The Doggerel and Pony Show Phillip Dubov and David Dubov-Flinn

Phillip and David welcome special guest, Kendra McGaha (of the I Trip Over Flat Surfaces podcast) to dive into the play within the play of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Sure, you know it for its fairies, its star-crossed lovers (oops, wrong play), and its wonderful language, but did you also know it has a good claim on some great doggerel, too?

The "rude mechanicals" (as Puck calls them) put on a farcical tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe at the Duke's wedding day at night - and it is some of William Shakespeare's finest and funniest doggerel! David and Kendra lead Phillip, a newcomer to the Bard, into the wordplay, the bawdy language, and the sheer brilliance of one of Elizabethan England's bright lights.

Take a trip to Ninny's tomb with us, and remember, we talk about poetry so you don't have to!

In this episode of The Doggerel and Pony Show, we welcome special guest Heather Tolleson to discuss a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay - The Witch-Wife!

Short, eerie, and mysterious, the poem, picked by Heather for discussion, leads everyone into the wild world of Millay - a pioneer feminist, bohemian and social crusader. But, her reputation as a poet didn't impress some later poets, and that leads to a fascinating back-and-forth about how we judge artists and whether we can separate their lives from their work.

Listen in to our lively chat, and remember: we talk about poetry so you don't have to!

Welcome back to the Doggerel and Pony Show! We've been off the air for a few weeks, but we're back stronger than ever!

In this episode, Phillip and David explore the short, mysterious and wonderful poem by Eugene Field, The Duel (also known by its first line, The Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat). Find out the significance of the poem, its author, and even its connection to the infamous Dred Scott case.

Are you ready for a fight? Let's go!

And don't forget: we talk about poetry so you don't have to.

An epic(ally bad) poem of love and heroism, self-sacrifice, and purple prose! That is the conundrum that is The Highwayman.

Phillip and David take on this classic piece of doggerel, well-known to every teenage student that has stood the test of time, no matter how trite and overblown it seems to modern ears. Why has it survived? What influences went into the poet's writing? Why did Fleetwood Mac use it in a music video? Why, oh why, is it so bad (that it's good)?!

All this and more in this episode of The Doggerel and Pony Show - where we talk about poetry so you don't have to.

When you think of Geoffrey Chaucer, you think of the Canterbury Tales, of course. They were his major work, and, despite being in Middle English, we love them to this day.

But, Chaucer was far from the staid, incomprehensible poet you associate with the sober tales of pilgrims tromping through plague-ravaged England of the late 1300s.

He was funny! And satirical! And, the Tale of Sir Thopas is a hilarious piece of doggerel. (He even calls it that!) So, join Phillip and David in exploring this rip-roaring tale that is a perfect take-off on the blathering, long-winded romances of the late Middle Ages, when bards roamed the lands boring people to death.

Remember, we talk about poetry so you don't have to!

This piece of DEFINITE doggerel is one nearly everyone has heard of, and a few can even quote, but almost nobody knows the history of it and its influence on modern American society.

Right off the bat, David and Phillip take a crack at this very amusing, maybe overly dramatic poem (wait until you hear the recording we uncovered...) and cover the bases in analysis. Listen in and tell us if you think it's a home run!

The Doggerel and Pony Show - we talk about poetry so you don't have to.