might publish poems too. Katie, Tim, and friends explore, joined by Nate Jacob, who made a column for his poems in his local newspaper, Jennifer Reeser, who regularly publishes poems in the National Review, and Jeannine Hall Gailey, who has published widely in places like LA Weekly and the Journal of the American Medical Association.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Nate Jacob

Jennifer Reeser

Jeannine Hall Gailey

Dick Westheimer

Brian O'Sullivan

Poetry is the music of speech, and the original music of speech is meter. What is meter, anyway? How can you learn to dance with two left feet? Katie, Tim and friends discuss the art of the beat, joined by special guest Boris Dralyuk, formalist and author of My Hollywood.

Wisława Szymborska won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996. Living through WWII and communist Poland, she was known for her use of irony and wit in deceptively simple poems detail domestic life against the backdrop of history. This week, Katie, Tim, and friend take a closer look at her life and poetry, joined by special guest

At the table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Manuel Iris

Joe Barca

What do you think of when you think of summer? And how do poems capture that? This week, Katie, Tim, and friends find their summer vibe along with special guests Nate Jacob and Sharon Ferrante, sharing a cooler of poems along the way.

At the picnic table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Nate Jacob

Sharon Ferrante

Joe Barca

Brian O'Sullivan

Dick Westheimer