Alden Carrow's Poetry Podcast

Alden Carrow
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🎙️ Step into the world of indie poetry with Alden Carrow — a weekly poetry podcast where every verse has a story, and every story finds its voice. New episodes drop every Wednesday, taking you behind the scenes of the raw, real, and rewarding life of an independent poet, self-published author, and creative entrepreneur. Whether you're a working writer, aspiring self-publisher, spoken word fan, or simply someone who finds magic in words, you'll feel right at home here. What you'll get every week: • Honest conversations about the indie writing life, creative freedom, and the modern poet's journey • Practical tips on self-publishing, book marketing, building an author platform, and growing an audience online • Candid takes on AI for writers — when ChatGPT and AI tools spark creativity, and when they get in the way • Interviews, reflections, and readings that explore craft, creativity, and the poet's mindset • Two original poems per episode: a Guest Poem from the community, plus a featured piece from Alden's acclaimed collections, Cornwall In Verse - Tide To tor In Poetry, Cumbria In Verse - Lakes To Fells In Poetry and North Yorkshire In Verse — Moor To Shore In Poetry, Expect moor mist, sea spray, and the rugged soul of Yorkshire — nature poetry, landscape poetry, and contemporary British verse brought vividly to life. Perfect for fans of: modern poetry, spoken word, indie authors, self-publishing podcasts, creative writing shows, nature writing, British poetry, and podcasts for writers, poets, and creatives. ✍️ Want YOUR favourite poem read on the show? Send it to aldencarrow78@gmail.com and Alden will read it aloud with a personal shout-out, just for you. If you love poetry that's honest, heartfelt, and a little windswept, hit Subscribe — and never miss a verse. Keywords: poetry podcast, indie poetry, spoken word, self-publishing, creative writing, modern poetry, British poetry, nature poetry, Yorkshire poetry, AI for writers, independent authors, poets, writing life.

  1. 2d ago

    The Blast Furnace Went Out in 2015, but What Happened to the Town? Kipling and Redcar

    A blast furnace that ran day and night for years. A poem in which the machines talk as if they made themselves. And a seaside town that carried on. In Episode 47, we go to Redcar, where the River Tees meets the North Sea, eleven years after the fire in the furnace went out, and ask how a poem can honour what a town made without turning it into a museum piece. Our guest poem is Rudyard Kipling’s The Secret of the Machines, written in 1911, in which the machines speak for themselves, proud and cold. Then I read my own poem, Redcar, from North Yorkshire In Verse — Moor To Shore In Poetry, with the real story of the place behind it, including the oldest surviving lifeboat in the world. Stay to the end and you’ll leave knowing how Kipling’s poem works, plus three habits for writing a place after its industry has gone: name the work, find the one person behind the number, and let the present be as real as the past. Pour something warm. Stay awhile. There is poetry to be found in the everyday. New to the podcast? Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen — free, and it arrives every Wednesday morning.

    The Blast Furnace Went Out in 2015, but What Happened to the Town? Kipling and Redcar

  2. Oct 7

    No Chisel Made This Cliff, Yet Something Cut the Stone | Malham Cove & Tennyson

    A waterfall with no water. A cliff that remembers the river that made it. And a poet who refuses to say farewell. In Episode 46, we stand beneath Malham Cove in the Yorkshire Dales, an eighty-metre curve of limestone cut by Ice Age meltwater, and ask how a poem can describe something that is no longer there. Our guest poem is Alfred, Lord Tennyson's section 123 of In Memoriam, twelve lines from the long elegy he wrote after the death of his friend Arthur Hallam, as geology was telling him that even the hills are not for ever. Then I read my own poem, Malham Cove, from North Yorkshire In Verse — Moor To Shore In Poetry, with the real story of the place behind it. Stay to the end and you'll leave knowing how Tennyson's poem works, plus three habits for writing absence that you can try in your own poems: describe the shape it left, find out where it went, and measure deep time with something human. Pour something warm. Stay awhile. There is poetry to be found in the everyday. New to the podcast? Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen — free, and it arrives every Wednesday morning.

    No Chisel Made This Cliff, Yet Something Cut the Stone | Malham Cove & Tennyson

  3. Sep 30

    Time Takes the Blame, but Someone Gave the Order

    A city remembers nothing of itself. A tower stands broken on purpose. And a poet, four hundred years dead, argues that only verse survives — while his own house burned in Ireland. In Episode 45, we travel inland to Helmsley, a market town on the edge of the North York Moors, where a castle holds a question every ruin asks: *What good is it that I was?* Our guest poem is Edmund Spenser's "The Ruines of Time," six verses spoken by Verlame — Roman Verulamium — as she grieves not just her walls, but her erasure from memory. Then we stand beneath Helmsley Castle's half-ruined tower and ask who actually broke it. Not time. People. A garrison. A general. A banker's family who kept the wreck because it looked beautiful in the landscape. Here's what Spenser got wrong: he blamed time for every ruin. This week, we meet the hands behind the damage — and the hands that decided to keep these broken things standing. Pour something warm. Stay awhile. There is poetry to be found in the everyday, and a story written in stone. **New to the podcast? Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen — free, and it arrives every Wednesday morning.**

    Time Takes the Blame, but Someone Gave the Order

  4. Sep 23

    From Caedmon to Dracula: Whitby Abbey & Poe's The City in the Sea

    On a Yorkshire headland above the North Sea, one ruined abbey produced two unlikely legacies: the first named poet in the English language, and the legend that became Dracula. This week, poet Alden Carrow pairs Edgar Allan Poe's 1845 poem "The City in the Sea" — a drowned city where nothing moves and Death alone presides — with his own poem "Whitby Abbey," from North Yorkshire In Verse — Moor To Shore In Poetry (British Counties In Verse series). Along the way: Cædmon, the cowherd who woke up a poet; the Synod of Whitby; St Hilda's snake legend; and Bram Stoker's 1890 summer holiday that gave the world Dracula. In the discussion, "The Open Ruin," Alden asks a question that matters to anyone who writes about place — when should a subject stay open to more than one story, and when does it need just one, final reading? Alden Carrow's Poetry Podcast pairs classic and contemporary landscape poetry with the wild places that inspired it. New episodes every Wednesday. Suggest a future guest poem and enter the draw for a signed copy of North Yorkshire In Verse — email aldencarrow78@gmail.com.

    From Caedmon to Dracula: Whitby Abbey & Poe's The City in the Sea

  5. Sep 16

    Nothing Here Needed Saving, It Only Needed Someone to Prefer It: Edward Thomas's Tall Nettles and Exmoor's Simonsbath

    In a corner of a farmyard, a rusty harrow, a worn-out plough, and a stone roller have vanished under nettles for years. Most poets would mourn that. Edward Thomas doesn't. In eight quiet lines, written during the war that would kill him within months, he simply confesses a preference: "This corner of the farmyard I like most." No metaphor, no lesson, no grief. Just liking, stated plainly. Thomas came to poetry late, at thirty-six, after Robert Frost urged him to set his own prose out in lines. He wrote nearly 140 poems in two years before enlisting, and was killed at Arras in April 1917.. Alden then takes us to Simonsbath, deep on Exmoor, where in 1818 a wealthy ironmaster named John Knight tried to turn an entire wild moor into farmland — a twenty-nine-mile wall, roads, farmsteads, a failed mine. Two centuries on, the moor is quietly undoing all of it, unhurried and without malice. The discussion asks why so much craft advice insists a poem must earn its subject through history, cost, or meaning — and what it would mean to write, instead, about something you simply like, for no reason you can name. This is the final Somerset episode before the podcast moves to North Yorkshire next week. Email a guest poem suggestion to aldencarrow78@gmail.com to enter the draw for a signed copy of Somerset In Verse — Exmoor To Levels In Poetry, sent by hand. Also available on Amazon. New episodes every Wednesday at 6am.

    Nothing Here Needed Saving, It Only Needed Someone to Prefer It: Edward Thomas's Tall Nettles and Exmoor's Simonsbath

  6. Sep 10

    The Water Is Indifferent. We Never Have Been: Bath's Hot Spring, the Roman Curse Tablets, and Writing Against Forgetting

    Beneath the Pump Room in Bath, water rises at forty-six degrees, more than a million litres a day. It fell as rain on the Mendips around ten thousand years ago, travelled three kilometres down into the earth's heat, and is only now finding its way back into the light. It has never once altered its behaviour on anyone's account. And for two thousand years, people have stood at its edge and asked it for things anyway. The Romans threw in coins, jewellery, and lead curse tablets — thin inscribed sheets addressed to the goddess Sulis. Around a hundred and thirty have been recovered, and they are almost unbearably ordinary: a cloak stolen from the bath-house, six coins from a purse, the names of everyone who might have taken them. The goddess did not intervene. The cloaks were never returned. But we can still read every word. This week's guest poem comes not from the canon but from a living young poet, Leila Lillian Dudmish, who has kindly allowed Alden to share her work. "Treasured You" is an elegy for her grandfather, Ronald Dudmish, built entirely from small physical particulars — a light blue shirt, a chuckle, a white t-shirt losing its scent. Her Instagram is leilalilliandudmish.work Alden then reads his own poem, "Bath," from Somerset In Verse — Exmoor To Levels In Poetry, and asks why the specific detail, not the general statement, is what makes an elegy last. Email a guest poem suggestion to aldencarrow78@gmail.com to enter the draw for a signed copy of Somerset In Verse - Exmoor To Levels In Poetry, sent by hand. New episodes every Wednesday at 6am.

    The Water Is Indifferent. We Never Have Been: Bath's Hot Spring, the Roman Curse Tablets, and Writing Against Forgetting

  7. Season 1 Trailer

    9th September 2026. A Short Announcement:! This Week's Episode Arrives Thursday, Not Wednesday — A One-Day Delay, and a Look Ahead to Bath

    9th September 2026. It is a special day tomorrow, so this week's episode — which would normally reach you on Wednesday morning at six — will instead arrive on Thursday morning at the same hour. One day later than usual, and then we return to our regular rhythm the following week. This podcast keeps a steady time on purpose, and I know many of you listen on a particular morning, on a particular walk or journey to work. I would rather not disturb that, and I am sorry to move it. But I would far rather give you the episode properly on Thursday than a hurried version of it on Wednesday. It is worth the extra day. On Thursday we are going to Bath — to the hot spring beneath the Pump Room, and the water that fell as rain on the Mendips ten thousand years ago and is only now finding its way back into the light. The guest poem this week comes not from the canon, but from a living young poet who has very kindly allowed me to share her work with you. It is an episode about what we set down against forgetting. If you follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you are listening now, Thursday's episode will find its own way to you without your having to remember the change. Competition: email your guest poem suggestion to aldencarrow78@gmail.com to enter the draw for a signed copy of Somerset In Verse — Exmoor To Levels In Poetry, sent to you by hand. Until Thursday — may you find poetry waiting for you in the everyday.

    9th September 2026. A Short Announcement:! This Week's Episode Arrives Thursday, Not Wednesday — A One-Day Delay, and a Look Ahead to Bath

  8. Sep 2

    Somerset In Verse - Exmoor To Levels In Poetry Launch Day: 'Somerset Awaits' & John Clare's Emmonsail's Heath in Winter

    Tomorrow, the book comes out. Before that: we go back to where it all began. John Clare's Emmonsail's Heath in Winter—written by a farm labourer watching a heron flap off, a crow swing on a rotten branch, twenty long-tailed t**s hang on a twig and start again. Nothing in it performs for him. Nothing waits. His first appearance on the show, and worth the wait. Then Somerset Awaits, the opening poem of the collection—a title that's wrong on purpose. Eighteen lines later, the poem itself says: "Geology holds no intention; it does not wait." A twelve-metre tide, a river that runs above its own fields, water pumped uphill against its own weight, twice a day, for two centuries, just so Somerset can stay dry. This week's discussion—Launch Week: an honest account of what this book actually is, what it cost to write it straight, and three small, no-obligation ways you can help it find readers. Somerset In Verse — Exmoor To Levels In Poetry arrives in paperback on Amazon on 3rd September. No pre-orders—just the date. Enter our competition: Suggest a guest poem by emailing aldencarrow78@gmail.com for your chance to win a signed copy, sent to you by hand. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify so you don't miss next week's walk.

    Somerset In Verse - Exmoor To Levels In Poetry Launch Day: 'Somerset Awaits' & John Clare's Emmonsail's Heath in Winter
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About

🎙️ Step into the world of indie poetry with Alden Carrow — a weekly poetry podcast where every verse has a story, and every story finds its voice. New episodes drop every Wednesday, taking you behind the scenes of the raw, real, and rewarding life of an independent poet, self-published author, and creative entrepreneur. Whether you're a working writer, aspiring self-publisher, spoken word fan, or simply someone who finds magic in words, you'll feel right at home here. What you'll get every week: • Honest conversations about the indie writing life, creative freedom, and the modern poet's journey • Practical tips on self-publishing, book marketing, building an author platform, and growing an audience online • Candid takes on AI for writers — when ChatGPT and AI tools spark creativity, and when they get in the way • Interviews, reflections, and readings that explore craft, creativity, and the poet's mindset • Two original poems per episode: a Guest Poem from the community, plus a featured piece from Alden's acclaimed collections, Cornwall In Verse - Tide To tor In Poetry, Cumbria In Verse - Lakes To Fells In Poetry and North Yorkshire In Verse — Moor To Shore In Poetry, Expect moor mist, sea spray, and the rugged soul of Yorkshire — nature poetry, landscape poetry, and contemporary British verse brought vividly to life. Perfect for fans of: modern poetry, spoken word, indie authors, self-publishing podcasts, creative writing shows, nature writing, British poetry, and podcasts for writers, poets, and creatives. ✍️ Want YOUR favourite poem read on the show? Send it to aldencarrow78@gmail.com and Alden will read it aloud with a personal shout-out, just for you. If you love poetry that's honest, heartfelt, and a little windswept, hit Subscribe — and never miss a verse. Keywords: poetry podcast, indie poetry, spoken word, self-publishing, creative writing, modern poetry, British poetry, nature poetry, Yorkshire poetry, AI for writers, independent authors, poets, writing life.

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