There's a Poem in That

There's a Poem in That

By Todd Boss

LA WEEKLY calls it a "holy wellspring" -- Award-winning poet Todd Boss helps strangers discover the poetry in their most intimate stories in this narrative documentary podcast unlike any other. Eac

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Best of There's a Poem in That

The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

  1. Number 1: BONUS Interview: Hearth Radio Hour

    Send us Fan Mail Todd goes on a community radio station to explain some of the magic that is TAPIT, for an audience of poets and poetry lovers. CHAPTERS 1 LIVE ON AIR: Todd tees up a conversation 2 (6:24) The (dollar?) value of poetry 3 (10:37) The heart of poetry isn’t books 4 (14:34) Sting reminds us 5 (15:45) The role of the empathic poet in society 6 (18:23) Channeling (Hi, Dylan!) out of ourselves 7 (21:32) Accessibility as a storytelling journey 8 (24:11) Todd reads two new poems Support the show TAPIT is listener supported. Listeners like you help make TAPIT's services available FREE to anyone who calls the listener line. Join the movement and get bonus content available nowhere else, by contributing as little as $1 a month, here. Some contributors support the show at $5,000 a year, assuring TAPIT's continued growth as nonprofit arts organization with vision. To join these visionaries, visit us here, or send a message to [email protected]. Read the poems and access more bonus content at poeminthat.com. Or shop our merch! Is there an unwritten poem in your story? Leave Todd a voicemail on our Haiku, Hawaii, listener line, and tell him why: 808-300-0449. Follow TAPIT on Facebook.

    32min
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  2. Number 2: BONUS: Alexa's reveal session

    Send us Fan Mail In this bonus behind-the-scenes episode of TAPIT, Alexa (Episode 15) gets her poem "Blessing" revealed to her in a largely unedited session, shared with her permission. In it, you'll get a chance to see what it's like for guests to have their last interviews with Todd. Every conversation is different, and every guest is a blessing, but there are always surprises and revelations along the way. If you'd like a poem to help you make meaning of something in your life, tell Todd about it at 808-300-0449. Support the show TAPIT is listener supported. Listeners like you help make TAPIT's services available FREE to anyone who calls the listener line. Join the movement and get bonus content available nowhere else, by contributing as little as $1 a month, here. Some contributors support the show at $5,000 a year, assuring TAPIT's continued growth as nonprofit arts organization with vision. To join these visionaries, visit us here, or send a message to [email protected]. Read the poems and access more bonus content at poeminthat.com. Or shop our merch! Is there an unwritten poem in your story? Leave Todd a voicemail on our Haiku, Hawaii, listener line, and tell him why: 808-300-0449. Follow TAPIT on Facebook.

    28min
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  3. Number 3: Alexa positively shines

    Send us Fan Mail When Alexa loses her mother to a sudden heart attack on Mother’s Day—just one year after her father dies of cancer—grief doesn’t arrive as a single blow, but as a cascade. At 23, she becomes a de facto parent to her teenage brother alongside her younger sister, the three of them bound together by loss, responsibility, and a fragile, hard-won love. Alexa’s story moves through the complexity of mourning two very different parents: a deeply optimistic, spiritually driven father whose mantra—think positive—still echoes, and a mother whose long struggle with alcoholism left behind both compassion and unresolved pain. As Alexa reckons with identity, faith, and the aftershocks of an abusive relationship, she begins to rebuild: through community, sobriety, grief work, and a renewed relationship with God. Across months of conversation, a portrait emerges—not of someone lost, but someone actively finding her way. In the end, the poem she thought she needed becomes something else: not a map out of grief, but a blessing forward. A father’s voice, refracted through a stranger, reminding her that the life she’s building—grounded in love, responsibility, and choice—is already its own kind of answer. CHAPTERS 1. Mother’s Day Alexa gets the call no one is prepared for, and within hours she and her siblings are standing in a hospital room, clinging to each other as a new understanding takes hold: it will be the three of them now. 2. When Loss Compounds Just a year earlier, their father died of cancer. As even more family members pass in close succession, Alexa feels like the ground beneath her life is continually giving way, forcing her into adulthood faster than expected. 3. The Three of Us At just 23, Alexa steps into a role she never imagined, helping to raise her teenage brother alongside her younger sister. Together, they form a fragile but determined unit, learning how to divide responsibility, resolve conflict, and become each other’s anchor in a world unmoored. 4. What Remains of Them Alexa struggles to juggle contrasting legacies of her parents: her father’s relentless positivity and spiritual conviction, and her mother’s complicated battle with alcoholism. Grief becomes tangled with identity, faith, and unanswered questions—especially the kind that come from loving someone you couldn’t save. 5. Patterns We Inherit Alexa begins to see how her parents’ fractured marriage shaped her understanding of love, a blueprint that followed her into an abusive relationship of her own. Breaking free, she is choosing herself for the first time. 6. Finding a Way Forward Months later, small but meaningful changes begin to take hold as Alexa turns toward healing—through grief groups, Al-Anon, and a growing sense of purpose. She begins to imagine a future in health and life coaching. 7. Faith, Reclaimed In an unexpected turn, Alexa reconnects with spirituality, discovering a version of faith that feels expansive rather than divisive. 8. The Blessing Todd's poem, "Blessing,"—woven around her father’s own handwritten words—lands not as an answer to grief, but as an affirmation of the path she’s on. Support the show TAPIT is listener supported. Listeners like you help make TAPIT's services available FREE to anyone who calls the listener line. Join the movement and get bonus content available nowhere else, by contributing as little as $1 a month, here. Some contributors support the show at $5,000 a year, assuring TAPIT's continued growth as nonprofit arts organization with vision. To join these visionaries, visit us here, or send a message to [email protected]. Read the poems and access more bonus content at poeminthat.com. Or shop our merch! Is there an unwritten poem in your story? Leave Todd a voicemail on our Haiku, Hawaii, listener line, and tell him why: 808-300-0449. Follow TAPIT on Facebook.

    30min
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  4. Number 4: Mike weighs winning

    Send us Fan Mail He broke a man's jaw to go undefeated on national TV—and felt nothing. Think Mike Lee’s pro boxing career looks like a dream? Inside the ring, yes, he was impressive. But outside of it, the pros and cons weren't passing weigh-ins. "You'd think that someone who punched other people in the face for a living would want to do a podcast about poems, but ... here we are." In this episode of There’s a Poem in That, we follow Mike through the final bout of his boxing career—and the invisible fight that was already well underway. What emerges is a story about more than sport. It’s about the addiction to intensity, the emotional crash that follows achievement, and the quiet ways identity can become tied to performance. "I'm actually ironically an extremely empathetic, un-confrontational person." Over years of competition, Mike chased the feeling that winning was supposed to bring. But the highs didn’t last. The lows got lower. And eventually, his body began to break down in ways no one could fully explain—until a diagnosis of Lyme disease helped make sense of the pain, exhaustion, and confusion that had been shaping his career all along. His retirement didn’t end the fight—it only changed it. In highlights from 3 hours of intimate interview, you'll hear about: The psychology of high performance and adrenaline Depression and emotional flat-lining after success Chronic illness and invisible symptoms Losing an identity built since childhood Redefining masculinity, vulnerability, and fatherhood At the center is a quieter question: If you’re not what you achieve… who are you? And what happens when you no longer need to prove you're enough? If this episode resonates, share it with someone who’s been chasing a high—and leave a review with the line that stayed with you. Support the show TAPIT is listener supported. Listeners like you help make TAPIT's services available FREE to anyone who calls the listener line. Join the movement and get bonus content available nowhere else, by contributing as little as $1 a month, here. Some contributors support the show at $5,000 a year, assuring TAPIT's continued growth as nonprofit arts organization with vision. To join these visionaries, visit us here, or send a message to [email protected]. Read the poems and access more bonus content at poeminthat.com. Or shop our merch! Is there an unwritten poem in your story? Leave Todd a voicemail on our Haiku, Hawaii, listener line, and tell him why: 808-300-0449. Follow TAPIT on Facebook.

    34min
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  5. Number 5: Brooke tastes the apple

    Send us Fan Mail A love expert's love life inspires a poem that just might become a lifelong companion. In this intimate exchange conducted over the course of ten months, Brooke brings us along on the roller coaster of her dating life, all the while attempting to locate the heart of the problem. Todd finds the soul of it. Support the show TAPIT is listener supported. Listeners like you help make TAPIT's services available FREE to anyone who calls the listener line. Join the movement and get bonus content available nowhere else, by contributing as little as $1 a month, here. Some contributors support the show at $5,000 a year, assuring TAPIT's continued growth as nonprofit arts organization with vision. To join these visionaries, visit us here, or send a message to [email protected]. Read the poems and access more bonus content at poeminthat.com. Or shop our merch! Is there an unwritten poem in your story? Leave Todd a voicemail on our Haiku, Hawaii, listener line, and tell him why: 808-300-0449. Follow TAPIT on Facebook.

    32min
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How many episodes does There's a Poem in That have?

The podcast currently has 20 episodes available.