Poem Talk

Poetry Foundation

4.5 (103)
BOOKS

Kelly Writers House impresario Al Filreis leads a lively roundtable discussion of a single poem with a series of rotating guests including Tracie Morris, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, erica kaufman, Charles Bernstein, Sawako Nakayasu, Simone White, and others.

06/28/2023

Don’t Refuse to Breathe: A discussion of Frank O’Hara: “Song (Is it dirty)” & “Poem (Lana Turner Has Collapsed)”

Hosted by Al Filreis and featuring Robert von Hallberg, Charles Altieri, and Marjorie Perloff.

52 min
05/22/2023

The Whole World Smiles: A discussion of John Giorno’s “Everyone Is a Complete Disappointment”

Hosted by Al Filreis and featuring Brooke O’Harra, Michelle Taransky, and Chris Funkhouser.

52 min
04/17/2023

Present Plans Succeed: A discussion of Dodie Bellamy’s “Vomit Journal”

Hosted by Al Filreis and featuring Chantine Akiyama Poh, Henry Steinberg, and Murat Nemet-Nejat.

55 min
03/17/2023

Woot of the Century: A discussion of “Welter” and “Static” by Douglas Kearney

Hosted by Al Filreis and featuring Divya Victor, Whitney Trettien, and Dagmawi Woubshet.

52 min
02/24/2023

Rhetorical Happenings: A discussion of Hoa Nguyen, “Long Light.”

Hosted by Al Filreis and featuring Bethany Swann, Jonathan Dick, and Kate Colby.

46 min
01/11/2023

Nothing Made of Ink: A discussion of seven poems by Lisa Fishman

Hosted by Al Filreis and featuring Lisa Fishman, Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué, and Laynie Browne.

55 min
12/22/2022

Untranslatable: A discussion of Armand Schwerner’s “Tablet 25” & “‘daddy, can you staple these two stars together to make an airplane?’”

Hosted by Al Filreis and featuring Jerome Rothenberg, Pierre Joris, and Charles Bernstein.

1h 1m
11/25/2022

Downgraded to Scribble: A discussion of four poems from Dead Winter by Matvei Yankelevich

Hosted by Al Filreis and featuring Ahmad Almallah, Huda Fakhreddine, and Kevin Platt.

54 min

See All (99)

4.5

out of 5

103 Ratings

MFA via podcast

09/21/2023

Literally Upsidedown

Feels like listening to an MFA seminar. Cool resource that’s taught me lots and opened my perspective on familiar and new poems.
Something Imagined, not recalled.

11/27/2020

Jeffreypoetbaltimore

Providing the original recordings of poets reading their work and the subsequent close readings provided by the podcast editors and guests gives me hope that poetry is not dead. Please keep up the great work. Thank you.
Poem Talk? More Like Poem Rawk

09/18/2019

Daveiii

Al Filreis has a gravely, made-for-radio voice in the tradition of Bobby Dylan and Tommy Waits. The conversations are insightful and inviting. The breadth of poets covered is wonderful. The back catalog is extensive. What’s not to love?
Men spoil things for me

06/28/2020

toshokes

What a shame it is to have a host for a poetry podcast - speak over guests - not taking standard cues of breaks and breaths - and curtailing and controlling the art of conversation. The form has great potential, but the ego here trumps the magic.

Kelly Writers House impresario Al Filreis leads a lively roundtable discussion of a single poem with a series of rotating guests including Tracie Morris, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, erica kaufman, Charles Bernstein, Sawako Nakayasu, Simone White, and others.