Close Talking

Connor and Jack close out National Poetry Month 2019 in style with a special week-long series on haiku! To start off, a look at the history of the form. They discuss renga, the linked verse game from which the contemporary haiku evolved, and even try their hands at writing one. Find us on Facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking 
Find us on Twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking
 Find us on Instagram: @closetalkingpoetry You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com.

Connor and Jack explore the poem “Medical History” by Nicole Sealey. They consider medical histories as a form, think through the link between racism and black health disparities, try to figure out what makes the ending so startling and incredible, and meander embarrassingly into the world of sportsball. Read the poem below. Check out her debut collection here: https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062688828/ordinary-beast/ More about Nicole Sealey, here: http://nicolesealey.com/ Find us on Facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking 
Find us on Twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking
 You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com. Medical History By: Nicole Sealey I’ve been pregnant. I’ve had sex with a man who’s had sex with men. I can’t sleep. My mother has, my mother’s mother had, asthma. My father had a stroke. My father’s mother has high blood pressure. Both grandfathers died from diabetes. I drink.

Connor and Jack explore this poem by Paige Lewis, author of the forthcoming (and hotly anticipated) collection Space Struck, which will publish in October 2019. They explore some of the poem's "zinger" lines, and entangle themselves in its intoxicating web of religion, labor history, medicine, and (insidious?) miracles. Read the poem below. Preorder Space Struck: http://www.sarabandebooks.org/titles-20192039/space-struck-paige-lewis More about Paige Lewis, here: http://paigelewispoetry.com/About Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking 
Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking
 You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com. The Moment I Saw a Pelican Devour a seagull—wings swallow wings—I learned that a miracle is anything that God forgot to forbid. So when you tell me that saints are splintered into bone bits smaller than the freckles on your wrist and that each speck is so

W. S. Merwin's recent passing got Connor and Jack thinking about his work. In this episode they explore the elegantly structured, gut-punchingly powerful "For the Anniversary of My Death" from Merwin's collection "The Lice." Jack brings up the concept of the presence of absence and Connor finds new levels of sonic resonance in the poem's final line. Read the poem below.
 More on Merwin, here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/w-s-merwin Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking 
Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking
 You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com. For the Anniversary of My Death By: W. S. Merwin Every year without knowing it I have passed the day When the last fires will wave to me And the silence will set out Tireless traveler Like the beam of a lightless star Then I will no longer Find myself in life as in a strange garment Surprised at the earth An

A day late but it's here! Connor and Jack explore the haunting poem, “Stammer,” by Cynthia Cruz. They delight in the incredible sounds of the poem, think about what makes this poem difficult, and consider how this poem shows one way of engaging with the traumatic or inexpressible. Read the poem below.

 More on Cynthia Cruz, here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/cynthia-cruz Check out the Washington Square Review here: http://www.washingtonsquarereview.com/latest-issue 
Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking 

Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking

 You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com. Stammer By: Cynthia Cruz There is the story my mother used to tell. How she woke at three A.M. from a dream that her mother died. And she did. At three A.M. It’s like that: visceral and animal. The silver grammar of vanish. A soft violence pushing up against me— soundl

Connor and Jack take a detour into American gothic territory with Ted Kooser's eerie "Abandoned Farmhouse." They hone in on what makes the poem so creepy, how the specific and the unnamed work together to heighten its unsettling atmosphere, and end up reflecting on how it almost sounds like a horrific children's book. Read the poem below.
 More on Ted Kooser, here: http://www.tedkooser.net/about.shtml Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking 
Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking
 You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com. Abandoned Farmhouse By: Ted Kooser He was a big man, says the size of his shoes on a pile of broken dishes by the house; a tall man too, says the length of the bed in an upstairs room; and a good, God-fearing man, says the Bible with a broken back on the floor below the window, dusty with sun; but not a man for farming, say the fields cluttered with bo

Connor and Jack talk about the poem "And" by Rae Armantrout. Connor asks, "Why is this a poem?" Jack expounds upon Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and both burrow deep into the strange roots and meanings of words. Read the poem below.
 More on Rae Armantrout, here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/rae-armantrout Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking 
Find us on Twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking
 You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com. And By: Rae Armantrout 1 Tense and tenuous grow from the same root as does tender in its several guises: the sour grass flower; the yellow moth. 2 I would not confuse the bogus with the spurious. The bogus is a sore thumb while the spurious pours forth as fish and circuses.

EXTRA EPISODE! This is a short outtake from our conversation on Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese." Jack discusses some connections he sees between Oliver and Kierkegaard, and Connor comments on the philosophical depth of Oliver's poetic project. Read the poem below.
 More on Mary Oliver, here: www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mary-oliver Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking 
Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking
 You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com. Wild Geese By: Mary Oliver You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the m

In the wake of Mary Oliver's recent passing, Connor and Jack delve into one of her most popular poems, "Wild Geese." Connor is dazzled by the way the poem moves, and Jack can't help bringing Tom Petty into the conversation. Read the poem below.
 More on Mary Oliver, here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mary-oliver Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking 
Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking
 You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com. Wild Geese By: Mary Oliver You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountain

In the first episode of 2019, Connor and Jack discuss Natasha Trethewey’s “Letter.” Jack calls Connor out for his poetical preferences, Connor waxes abstractly about associative logic, both explore how things as small as a letter can reveal our most profound grief. A Dybek umbrella descends. Read the poem below.
 More on Natasha Trethewey, here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/natasha-trethewey Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking 
Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking
 You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com. Letter By: Natasha Tretheway At the post office, I dash a note to a friend, tell her I’ve just moved in, gotten settled, that I’m now rushing off on an errand—except that I write errant, a slip between letters, each with an upright backbone anchoring it to the page. One has with it the fullness of possibility, a shape almost like the O my friend’s

In this episode, Connor and Jack discuss Mary Karr's "Carnegie Hall Rush Seats." In the course of the conversation they also talk about big-R Romanticism, Calvinism, the Netflix program Chef's Table, and the quasi-mystical process behind the crafting of the world's finest classical instruments. Connor sticks up for the midwest, Jack's poetic preferences are laid bare, and a physical copy of the OED is consulted. Read the poem below. More on Mary Karr, here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mary-karr Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com. Carnegie Hall Rush Seats By: Mary Karr Whatever else the orchestra says, the cello insists, You’re dying. It speaks from the core of the tree’s hacked-out heart, shaped and smoothed like a woman. Be glad you are not hard wood yourself and can hear

Content Warning: Suicidality Connor and Jack discuss a poem by this year's National Book Award winner for Poetry: Justin Phillip Reed. The poem, "How to Keep it Down / Throw It off / Defer Until Asleep," is from that award-winning collection, Indecency, published by Coffee House Press. We talk about the effects of the poem's shifting POV, the intersection of mental illness and white supremacy, and get to maybe two or three of the poem's nearly infinite layers on layers. Plus, Al Pacino makes a surprise cameo! Read the poem below. More on Justin Phillip Reed: http://www.justinphillipreed.com/ Check out his collection, Indecency, where this poem comes from: https://coffeehousepress.org/collections/poetry/products/indecency Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking
Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking
You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com. How to Keep it Down / Throw It

It has been two years since Connor and Jack launched Close Talking! After 50 episodes, they decided to commemorate the occasion by looking back on an episode they particularly enjoyed on Monica Youn's "Ersatz Ignatz" To read the poem, go here or below: www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53591/ersatz-ignatz For more on Youn: www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/monica-youn To check out the collection Ignatz: www.powells.com/book/ignatz-9781935536017/61-0 Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com. POEM: Ersatz Ignatz The clockwork saguaros sprout extra faces like planaria stroked by a razor. Chug say the sparrows, emitting fluffs of steam. Chug chug say the piston-powered ground squirrels. The tumbleweeds circle on retrofitted tracks, but the blue pasteboard welkin is much dented by little winds. Th

For the 50th episode of Close Talking, Connor and Jack dive into a classic: Ozymandias. They discuss Percy Bysshe Shelley's many accomplishments, the poem's history, and how the poem has been deployed in popular culture. Jack can't help bringing up Roger Federer, and Connor offers a curated tour of poems about urns, sculptures, and other objects. Read the poem below. Poetry Foundation Poem Guide (referenced in the podcast): https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69503/percy-bysshe-shelley-ozymandias Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking 
Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking
 You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com. Ozymandias By: Percy Bysshe Shelley I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer o

In this special spooky Halloween episode, we talk about Anna Journey's terrifying and haunting poem "Mercy." We consider serial killers and Brett Kavanaugh, squirrel meat and patriarchal violence, and the ghoulish openness of the grotesque. Content Warning: Sexual Violence. Read the poem below. More on Journey: http://annajourney.com/ Check out Journey’s collection, Vulgar Remedies, where this poem comes from: https://lsupress.org/books/detail/vulgar-remedies/ Check out her other books here: http://annajourney.com/books/ Check out the referenced article by Journey: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Earn+the+Vomit:+employing+the+Grotesque+in+contemporary+Poetry.-a0380527469 Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking
Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking
You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com. Mercy by Anna Journey She spends the night with a man who once hunted deer, who ke

In this episode, Connor and Jack explore an the poem “Emplumada,” by Lorna Dee Cervantes. They discuss the poem’s ending, its ambiguity and beauty; how the poem might fit into a three-act structure; the poem’s negotiation with an oppressive history; the poem’s tonal distance between quiet and intensity; and, finally, hummingbirds and their possible mating practices? Read the poem below or here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50119/emplumada More on Cervantes: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/lorna-dee-cervantes Check out Cervantes’ collection, Emplumada, where this poem comes from: https://www.upress.pitt.edu/BookDetails.aspx?bookId=34371 Check out the referenced interview with Cervantes: http://opencourses.uoa.gr/modules/document/file.php/ENL9/Instructional%20Package/Texts//Readings/Chicana%20Movement-%20Further%20Reading/An%20Interview%20with%20Lorna%20Dee%20Cervantes.pdf Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking
Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking
You can always send us

Connor and Jack delve into Fatimah Asghar's incredible poem, "If They Should Come for Us." They discuss the lack of punctuation, the use of the ampersand, the historical connections in the title, brave line breaks, The Dark Knight, the blending of the political and the personal, and much more. This show starts with a short discussion of a listener response to episode 42, Manifesto on Ars Poetica, and a special announcement (see below). The discussion of today's poem starts at 11:25. Special Announcement from the start of the show: Close Talking will be featured on a great panel of literary podcasts at the 2019 AWP conference! We can't wait to see you all there! Learn more about Fatimah Asghar, here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/fatimah-asghar Get a copy of her book, If They Should Come for Us, here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/565781/if-they-come-for-us-by-fatimah-asghar/9780525509783/ Read the poem "If They Should Come for Us" here (or below): https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetry

In this larger episode, Connor and Jack explore an excerpt of Layli Long Soldier’s sequence “Whereas Statements,” which responds to the Congressional Resolution of Apology to Native Americans that US President Barack Obama signed on Saturday, December 19, 2009. They discuss how Long Soldier interrogates and writes against the language of the Apology, the effects of her syntactical experimentation, the surprising commonalities of legal and poetic language, and how indigenous writers are often read reductively as only their indigeneity. Read the poem below. Read a long excerpt from the sequence here: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/02/magazine/from-whereas-statements.html More on Long Soldier: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/layli-long-soldier Check out Long Soldier’s collection, Whereas, here: https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/whereas Check out the full text of the Congressional Apology here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/14/text Read the referenced review

Many poems were shared online in the wake of Aretha Franklin's recent passing. Connor and Jack explore the emotional and poetic depths of this poem by Ada Limon, written ten years ago, which simultaneously celebrates Franklin and her music, shows the immediate impact hearing that music for the first time can have on an unsuspecting young listener, and also contains the contradictions and glories of Franklin herself. In the end, they decide the poem is simply a stunning work of astounding depth. Find out more about Ada Limon, here: http://adalimon.com/ Find her new book, The Carrying, here: https://milkweed.org/book/the-carrying Listen to her interview with NPR, here: https://www.npr.org/2018/08/19/639997901/ada-limon-on-poetry-collection-the-carrying Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on this or any of our previous podcasts, as well as suggestions for future shows, at closetalkingpoetry@gmail.com.

Connor and Jack go on a mid-summer romp in the blackberry patch for a discussion of Seamus Heaney's "Blackberry-Picking." Along the way they discuss the poem's accessibility to a variety of audiences, Heaney's ability to create sonically perfect moments, and the meaning of the word "crepuscular." They also take time to marvel at Heaney's overall mastery of all things poetic and the way he uses all of the tools in his poet's toolbox to make the poem both more complex and more easily understandable. More on Seamus Heaney, here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/seamus-heaney More on Heaney's relationship to the Troubles, here: https://trinity.duke.edu/node/1637 The poem of Heaney's passed around online on the 20th Anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday accords, here: https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/good-friday-agreement-anniversary-seamus-heaney Find us on facebook at: facebook.com/closetalking Find us on twitter at: twitter.com/closetalking You can always send us an e-mail with thoughts on t