In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma interviews Steven Searcy about his poem “Preliminary.” Steven is the author of Below the Brightness (Solum Press, 2024). His poems have appeared in Southern Poetry Review, Commonweal, The Windhover, New Verse Review, and elsewhere. He lives with his wife and four sons in Georgia.

In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma interviews Hannah Faith Notess about her poem “Dwell.” Hannah is a poet and software product manager. Her first book of poems, The Multitude, won the Michael Waters Poetry Prize from Southern Indiana Review Press. She lives with her family in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she co-runs a poetry reading series, Yellow Chair Poetry, in her house. Learn more about her work at hannahnotess.com.

In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma talks with Deb Baker about her poem “Be Opened.” Deb lives in New Hampshire and works for a climate justice organization and in a hospital. She is a poet and spiritual director, Contemplative Practices editor at Vita Poetica, and writes about what she’s reading at bookconscious.wordpress.com.

In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma interviewed Steven Peterson about his poem “A Famine of Words.” Steven is a poet and playwright living in Chicago. His recent poems appear in Alabama Literary Review, America Magazine, The Christian Century, Dappled Things, First Things, The Windhover, and other journals. His plays have been produced around the USA. He is currently a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists. His first collection of poetry, Walking Trees and Other Poems, is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press.

In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma interviews Caroline J. Simon, PhD, about her poem “After Denise Levertov’s Essays.” Caroline is provost emeritus of Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington, where she served as executive vice president and chief academic officer for seven years. She taught at Hope College in Holland, Michigan for twenty-five years. She is a philosopher and ethicist who currently lives and writes in Fort Mill, South Carolina.

In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma talks with Lila Robinett Tindall about her poem “On Absolution.” Lila is a poet from East Texas whose work concerns issues of femininity, faith, and domesticity. She has been published in Ekstasis Magazine, Five South, Bicoastal Review, and elsewhere.

In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, Rose Postma talks with Betsy Howard about her poem “Grafting Apple Shoots.” Betsy serves as an assistant professor of modern literature at Bethlehem College in Minneapolis, MN and as an affiliate researcher at the University of Minnesota with the Center for the PreModern World. Her recent academic work has included essays in Religion and the Arts and Victorian Poetry. Her creative essays have appeared in Between Two Cities (Anselm House) and Writing in the Margins (University of St. Thomas) and my review of Joseph Bottum’s Second Spring recently appeared in Eikon. She has published poems in Ekstasis, Ad Fontes, The New Verse Review, Summit Avenue Review and Tower Light.

In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma talks with Marci Rae Johnson about her poem “Winterscape with Hair Gel and Citrus.” Johnson works as an editor for a book publisher, and in her previous life she taught college English. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in Image, Mid-American Review, Moon City Review, The MacGuffin, Rhino, The Louisville Review, and 32 Poems, among others. Her third full-length collection, Questionable Baggage, was recently released by Main Street Rag.

In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the Poetry Edition, Rose Postma talks with Janet Ruth Heller about her poem “Annunication.” Heller is the president of the Michigan College English Association. She has a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago. She is a past president of the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature. She has published three poetry books:  Exodus (WordTech Editions, 2014), Folk Concert: Changing Times (Anaphora Literary Press, 2012), and Traffic Stop (Finishing Line Press, 2011); a scholarly book, Coleridge, Lamb, Hazlitt, and the Reader of Drama (University of Missouri Press, 1990); a middle-grade fiction chapter book for children, The Passover Surprise (Fictive Press, 2015, 2016); and a fiction picture book for children about bullying, How the Moon Regained Her Shape (Arbordale, 2006; 6th edition 2018), that has won four national awards, including a Children’s Choices award.

In this episode of the Reformed Journal Podcast, the poetry edition, Rose Postma talks with Sarah Watkins about her poem “The Jar the Woman Left Beside the Well.” Sarah is an educator by trade and a writer by necessity. She currently resides in northeast Arkansas with her husband.