The Talking Poem Podcast

I talk with Carolyn Oliver (Inside the Storm I Want to Touch the Tremble) about John Milton's Sonnet 19, "When I Consider How My Light Is Spent." Topics include: Would John Milton be a fun hang?; Milton's skill with the Petrarchan Sonnet form; a fair amount of 17th century English politics; and maternal mortality. Afterward, we have an ad from a new online ticket app and the return of the game "Tell me what how you really feel, William Logan."

Also mentioned:

• Milton's sonnet "On His Deceased Wife"
• The Parable of the Talents
• Paradise Lost

I talk with my colleague J. Robert Lennon (Subdivision, Let Me Think, Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games) about Russell Edson's hilarious, strange poem "The Neighborhood Dog." Highlights include a recording of Edson reading the poem; laughter; the relationship between strange poetry and strange fiction; mystery and narrative expectations. Afterward, we play a game that I forgot to name.

Also mentioned:

• Edson's poem "With Sincerest Regrets," which I talked about in episode 16;
• Edson's poem "Ape"
• The Adult Swim video "Too Many Cooks"
• Theodore Roethke's "I Knew a Woman"
• Marcel Proust and William Shakespeare
• Epoch literary magazine

I talk with Amit Majmudar (What He Did in Solitary; The Map and the Scissors; Black Avatar and Other Essays) about Sir Walter Raleigh's "The Lie." We talk about the poem's range and skill; specificity and particularity; whether lying has become more common or not; and origin stories. Afterward, Amit invents several new poetic forms.

Additional mentions:

• "Sir Walter Raleigh to His Son"
• Don Paterson's poem "The Lie"
• Raleigh's "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd"
• Anna Beer's biography Patriot or Traitor: The Life and Death of Sir Walter Raleigh
• Montaigne's essay "Of Giving the Lie"
• Acre Books and The Cincinnati Review
• Hanuman

I talk with colleague Dr. Greg Londe (The Cracked Lookingglass) about Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." Topics include: Poe's sneaky interest in math and the cosmos; the ways sound works in the poem; how the speaker goes from wheedling to intensely angry; the greatness of The Simpsons. And how will I pronounce the word "leisure"?

Also discussed: Poe's essay "The Philosophy of Composition"; Poe's poems Eureka, "Evening Star," and "Sonnet: To Science"; T. S. Eliot's essay on Poe.

On this Short Form episode, I talk about Russell Edson's weird short poem "With Sincerest Regrets," in part as a preview for an upcoming episode also about an Edson poem. Believe it or not, there's a genuinely mind-blowing insight in the ad.

I talk with Cornell Classics faculty Athena Kirk about Thomas Hardy's Victorian-era--not ancient--poem "Shut Out That Moon." As a bonus, we discuss Louise Glück's "Afternoons and Early Evenings" and discover connections and contrasts between two poems that we did not intend to pair. Lost to a recording glitch, for better or worse: a reference to 1994's Reality Bites. You also get to hear a snippet of Richard Burton reciting the poem. This episode brought to you by Blind Homer's Escape Room.

I talk with poet, editor, teacher, et. al. Rebecca Morgan Frank (Oh You Robot Saints!; Memorious) about Louise Glück's poem "Snowdrops" from her 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning collection The Wild Iris. Then we play a game called "Oh, You Robots Ain't S." Bonus: I forget the word "grammatical" exists, and Morgan shares a great Allen Ginsberg story.

Also referenced: "charity supergroup" The Rock Bottom Remainders; Grace Cavalieri's interview with Louise Glück; James Wright's "Saint Judas" and "A Blessing"; Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" and William Blake's "The Lamb"; W.D. Snodgrass' De/Compositions; Michael Robbins' review of Glück's Poems: 1962-2012.

I talk with comedian, podcaster, and teacher John Cullen (Blocked Party, Most Likely to Be a Comedian) about Emily Dickinson's "Because I Could Not Stop for Death." Then we play a game called "Who Didn't Start the Fire." Also mentioned: Charles Simic's "Eyes Fastened with Pins"; Canadian poet Shane Koyczan.

Aid for Palestinians in need: Anera; Palestine Children's Relief Fund; Medical Aid for Palestinians.

I talk with poet Joy Priest (Horsepower; Once a City Said: A Louisville Poets Anthology) about Carl Phillips' "Somewhere Holy." Afterward, we talk about Joy's poem "All the Men that Summer who Said I Love You" (scroll down for her poem). Finally, we play a game I call "Mommas, Don't Let Your AIs grow up to be Poets."

Also mentioned: Joy's poem "Upon Reading James Lipton's An Exaltation of Larks"; Garth Greenwell's essay on Carl Phillips; Kevin Young's use of tercets in his poems; a review of "Once a City Said" at The Poetry Question.