No Good Poetry

Episode 108: Ghost Stories

Sun, 15 Dec 2019 12:30:47 -0500

Past guest Brendan Lorber rejoins us this week to talk about ghosts and his ghost story novel he's been working. We talk about ghosts and how they relate to relics of the past in city's, lost love ones, and creativity and the subconscious.

Episode 107: A Chaos of Poet Ramblings

Sun, 29 Sep 2019 12:38:19 -0500

No guest this week, so we recount what's been going on with poetry in our world the past couple weeks, talk about Steve Dalachinsky and read a couple of his poems, the intersection between jazz and poetry, music and poetry in general, about bringing the historical into poetry, and we look at a Vice article about someone faking it as an instagram poet.

Episode 106: Composition, Horseshit, Magic

Sun, 08 Sep 2019 11:32:00 -0500

This week poet and novelist Travis Nichols talks about poets writing auto-fiction, the artifice-sincerity polarity, Ashberyists vs. O'Haraists, how Twitter has changed what makes poets popular, David Berman, and how poetry can gesture towards another world.

Episode 105: 4th of July Episode

Sat, 06 Jul 2019 11:37:09 -0500

This week we met up on the 4th of July, read some poems about America and got philosophical about the disappointment in the promise of America's beginnings that run through literature.

Episode 104: Poetics of Dating with Tracey Anne Duncan

Sun, 23 Jun 2019 11:28:02 -0500

This week poet/writer Tracey Anne Duncan joins us to share some poems & talk about advice columns, whether poets should date poets, personal ads, famous poets who got good poems out of their relationship.

Episode 103: Creole Poetry & Music

Sat, 08 Jun 2019 00:01:00 -0500

Musician Joseph Darensbourg joined us this week to talk about the Creole poetry of Les Cenelles, his string ensemble inspired by it, and the intersection of poetry, music, language, and the ancestral past.

Episode 102: Joseph Lease & Mark Statman

Sat, 27 Apr 2019 00:05:00 -0500

The day after New Orleans Poetry Fest we sat down with poets Joseph Lease and Mark Statman and had a wonderfully sprawling conversation about poetry. Some topics include: the poetry scene in the '80s, "words you can't use in poems, Creeley. Koch, & Ginsberg, how Joseph "used to be a hard critic but he softened up," reading Beats in teh time of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, and Joseph and Mark read some of their incredible poems.

Episode 101: Questions in Poetry

Mon, 15 Apr 2019 10:33:49 -0500

This week poet Lisa Pasold joins us to talk about poems that use questions. We look at poems by Catherine Barnett, Pablo Neruda, Terrrance Hayes, C.D. Wright, and Lisa herself.

Episode 100: Making Vispo with Guests in the Studio

Sun, 31 Mar 2019 11:51:50 -0500

It's episode 100! We have 4 guests over for a Vispo Workshop, and we talk to them about their experience making visual poetry, and we look back at our experience of the podcast so far.

Episode 99: Film and Poetry

Sat, 16 Mar 2019 00:01:00 -0500

This week poet Vincent Cellucci joins us to talk about his course on film and poetry, how the two mediums intersect, videopoems, and how to make interactive poetry that makes use of current technology and shares some poems from his new book Absence Like Sun.

Episode 98: What about Persona?

Sun, 10 Mar 2019 12:14:53 -0500

This week we are talking about writing poems in a persona, and what it shows us about how poetry and identity work in general. We read poems by Ezra Pound, Adrienne Rich, James Tate, and Andre Breton.

Episode 97: Mardi Gras Poems

Sat, 23 Feb 2019 01:30:00 -0500

It's carnival time, and we are thinking about Mardi Gras poems this week. We share some of our favorite poetry about carnival and wonder why there isn't more out there, and we pontificate about how much that one Tuesday a year shapes New Orleans culture.

Episode 96: The Itinerant Printer

Sat, 16 Feb 2019 10:47:56 -0500

This week printer and poet Christ Fritton joins us to talk about visiting letterpress print shops across the country, typography's influence on poetry, the importance of constraints, and embracing the "glitch."

Episode 95: Public Domain

Sat, 09 Feb 2019 09:51:44 -0500

On January 1st, for the first time since 1998, a whole bunch of creative work entered the public domain. This week we talk about how copyrights work and if we think they really work, read some poetry that recently became public domain, and talk about how work from the 20s could be a font of inspiration for today's poets and artists.

Episode 94: Finding Form with Jorge Sánchez

Sat, 02 Feb 2019 00:30:00 -0500

Poet Jorge Sánchez has been contemplating how poets find the forms that they write in when the majority of poets don't use traditional forms. We talk about constraints born of choice, medium, lifestyle, chance and luck and hopefully find a way to forge some new paths through the thicket of poetic form. And the best part is Jorge shares with us a couple of his recent science-inspired poems.

Episode 93: Shape Writing & Docupoetry

Sun, 27 Jan 2019 15:01:43 -0500

This week poet Hank Lazer joins us to talk about docupoetry, his shape writing, keeping open the gateway of poetry, poetry as phonomenolgy of spiritual experience, and how we can make poetry readings less passive and more of an immersive experience.

Episode 92: Finding a Way in Language Bizarrely

Sat, 19 Jan 2019 13:08:43 -0500

This week poet and musician Matt Hart joined us by Skype from his basement lair, and we had a great conversation about teaching poetry writing to visual arts students, the intersection of punk and poetry, Apollinaire, translating, writing a poem every day for a year and more. Matt shares with us some of his poems and one of his obliterations of Apollinaire.

Episode 91: Poetry Chat with Ralph Adamo

Sun, 13 Jan 2019 14:43:37 -0500

This week poet, teacher, and editor Ralph Adamo joins us to chat about teaching poetry, the editing process and how poems are language trying to tell the truth. He shares some of his own poems and poems by Frank Stanford and Everette Maddox.

Episode 90: Collaborative Ekphrastic Poetry

Sat, 05 Jan 2019 00:01:00 -0500

This week poet Shafer Hall joins us to talk about his long time collaboration with poet John Cotter and their new project: writing poetry about pieces of visual art. We talk about how it creates depth to add collaborators into your writing process, how running a bar intersects with poetry, avocado plants, and Shafer reads 2 of their ekphrastic poems.

Episode 89: Use Your Allusion

Sat, 29 Dec 2018 00:01:00 -0500

This week we're talking about allusions in poetry. Why and how do poets use them and what does it say about who we are as humans? We read poems by Keats, Emily Dickinson, Gregory Corso, and Dean Young.

Episode 88: A Collective Experiment in Audience

Sat, 22 Dec 2018 13:32:04 -0500

This week poet Laura Goldstein joins us to tell us about the workshop she held this week at The Dragonfly: "Collective Experiment in Audience," and she reads us a solstice poem that she wrote. We also chat about coaching poets, the difference between writing poetry for self-exploration and writing for an external audience, and how the current political situation is making its way into poetry.

Episode 87: Phonemes in Poetry

Sat, 15 Dec 2018 11:37:36 -0500

This week we start off talking about how we taught a visual poetry workshop at NOCCA and how that went, but as we talk about teaching, what we learned, and how best to present poetry, we spiral off into some interesting linguistic features of speech and how that relates to poetry and visual poetry.

Episode 86: The Leonainie Poetry Hoax

Sat, 08 Dec 2018 10:48:00 -0500

This week we look at the story of John Whitcomb Riley and how his pursuit of fame as a poet led him to forge a posthumous Edgar Allen Poe poem that briefly took the literary world by storm.

Episode 85: Verbovocovisual

Sat, 01 Dec 2018 12:57:47 -0500

This week we talk about our trip to Uruguay, our great time at the Mundial Poético de Montevideo, and the visual workshop we put on there. We also discuss how impressed we were by the wide range of poetry going on in South America and how there seems to be a greater embrace of exploring sound and visual techniques. we also go through a brief survey of some Uruguayan visual poets that you probably haven't heard of.

Episode 84: Brazilian Poets

Sat, 24 Nov 2018 00:01:00 -0500

While we were in Montevideo, we sat down and had a chat with 3 great Brazilian poets, Amora Pêra, Pedro Lago, & Pedro Rocha. We talk about typewriters, poetry in Brazil, listening to poems in different languages, printing, and they share some poems with us.

Episode of Living Oddities

Sat, 17 Nov 2018 00:22:00 -0500

We're at Mundial Poetico in Montevideo right now, but here are a couple of poems from our Uruguayan compatriots to hold you over until the full episode next week.

Episode 83: Neo-happenings with Rodrigo Toscano

Sat, 10 Nov 2018 00:01:00 -0500

Poet Rodrigo Toscano joins us this week, and though we don't have much of a plan in mind, we have a pretty nice chat about how the New Orleans poetry scene is different from the scene in other places, writing poetry for a non-poet audience, monetizing poetry, poets looking for fame, hapenings, neo-happenings, interactive readings, poetry schools and factions...and Rodrigo reads us some of his new poetry!

Episode 82: List Poems

Sat, 03 Nov 2018 10:41:01 -0500

Anaphora for days! Poet Raina Zelinski joins me this week to talk about list poems. How can a poem create repetition? Is there a difference, between litany, catalogues, and list poems? We look at list poems by John Ashbery, Bernadette Mayer, Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg, Ted Berrigan, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Episode 81: Poetry Chat Bots and Neural Network Poetry

Sun, 21 Oct 2018 11:00:00 -0500

No guest this week as we talk about the possibilities for computer generated poetry. We discuss Makkos' poetry chatbot, and look at some poetry Bienvenu created using the textgenrnn recurring neural network.

Episode 80: The Blues, Travelin' & Poetry with Lee Tiger

Sat, 13 Oct 2018 15:13:00 -0500

Lee Tiger joins us this week to talk about his recent travels to Bulgaria, playing the Blues while trapped in Paris, and how travel and foreign languages affect writing.

Episode 79: White Space with Brendan Lorber

Sat, 06 Oct 2018 10:00:25 -0500

This week poet and editor Brendan Lorber joins us to talk about the poetic space of train travel and torturing a neighbor by reading Rimbaud's Drunken Boat, but the conversation really gets going when we discuss what white space can add to poetry, exploring different ways of using the page, and why more poets don't make use of it.

Episode 78: What is Abstraction in Poetry?

Sun, 30 Sep 2018 10:13:56 -0500

There's no guest this week as we explore the concept of abstraction in poetry. Writers often make a distinction between abstract and concrete language, and imply that concrete is best, but we look at how the distinction between concrete and abstract is actually much more complex and interesting than we usually think about. We talk about Dame Edith Sitwell, medium & content, Dada, Abstract Art, visual poetry, Emily Dickinson, techonology & physical media, Christian Dotremont.

Episode 77: Bulbancha

Sat, 22 Sep 2018 17:04:26 -0500

Dr. Jeffery U. Darensbourg joins us to talk about the new zine Bulbancha is Still A Place: Indigenous Culture from New Orleans, share with us some poems by Native writers from the first issue, and talk about the too often forgotten and ignored contributions of indigenous culture to Louisiana culture.

Episode 76: What's in a Title?

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 17:39:26 -0500

This week we talk about giving poems titles. What strategies are there to titling poems? Why might a poet decide not to title their poems? How do titles set reader expectations?

Episode 75: 6 Poets You May Not Have Heard of with Zena Smith

Sat, 15 Sep 2018 11:17:24 -0500

Poet Zena Smith joins us to talk about 6 poets that are lesser known, and we read some of their poetry: Frank Stanford, Kate Sopko, David Schubert, Mike Lala, Matthew Timmons, and Corrado Costa.

Episode 74: Sonnets

Sat, 01 Sep 2018 11:10:51 -0500

This week is all about sonnets, both traditional and modern. We read and talk about sonnets by John Keats, Gerard Manley Hopkins, William Butler Yeats, John Berryman, e.e. cummings, Ted Berrigan, Bernadette Mayer, Ron Padgett, and Terrance Hayes.

Episode 73: Rap, Poetry & Viper Jazz

Sat, 25 Aug 2018 13:09:22 -0500

Rapper #FFFFFF of Sex Party joins us this week to talk about how performing rap and poetry intersect, we read a couple poems from the used copy Of Jim Tate's Viper Jazz that I just got in the mail, and Makkos shares a collaborative poem that he and Xena Smith wrote.

Episode 72: Erotic Poetry

Sat, 18 Aug 2018 08:33:00 -0500

Aime'SansSavant and Shadow Angelina, hosts of the Esoterotica Reading Series, join us this week to talk about their reading series and erotic poetry.

Episode 71: Review of Jodorowsky's Film Endless Poetry

Sun, 12 Aug 2018 12:26:29 -0500

In this episode we are joined by special guests Sidney Manuel and David Moss of the Parking Lot Movie Podcast to review another poetry flick: Alejandro Jodorowsky's Endless Poetry. Spoilers abound, so if you plan on watching the movie, watch it before you listen.

Episode 70: 6 Poets You May Not Have Heard of with Caroline Zimmer

Sat, 04 Aug 2018 07:54:44 -0500

Caroline Zimmer, poet and bartender, joins us to talk about 6 poets that are lesser known, and we read some of their poetry: Hannah Weiner, Paul Klee, Henri Michaux, Richard Hugo, Bernard Heidsieck, and Albert Goldbarth.

Episode 69: Should Poetry be Fun?

Sat, 28 Jul 2018 00:01:00 -0500

This week Todd Cirillo joins us to talk about his belief that poetry should be fun and accessible and that poets should be at home in barrooms, bowling alleys and truck stops. We discuss what accessibility in poetry might mean, what could be different about poetry readings, and how to expand poetry's audience, and Todd shares some of his own poems and some poems by other poets that he loves.

Episode 68: Videopoetry

Sat, 21 Jul 2018 16:24:16 -0500

This week poet Lauren Burgess joins us to talk about her experience of making a videopoem, what videopoetry is, and all the aesthetic opportunities videopoetry offers as a medium.

Episode 67: Revising Poetry

Sat, 14 Jul 2018 13:10:03 -0500

This week we are back in the studio and talking about how to revise poetry, why revision is important, and what revision really means.

Episode 66: Poetry Buffet at the Latter Library

Sun, 08 Jul 2018 19:29:10 -0500

In Episode 66, we share with you some poetry recordings from earlier in July at the monthly Poetry Buffet, held on the first Saturday of every month and hosted by past guest and poet Gina Ferrara.

Episode 65: Poetry at Siberia in NOLA

Sat, 30 Jun 2018 00:01:00 -0500

For episode 65, we share recordings from a poetry extravaganza at Siberia in New Orleans earlier this month organized by past guest Bernard Pearce, including poetry by Bernard and Laura Mattingly and music by Jim Trainer, Jerry Linder, and Lee Tiger & the broken blues band.

Episode 64: 6 Poets You May Not Have Heard of with guest Rosalyn Spencer

Sat, 23 Jun 2018 23:39:57 -0500

Rosalyn Spencer, writer and editor of Rigorous Magazine, joins us to talk about 6 poets that are lesser known, and we read some of their poetry: William Corbett, Pat Parker, Joan Murray, Carlyle Reedy, Angelina Weld Grimke, and Adam Cornford.

Episode 63: Poets and Suicide

Sat, 16 Jun 2018 00:01:00 -0500

In this episode we look at the psychological research into higher rates of suicide among those in creative professions, especially poets, and why that might be. We look at the "Sylvia Plath effect," Janusian thinking, and the problematic romanticization of suicide among writers. We also celebrate and share the poetry of some poets who killed themselves, including Hart Crane, Lew Welch, Sylvia Plath, Elise Cowen, Richard Brautigan.

The outro music for this episode is Songs for Sylvia Plath Volume 1 by Jeff Pagano

Finding A Mental Health Professional
National Alliance on Mental Health New Orleans

Episode 62: Electronic Literary Magazines with Jonathan Penton

Sun, 10 Jun 2018 09:38:24 -0500

In Episode 62 poet and editor Jonathan Penton joins us to talk about online literary magazines, publishing, and the 2oth anniversary of Unlikely Stories, then shares a couple of poems about his time in a nunnery in Toledo and how he found America in Juarez.

Episode 61: DIY Publishing and Poetry with R.A. Washington

Sat, 02 Jun 2018 00:01:00 -0500

While in Cleveland, Joseph Makkos visited R.A. 'Rafiq' Washington at "Guide to Kulcher" and conversed about DIY publishing, the current state of Cleveland, poetry's place in the shifting culture, and his forthcoming book of poetry from Outlandish Press, Black Eunuch.

Episode 60: Printing, Bookmaking, and Poetry with Outlandish Press

Sat, 26 May 2018 09:49:40 -0500

Joseph M. is in his hometown of Cleveland this week, and he sits down at a Greek diner with Zena Smith and Kyle J. Osborne of Outlandish Press, to talk about printing, making books, and Zena shares some poetry from her new chapbook.

Episode 59: The Dreaded "Poet Voice"

Sat, 19 May 2018 00:01:00 -0500

A lot of people think poets read in an unnatural voice dubbed "Poet Voice." We talk about a new study that claims to have figured out what "Poet Voice" is by analyzing recordings of 100 poets. We talk about the study, what it means, and what it really says about the way poetry is performed.

Episode 58: Collaborative Art and Performance Poetry with Jennifer Karmin

Sat, 12 May 2018 17:40:56 -0500

At New Orleans Poetry Fest this year we sat down with Chicago poet Jennifer Karmin to talk about poets collaborating with each other and other types of artists, performance poetry, and she shares some of the poetry from Sexual Organs of the IRS which she wrote with Bernadette Mayer.

Episode 57: New Orleans Poetry Fest Recap

Sat, 05 May 2018 00:01:00 -0500

In episode 57, we look back at New Orleansd Poetry Fest 2018 with founders Megan Burns and Bill Lavender and we share an interview with Chicago poets Marcy Rae Henry and Melissa Almandina.

Episode 56: Poets Reading the News

Sat, 28 Apr 2018 00:01:00 -0500

In Episode 56 founders of Poets Reading the News, Elle Aviv Newton and J. Spagnolo, join us to talk about the intersection between journalism and poetry, the panels they were involved in at New Orleans Poetry Fest, the current state of mainstream media, and how to bring new voices into the news cycle.

Episode 55: Comedy and Poetry

Fri, 20 Apr 2018 00:01:00 -0500

Comedian Paul Oswell joins us this week to talk about comedians who use poetry in their acts, poets who write comedic poems, and to preview the show Comedy Verses Poetry coming up tonight (Friday April 20) at Mags as part of New Orleans Poetry Fest.

Episode 54: Travel and Poetry with Christopher Louis Romaguera

Sat, 14 Apr 2018 00:01:00 -0500

Poet Christopher Louis Romaguera joins us this week to talk about the Gulf Coast Association of Creative Writing Teachers Conference, writing poetry as a first generation American, his experience traveling in Cuba and South America, his love of Mate, and the upcoming New Orleans Poetry Festival.

Episode 53: New Orleans Poetry Fest Preview

Sat, 07 Apr 2018 15:45:45 -0500

At the start of Poetry Month, we look ahead to New Orleans Poetry Festival at the end of the month, and Megan Burns visits to give us a Poetry Fest Survival Guide.

Episode 52: Poetry and Advertising

Sat, 31 Mar 2018 08:50:09 -0500

This week we start out talking about those fake poetry ads in the in the subway and whether it's something poets should be upset about, but it gets us talking about the history of advertising and poetry in general, where the place is for poetry in public, teaching students to make dada poetry collages, why ad companies should hire poets, and what the future might hold for poetry in advertisements.

Episode 51: Whale Prom

Sat, 24 Mar 2018 12:16:54 -0500

Joseph M. traveled to Tampa near the beginning of March to attend Whale Prom, an off-site book fair, held at the same time as the AWP conference. He interviews a couple of the event's organizers about why they started Whale Prom and what need it filled as well as several attendees who were selling books. There are also some great recordings of poet Dylan Krieger reading some of her poetry at an off-site reading.

Episode 50: Live Podcast from St. Joe Lofts

Sun, 18 Mar 2018 17:49:50 -0500

Last week we recorded the podcast live from St. Joe Lofts in the Warehouse District of New Orleans. We are revisited by past guests, and a couple new guests join us too. Make sure that you play along with the Poetry Trivia near the end of the episode. Check out the show notes for the PDF of photos for the picture round.

Episode 49: Should Poets Have Day Jobs?

Sat, 10 Mar 2018 00:00:00 -0500

Should poets be poets full-time or should they ply a trade? In episode 49, four of our past guests give us their thoughts on whether or not poets should have day jobs.

Episode 48: Poetry Travel and Troubadours with Benjamin Aleshire

Sat, 03 Mar 2018 17:21:16 -0500

Poet Ben Aleshire joins us this week to talk about his recent travels, selling poetry on the street, and troubadours in this extra-long episode. We hit on all kinds of odd subjects, George Whitman's shenanigans at Shakespeare and Company, whether Johnny Depp might have stolen a poetry broadside from City Lights, the fecundity of letterpress printing in Germany, fake news, Ezra Pound's Fascism and Antisemitism, improvisation vs. revision in poetry, John Ashbery, how poetry is like free jazz, and why you should never submit poetry to the New Yorker.

Episode 47: Bookmaking and Letterpress with Peter Anderson

Sat, 24 Feb 2018 13:38:22 -0500

This week printer Peter Anderson joins us to talk about letterpress, book making and the value of tailoring a book specifically to a poet;'s work. We get into the esoterics of page size, paper, and the economy of books, and talk about what we love about books as physical objects.

Episode 46: Love Poetry

Sun, 18 Feb 2018 13:49:14 -0500

t's just a little after Valentine's Day, and my wife Raina and our daughter Emma join me to read and talk about love poetry. We share love poems by Gary Snyder, Denise Levertov, Robert Creeley, Zachary Schomburg, Sappho, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Louis Aragon, Anne Waldman, Tony Hoagland and Everette Maddox.

Episode 45: Found Poetry with Chris Sullivan

Sun, 11 Feb 2018 17:26:50 -0500

This week Chris Sullivan joins us to discuss found poetry and his publications, including the Journal of Public Domain, Catastrophe Basketballs From New Orleans, and I Love My Van.

Episode 44: Poetry or Death: a conversation with Óscar Saavedra Villarroel

Sat, 03 Feb 2018 15:50:07 -0500

This week Chilean poet Óscar Saavedra Villarroel joins us to share a few of his poems and to talk about the poetical/political state of Chile. His friend Daniel Medi Truol (translator & humorist) was kind enough to join us as his interlocutor.

Episode 43: The Intersection of Songwriting & Poetry with Jamie Bernstein

Sat, 27 Jan 2018 01:14:00 -0500

In episode 43 Jamie Bernstein joins us to talk about the intersection of songwriting and poetry, sound and meter, the commodification of music/poetry, genres, sub-genres, the value society places on poetry and art, and how we can change the mainstream.

Episode 42: Poetry Communities & Translation with Mark Statman

Sat, 20 Jan 2018 18:03:08 -0500

This week Mark Statman joins us to talk about poetry communities, poetry in Mexico and Uruguay, translating poetry, and revising poetry. He also shares with us both his own poetry and translations of three poems by Marianna Stephania.

Episode 41: Chris Champagne

Sat, 13 Jan 2018 01:35:00 -0500

Poet, comedian, playwright, and political satirist joins us to talk about poetry, comedy, Archie comics, spoken word contests, and performing in public, how texting originated in Finland, and he graces us with some of his poems.

Episode 40: 6 Poets You May Not Have Heard of with guests Laura Mattingly & Raina Zelinski

Sat, 06 Jan 2018 13:14:02 -0500

Poets Laura Mattingly & Raina Zelinski join us to talk about 6 poets that are lesser known, and we read some of their poetry: János Pilinszky, Will Alexander, Jess Stoner, Aase Berg, José Lezama Lima, and Brian Swann.

Episode 39: Newspaper Poetry

Sat, 30 Dec 2017 16:38:48 -0500

Why isn't there poetry in the daily paper anymore? This week we talk about poetry's place in the newspaper both historically and in the present, look at some poems from the Daily Picayune and the Times-Picayune in the Nola DNA archive.

Episode 38: Christmas Episode with Jimmy Ross

Sat, 23 Dec 2017 01:30:00 -0500

Poet Jimmy Ross joins us this week for a special Christmas Episode where we read holiday poems by Auden, Ashbery, Plath, Sexton and many others, reminisce about Christmases past, and posit that computers writing Christmas songs might be a harbinger of their future domination of humans.

Episode 37: 6 Poets You May Not Have Heard of with guest Megan Burns

Sat, 16 Dec 2017 01:01:00 -0500

Poet and publisher Megan Burns joins us to talk about 6 poets that are lesser known, and we read some of their poetry: Elizabeth Acevedo, Susan Wheeler, Carl Andre, Lynn Melnick, David Berman, and The Poet Who Must Not Be Named (I mean, Robert Clairmont).

Episode 36: Alfred Leslie's Films with Poets

Sat, 09 Dec 2017 01:00:00 -0500

In episode 36 guest David Moss joins us to take a look at two short films directed by Alfred Leslie, Pull My Daisy with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Gregory Corso (and guest appearance by one of our favorite painters, Larry Rivers), and The Last Clean Shirt with Frank O'Hara.

Episode 35: Quantifying Poetry, Modern Sonnets, and Poetry-Writing Parties

Sat, 02 Dec 2017 09:41:16 -0500

A miscellany of topics this week. Joseph Makkos tells us about a pretty terrible article from the Daily Mail about what makes poetry successful which we discuss. We talk about modern sonnets and read a few by Bernadette Mayer and Ted Berrigan, and we talk about writing poetry at parties and have a laugh about some poetry written at past parties.

Episode 34: Danny Kerwick Tribute

Sat, 25 Nov 2017 18:14:17 -0500

In this episode we remember friend, poet, publisher and all around mischievous tramp of literature and poetics, Danny Kerwick.

Episode 33: Dada Collage, the Personal Universe Deck, and Transcribing Poetry in the International Phonetic Alphabet

Tue, 21 Nov 2017 14:59:15 -0500

No guest this week and Joseph and Joseph's poetic conversation drifts off into all kinds of unexpected areas: Dada collage, the Personal Universe Deck, and transcribing poetry in the International Phonetic Alphabet, Christopher's Ricks idea of the anti-pun, and the value and dangers of poetry outreach.

Episode 32: Bill Lavender

Sat, 11 Nov 2017 10:05:46 -0500

This week we talk with past guest and friend Bill Lavender about World Poetry, writing fiction as a poet, how photography changed the world and his current poetry projects.

Episode 31: Poetry Festival in Uruguay

Sat, 04 Nov 2017 01:14:00 -0500

Joseph Makkos is just back from Mundial Poético de Montevideo and tells us all about his poetry adventures in Uruguay.

Episode 30: Typewriter Poets

Sat, 28 Oct 2017 01:11:00 -0500

This week we talk about typewriter poets and interview two poets who have spent some time hawking poems on the street, Cubs The Poet and Eric Carter.

Episode 29: Surrealist Poetry Games with Madeline Lavoie

Sat, 21 Oct 2017 11:34:47 -0500

This week poet Madeline Lavoie joins us to play some surrealist poetry games and share some of her poetry.

Episode 28: Free Verse Poetry and Instagram Poetry with Mixson Lovejoy

Sat, 14 Oct 2017 13:06:01 -0500

Guest Cameron (aka Mixson) Lovejoy joins us this week to talk about free verse and instagram poetry.

Episode 27: Bookmaking and Publishing with Geoff Munsterman

Sat, 30 Sep 2017 01:01:00 -0500

Geoff Munsterman joins us this week to chat about making books,publishing poetry, and what makes a book feel one of a kind.

Episode 26: Bernard Pearce

Sat, 23 Sep 2017 13:05:35 -0500

Poet, musician, sound-man, and galley cook Bernard Pearce joins us to talk about his experiences with poetry, Louisiana, life on the sea, music, cooking, and writing from the heart.

Episode 25: 6 Poets You May Not Have Heard of with guest Nathan Hoks

Sat, 16 Sep 2017 15:20:06 -0500

Poet Nathan Hoks joins us to talk about 6 poets that are lesser known, and we read some of their poetry: Jim Lang, Zena Smith, Antonio Porta, John Wheelwright, Chika Sagawa, and Joyce Mansour.

Episode 24: John Ashbery Tribute

Sat, 09 Sep 2017 14:41:36 -0500

This episode is a tribute to John Ashbery with a discussion of his poetry and readings of some of my favorite Ashbery poems, including a recording of the two voice poem Litany from As We Know. A special thanks to Jeff Pagano this week, as his music features heavilly in the episode.

Episode 23: Computer-Generated Poetry

Sat, 02 Sep 2017 17:16:28 -0500

Can a computer write poetry? We look back at the history of computer-generated poetry, read some poems made by computers, see if we can tell if a poem is written by a bot or not, and discuss why people are so interested in A.I. poetry and where the future might lead.

Episode 22: Mimeograph Revolution with John Sinclair

Sat, 26 Aug 2017 09:13:49 -0500

This episode is all about mimeo and the mimeograph revolution of the 60s and 70s and the poetry that was published throughout. Makkos talks about his experiences with mimeo and interviews poet, publisher, jazz aficionado, and political activist John Sinclair.

Episode 21: Children's Poetry

Sat, 19 Aug 2017 12:11:27 -0500

This week we talk about teaching children poetry and share some recordings from a children's poetry reading that was held at the Children's Resource Center Public Library in New Orleans. Check out the links to Kenneth Koch's books on teaching poetry in the show notes.

Episode 20: Vocabulary and Poetry

Sat, 12 Aug 2017 09:44:38 -0500

Does having a bigger vocabulary make you a better poet? Can we tell something about poets from the words they use? Does Wu Tang really use more vocabulary words than Shakespeare? We talk about all this and more as we examine the role of vocabulary in poetry.

Episode 19: We Talk About Ourselves

Sat, 05 Aug 2017 01:00:00 -0500

It's the dead of the summer, so we decided we'd peek our heads out from behind the podcast hosting curtain and talk a little bit about our own current poetry projects. Check out our poems in the shownotes and listen to the end so you can hear a poetry performance with The Furniture Music Ensemble.

Episode 18: 6 Poets You May Not Have Heard of with guest David Rowe

Sat, 29 Jul 2017 01:00:00 -0500

Poet David Rowe joins us to talk about 6 poets that are lesser known, and we read some of their poetry: Vicente Huidobro, Hélène d'Oettingen, Jack Gilbert, Billy Childish, Bernard Bador, and Amelia Rosselli.

Episode 17: Understanding "Understanding Poetry Is More Straightforward Than You Think"

Sat, 22 Jul 2017 01:00:00 -0500

In this episode we talk about a recent article by Matthew Zapruder from the New York Times, "Understanding Poetry Is More Straightforward Than You Think," which gets us thinking about how schools teach poetry, what it means for poetry to be "obscure," poetic tradition, and whether there is value in making poetry straightforward. We do get kind of critical of the article, but hopefully we add to the discussion more than just bitch about the article.

Episode 16: Bards and Barflies of Bohemia (part 2)

Sat, 15 Jul 2017 01:00:00 -0500

Arthur Smith is back again to talk with us about Charles Bukowski and his time in New Orleans, The Outsider magazine, and LouJon Press.

Episode 15: Bards and Barflies of Bohemia (part 1)

Sat, 08 Jul 2017 01:00:00 -0500

Special guest Arthur Smith chats with us live from his home in the French Quarter about some poets who found Bohemia in New Orleans and hung out in some splendid and roomy barrooms while they were at it. In this episode we talk about Walt Whitman and Tenessee Williams.

Episode 14: Musical Compositions Rooted in Poetry (part 2)

Sat, 01 Jul 2017 01:04:00 -0500

Jeff Pagano and I continue our conversation on musical compositions based on poetry with pieces by Hindemith, Britten, Eliott Carter and Brulez inspired by the poetry of Rilke, Rimbaud, Hart Crane, and Rene Char.

Episode 13: Musical Compositions Rooted in Poetry (part 1)

Sat, 24 Jun 2017 01:00:00 -0500

Composer and pianist Jeff Pagano joins us to talk about musical compositions based on poetry. Mallarmé, Verlaine, and Bertrand's poetry all appear in this episode.

Episode 12: Poetry and Audience

Sat, 17 Jun 2017 00:30:00 -0500

How does an audience interact with poetry? What's up with poetry readings? Can poets find ways to make poetry more interactive? We talk about all that and look at some techniques poets have used to get close and personal with their audience.

Episode 11: Book-Length Poems

Sat, 10 Jun 2017 10:10:42 -0500

This week we take a look at book-length poems and talk about some of our favorites. Be sure to checkout the reading list in the shownotes, so you can find a book-length poem to read this summer.

Episode 10: Max Harris and Ern Malley

Sat, 03 Jun 2017 01:01:00 -0500

This week we are joined by composer Jeff Pagano as we take a little trip to 1940s Australia for a bit of poetry history. I don't want to give away too much if it's a story you haven't heard before, but you will hear some amazing poetry along the way and there will be some surprises too.