In which Rebecca Wolff, poet and editor of Fence magazine, discusses the sparse structure of her writing life, her editorship of Fence, and the kinetic tension between stanzas and space on the page: “I think the space is just as present but maybe not more. It’s a place full of hope, it’s a place where I am hoping that the reader will allow themselves to make connections that I am not willing to make for them.”

In which Graham Barnhart, poet and US Army veteran, discusses the paradox of being an army medic—“You carry a rifle and an aid bag full of medical supplies to treat the people you’re potentially expected to shoot”; and the capacity of poetry to contain that paradox without limiting it: “How do I communicate what feels like a personal experience without ignoring the violence and oppression of the machine I’m a part of that allowed me to receive that experience, even providing medical care as a way of pursuing the war?”

In which the poet Jennifer Habel, author of The Book of Jane discusses the process of reexamining traditionally female forms of artistry and how that exercise animates her own craft.

In which editor Adam Ross interviews novelist Chris Bachelder about his thoughts on patient writing, and Bachelder reads an excerpt from his novel The Throwback Special.

In which Erin McGraw, a former teacher at the University of Cincinnati and Ohio State as well as a prolific author with three novels and four collections of short stories, entreats aspiring writers: “Forgive yourself.”

In which Pulitzer prizewinning poet Paul Muldoon confronts himself. “Ok Paul get a grip. Face reality this is what you do, and it’s a perfectly reasonable thing to do,” says he. “It is as reasonable a thing to do as to be a philosopher or a psychiatrist or a pulmonary specialist. Just get over yourself. It’s not about you. You are a poet.”

In which Anna Lena Phillips Bell—author of the poetry collection Ornament and editor of Ecotone—considers the ways poetry helps us map the natural world and how “art is not a frivolous pursuit.”

In which Margaret Renkl—the author of Late Migrations and a contributing writer for the New York Times—wonders if the arc of the universe still bends towards justice.