On Fridays, we bring you bonus material that takes you deeper into the work of our poets, and the world of Emily Dickinson.

This week, Jericho asks about the Dickinson men and the Civil War, and Aife reveals the fascinating (and when you look straight at them, shocking) details of Austin Dickinson's absolutely legal evasion of the draft.

On Fridays, we bring you bonus materials that take you into the worlds of Emily Dickinson and our poets.

This time, it's Jericho on James Baldwin, racial insult, and just wanting to have this drink.

Every Friday, we release bonus material that takes you deeper into the world of Emily Dickinson, and the work of our poets.

This week, our Rogue Scholar Aife Murray asks Jericho Brown, Brionne Janae, and special guest Malcolm Tariq about where they first found their voice. And all three recounted experiences from the Black churches of their childhoods -- speaking, singing, writing, and much more.

There are rumors there's a fugitive slave in Amherst, which means the the threat of the slavecatcher hangs over all Black people in the town, including the Dickinsons' hired hand Henry. So how does Emily respond? By encouraging Henry to play Othello in her Shakespeare Club's latest production! George, having been rebuffed by Emily, decides to take the patriarchal route to get her to marry him. And in Boston, it's intimated that Sue may be sexually assaulted by the man who employs her as a governess for his children. It's a lot! (Probably too much.)

Learn what women dealt with in a world before consent was a thing, the truth about Emily and Austin's race and class prejudices (such as we can tell), and why Amherst is definitely not the town in Massachusetts an escaped slave would head to. Plus: Jericho's crush on George is definitively over.

Breezy, Jericho, and Aífe, joined by special guest, the poet and playwright Malcolm Tariq, talk back to Season 1, Episode 5 of Dickinson: "I Am Afraid to Own a Body."

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Poems featured in the episode:

"No Rack can torture me" by Emily Dickinson

"The Mother of Othello Comes Before Us" by Malcom Tariq

Emily's father scoffs at her objection to cutting down an old tree to make way for the railroad, sending her (and suitor George) on a pilgrimage to to see Henry David Thoreau, a visit that ends in disappointment. Should we be disappointed in the portrayal of Thoreau? Why does Emily's sister Lavinia play at being an Indian? Who are the real indigenous people in the background of this episode? And how do solitude and the wild figure in a poet's life?

Breezy, Jericho, and Aífe, joined by special guest US Poet Laureate Ada Limón, talk back to Season 1, Episode 4 of Dickinson: "Alone, I Cannot Be."

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Poems featured in the episode:

"I robbed the Woods" by Emily Dickinson

"Wife" by Ada Limón

"Swear On It" by Ada Limón

"Alone, I cannot be" by Emily Dickinson

Every Friday, we release bonus material that takes you deeper into the world of Emily Dickinson, and the work of our guest poets. 

This week, Danez Smith talks with Breezy and Jericho about why the title on the cover of their latest book (Homie) is not its real title, and what that has to do with language, access, and who you're writing for. And in the middle of it all, Danez transports us to the scene "at the downlow house party".

A party jumps off at the Dickinsons, and raises lots of questions: Were they taking opium in 19th century Massachusetts? How did the son of a samurai end up there? What's with the colorblind twerking? And why doesn't anybody seem to understand Sue? Plus, the perils of poetry about Black death in a world of white readers.

Breezy, Jericho, and Aife, joined by special guest poet Danez Smith, talk back to Season 1, Episode 3 of Dickinson "Wild Nights."

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Poems featured in the episode:

Color - Caste - Denomination by Emily Dickinson

at the download house party by Danez Smith

Wild nights - Wild nights! by Emily Dickinson

Every Friday, we release bonus material that takes you deeper into the work of our guest poets, and the world of Emily Dickinson. The story of Angeline Palmer reveals how tenuous freedom was for Black people, even in the Yankee North -- and how the Dickinsons weren't exactly reliable allies.