99 episodes

Producer Helena de Groot talks to poets about language, dreams, love and loss, identity, connection, anger, discomfort, the creative process, the state of the world and the world of the soul. Hard conversations are welcomed—laughter is, too.

Poetry Off the Shelf Poetry Foundation

    • Arts
    • 4.6 • 387 Ratings

Producer Helena de Groot talks to poets about language, dreams, love and loss, identity, connection, anger, discomfort, the creative process, the state of the world and the world of the soul. Hard conversations are welcomed—laughter is, too.

    All the Shiny Knives

    All the Shiny Knives

    Monica Rico on cooking, grunt work, and the heat at General Motors.

    • 54 min
    Let Light Form

    Let Light Form

    Nam Le on commerce, irony vs. sincerity, and being in the Arctic. 

    • 1 hr 9 min
    Stay in Character

    Stay in Character

    Gregory Pardlo on improv, therapy, and driving around with his father’s ashes.

    • 45 min
    Instructions for Divorce

    Instructions for Divorce

    Caitlin Cowan on rejection, tradwives, and poems from our better self.

    • 50 min
    Make Art for Me

    Make Art for Me

    Blake Butler on complex mourning, the suicide of his wife Molly Brodak, and finding his way back.

    • 1 hr
    Poets We Lost in 2023

    Poets We Lost in 2023

    Remembering the lesbian poet and activist Minnie Bruce Pratt, as well as the Palestinian poet and symbol of the resistance, Refaat Alareer.

    • 44 min

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5
387 Ratings

387 Ratings

Ctcbinctcezvinivd ,

my favorite podcast currently

This podcast has inspired me to write more, and turned me on to so many great poets. The podcasters questions are so thoughtful and direct, it makes for such beautiful conversations. I recommend this podcast to everyone I know!

Bethiebookworm ,

The Best

I am a poet and avid, voracious poetry “learner,” so poetry podcasts have become essential for me. Helena de Groot is simply the best podcaster and reader of poetry out here right now. I was reminded by this the other day as I tuned back in to another popular poetry podcast, immediately remembering why I had stopped listening to it: that podcast host is utterly self-absorbed and spends an inordinate amount of time talking about herself, whining on and on about the woes of her own life. Lots of whining and self-pity. It will take her at least five minutes to articulate the actual question to the poet, who then often forgets the question because it’s taken so long. We are tuning in to learn about The Poet, not the podcaster herself. Helena de Groot, on the other hand, converses with the poets in such a genuine, original manner. She asks intelligent, articulate, thoughtful questions about the poets and the poetry they are writing. She is a class act and podcasting at its finest. A real pleasure for all of us hungry for poetry…thank you!

Elton Fan #1 ,

The best podcast around poetry

de Groot is simply one of the great readers of American poetry. I recommend this podcast to all of my friends.

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