Poetry Off the Shelf

Style All the Way Down

Tue, 21 May 2024 00:00:00 CDT

Joyelle McSweeney on sound, style icons, and the Ovidian landscape of her ear canal.

The Fire in Which We Burn

Tue, 07 May 2024 00:00:00 CDT

Sara Henning on radical truth, obsessive forms, and letting go of grief.

My Heart and Its Borders

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 00:00:00 CDT

Philip Metres on middle age, writer's block, and praying for the people of Palestine.

My Awesome Stoma

Tue, 09 Apr 2024 00:00:00 CDT

April Gibson on chronic illness, religion, and being a teenage mother.

Working-Class Superheroes

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 00:00:00 CDT

Declan Ryan on his father's construction job, tenderness between boxers, and the inevitable tragic end.

All the Shiny Knives

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 00:00:00 CDT

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

Let Light Form

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 00:00:00 CST

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

Stay in Character

Tue, 13 Feb 2024 00:00:00 CST

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

Instructions for Divorce

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 CST

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

Make Art for Me

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 00:00:00 CST

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

Poets We Lost in 2023

Wed, 03 Jan 2024 00:00:00 CST

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

The Utopian Business

Tue, 12 Dec 2023 00:00:00 CST

Steve Zeitlin and Bob Holman on the healing act of writing, small frogs, and politics at the fiddle festival.

Cease and Desist

Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:00:00 CST

Laura Mullen on academia, death threats, and doing the next brave thing.

Falling Off the Stairs

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 00:00:00 CST

Daniel Brock Johnson on risk, a T-shirt mantra, and life after the death of his friend James Foley.

Ghost Sister

Tue, 31 Oct 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Sebastian Merrill on the voice of his former self, the underworld, and laughing during yoga.

Living in And Times

Tue, 17 Oct 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Sahar Muradi on cyclical time, leather butterflies, and saying goodbye to her father.

Pen Pals

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Sean Cole on loneliness, fear of aging, and what poems can do.

Notes From the Bathhouse

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Eric Sneathen on queer utopia, bad writing, and San Francisco in the ’70s.

The Magic Section

Tue, 05 Sep 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Irène Mathieu on pediatrics, suburbs without a TV, and our body's unknown terrain.

My Totally Normal Crisis

Tue, 22 Aug 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Natalie Shapero on Wheel of Fortune, babysitting for her landlord, and pretending not to grieve.

The Eldest Daughter

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Rosanna Young Oh on her parents’ grocery store, leaving poetry, and the duties of the firstborn.

Invisible Hands

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Airea D. Matthews on self-interest, starry skies, and her parents’ fateful wedding day.

Chaos Reigns

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Sophus Helle on empire, Calvin and Hobbes, and the world's first author.

The Fact of a Suitcase

Tue, 27 Jun 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Leslie Sainz on Bill O’Reilly, glassblowing, and the lure of praise.

Good Old Sonnet

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Diane Seuss on New York in the ’70s, virtue, and her father’s early death.

Add Me to the Forest Floor

Tue, 30 May 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Katie Farris on cancer, desire, and her early-menopause care package.

Let the Record Hide

Tue, 16 May 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Paisley Rekdal on maps, Sisyphus, and the dangers of beauty.

As Best I Could

Tue, 02 May 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Aaron Smith on shame, telling the truth, and his mother's last lipstick.

A Human Joy

Tue, 18 Apr 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Rebecca Gayle Howell and Ashley M. Jones on working-class poems, good food, and their fathers’ bodies.

Center Stage

Tue, 04 Apr 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Jennifer Jean on foster care, finding her voice, and loving her father as he was.

Mom, I Love You

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 00:00:00 CDT

Mahogany L. Browne on her first kiss, family secrets, and having your book banned.

My Alleged Accident

Tue, 07 Mar 2023 00:00:00 CST

Janine Joseph on memory loss, car sounds, and a mirror that loves you.

The Book of Possibilities

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 00:00:00 CST

Peter Cole on his brother's death, finding his vocation, and the erotic pull of letters.

New Parents

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 00:00:00 CST

Raymond Antrobus on late-night BBC poetry dubs, real people, and becoming a father.

Intimate Distance

Tue, 24 Jan 2023 00:00:00 CST

Gabrielle Bates on betrayal, home church, and living in her mother's slaughterhouse.

Sonic Trust Fund

Tue, 10 Jan 2023 00:00:00 CST

Marisa Tirado on Selena, cow skulls, and the memory of adobe brick.

Poets We Lost in 2022

Tue, 27 Dec 2022 00:00:00 CST

Remembering Richard Howard as a poet, mentor, and friend, plus a few words on money by Bernadette Mayer.

Attica, Again

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 00:00:00 CST

Celes Tisdale on similarities, teaching after the uprising, and his mother's favorite poet.

Hiding Between the Loaves

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 00:00:00 CST

Belarussian poets Valzhyna Mort and Julia Cimafiejeva on magic, transformation, and what's hidden underneath the forest floor.

Please Poem

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 00:00:00 CST

JoAnna Novak on islands, a plush placenta, and a gift from the suicide hotline.

Give Me a Sign

Tue, 01 Nov 2022 00:00:00 CDT

Alexandra Lytton Regalado on fate, snake mirrors, and the daily work of letting go.

As I Am

Tue, 04 Oct 2022 00:00:00 CDT

Ama Codjoe on normal naked bodies, solving problems, and her childfree life.

The Land Is the Center

Tue, 20 Sep 2022 00:00:00 CDT

Noʻu Revilla on ancestral history in newspapers, ocean consciousness, and how to be a guest.

Remember Every Ginseng Seed

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 00:00:00 CDT

Chelsea Harlan on knowledge, creaturehood, and the quest for her mother’s secret sadness.

Before We Return to Dust

Tue, 23 Aug 2022 00:00:00 CDT

André Naffis-Sahely on desert sand, rootlessness, and the long shadow of fascism.

The Future Trembles

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 00:00:00 CDT

Elisa Gabbert on commitment, boredom, and the poem as theater.

Trickster God

Tue, 26 Jul 2022 00:00:00 CDT

Saeed Jones on accuracy, being funny, and creating what we need.

The Healing Brush

Tue, 12 Jul 2022 00:00:00 CDT

Chantal Gibson on ancestors, laundry, and Frantz Fanon for beginners.

Yelling Down the Phone

Tue, 28 Jun 2022 00:00:00 CDT

Nina Mingya Powles on muscle memory, Haka tutorials, and the shock of home.

Telling the Truth

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 00:00:00 CDT

Niina Pollari on sunflowers, redemption, and the most depressing phone note in the world.

Team Mystery

Tue, 31 May 2022 00:00:00 CDT

Victoria Chang on bonsai trees, witticisms, and the wisdom of not giving a crap.

All There Is

Tue, 17 May 2022 00:00:00 CDT

Tom Sleigh about his romance with experience, fancy jackets, and one last visit to the dog beach.

The Neverending Quest

Tue, 03 May 2022 00:00:00 CDT

Sylvie Kandé and her translator Alexander Dickow on the courage of migrants, the limits of language, and an epic without a nation.

The Body You Control

Tue, 19 Apr 2022 00:00:00 CDT

Kim Moore on playing the trumpet, misogyny, and the men we love.

Pushing the Ear

Tue, 05 Apr 2022 00:00:00 CDT

Tommye Blount on transformation, Kids Incorporate, and the joy of drowning in diction.

Blossoms in Ukraine

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 00:00:00 CDT

Oksana Maksymchuk and Oksana Lutsyshyna on life as a refugee, the God of comfort, and the deep roots of the war.

Listen for My Name

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 00:00:00 CST

Julie Enszer and Elena Gross on community care, the AIDS epidemic, and OutWrite, the conference that shaped queer literary history.

Ghost Diplomat

Tue, 22 Feb 2022 00:00:00 CST

Hoa Nguyen on photographs, her mother's past with the motorcycle circus, and the quiet ways to talk to ghosts.

My Body, My Stones

Tue, 08 Feb 2022 00:00:00 CST

Poet and playwright Malcolm Tariq on listening, field trips with his brother, and the perils of dating while Black.

The Big Hollow

Tue, 25 Jan 2022 00:00:00 CST

Kaveh Akbar on human wondering, fat squirrels, and the best spouse in the world.

A Little Wrong

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 00:00:00 CST

Bianca Stone on family trauma, wrinkled towels, and the case against self-improvement.

Poets We Lost in 2021

Tue, 21 Dec 2021 00:00:00 CST

Remembering the life, poetry, and activism of Janice Mirikitani, plus a few words on love by bell hooks.

Bird in a Drawer

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 00:00:00 CST

Keats Conley on smelly ducks, spiders, and the limits of the human perspective.

How to Be a Family of One

Tue, 23 Nov 2021 00:00:00 CST

Steven Espada Dawson on possibility, toothpaste, and the grief of cosmic aloneness.

Heart of a Reporter

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 00:00:00 CST

Noor Hindi on home ownership, evictions court, and her father's grief.

A History with Holes

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 00:00:00 CDT

Clint Smith on being human, healing on a plantation, and the difference between Jefferson and Grant.

My Drowning Home

Tue, 12 Oct 2021 00:00:00 CDT

Isabel Duarte-Gray on town gossip, folk remedies, and the music of Kentucky.

When Time is Kind

Tue, 28 Sep 2021 00:00:00 CDT

Poet and priest Spencer Reece on his cousin's murder, the AIDS epidemic, and bearing witness to a moment.

Technically Roommates

Tue, 14 Sep 2021 00:00:00 CDT

Chen Chen on nourishment, homophobia, and breaking free of the fear of failure.

Leaving and Loving Afghanistan

Tue, 31 Aug 2021 00:00:00 CDT

Zohra Saed on cooking, culture, and the volunteer-led rescue operation to get Afghans to safety.

Dante for Today

Tue, 10 Aug 2021 00:00:00 CDT

Mary Jo Bang on her 15-year long translation effort to remake Dante’s Divine Comedy for the modern ear.

My Imagined Incoherence

Tue, 27 Jul 2021 00:00:00 CDT

Tracy Fuad on Yelp reviews, mortality, and the weather in her mind.

The Final Girl

Tue, 13 Jul 2021 00:00:00 CDT

torrin a. greathouse on public transport, horror, and the love of a chosen family.

Parents in a Poem

Tue, 29 Jun 2021 00:00:00 CDT

Raymond Antrobus on forgiving his dad, becoming a father, and poetry dubs on late-night BBC.

Patterns of Memory

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 00:00:00 CDT

Natasha Trethewey on writing a memoir about her mother’s life and murder.

Not My Face in the Mirror

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 00:00:00 CDT

Vievee Francis (part 2) on beauty in a racist world.

Tue, 18 May 2021 00:00:00 CDT

Vievee Francis on dark corners, an encounter with a bear, and the promise of the north.

A Sea of Rhythm

Tue, 04 May 2021 00:00:00 CDT

Translator Emily Drumsta geeks out about the poetic patterns in the work of Iraqi modernist Nazik al Mala'ika.

Wild at the Root

Sat, 17 Apr 2021 00:00:00 CDT

Molly McCully Brown and Susannah Nevison on Gmail poems, pot roast, and the legacy of pain.

The Light is Going Out

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 00:00:00 CDT

Famous Polish poet Adam Zagajewski remembered by friend and Translator Clare Cavanagh.

A Room of Our Own

Tue, 23 Mar 2021 00:00:00 CDT

Cornelius Eady on Sterling Brown’s South: his porch, banter, and barbershop.

Save Everything

Tue, 09 Mar 2021 00:00:00 CST

Kimiko Hahn on tie-dying on the stove, puns, and her father's things.

The Landscape Within

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 00:00:00 CST

C. Dale Young on sugar cane fields, his favorite saint, and the machinations of the mind.

This Is a River

Tue, 09 Feb 2021 00:00:00 CST

Poet and founder of Friends of the Los Angeles River Lewis MacAdams, in the words of his friend Kevin Opstedal.

Mad at the Right People

Tue, 26 Jan 2021 00:00:00 CST

Hafizah Geter on shelves full of Black writers, forgiveness, and knowing your history.

You Get Proud by Practicing

Tue, 12 Jan 2021 00:00:00 CST

Meg Day on the poetry and activism of the late Laura Hershey, lip reading in a masked world, and the joy of connection.

Keep Going

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 00:00:00 CST

A look back at the early days of the pandemic—eight poets about Zoom calls, the egg shortage, and being stranded abroad.

Poverty’s History, Episode 2: Let the People Speak

Tue, 15 Dec 2020 00:00:00 CST

How a Victorian and a Harlem Renaissance poet struggled with poverty and the publishing world—while facing racism and classism—to become widely read and legends to us. Featuring interviews with experts Dr. Gene Jarrett, Dr. Tara Betts, Dr. Elizabeth McHenry, Dr. Joe Trotter, and Dr. R. Baxter Miller.

Elegies for the Future

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 00:00:00 CST

Lilly Rosenberg Fellowship winner Khaty Xiong on intergenerational trauma, a chicken's neck, and the long wave of grief.

Creatures of Giving

Tue, 17 Nov 2020 00:00:00 CST

Lilly Rosenberg Fellowship winner Luther Hughes on crows, processing trauma, and the allure of the wind.

Start with One Thread

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 00:00:00 CST

Alexandria Hall on farm sounds, solo time, and the way into a difficult poem.

A Practice of Care

Tue, 20 Oct 2020 00:00:00 CDT

EJ Koh on distance, broken English, and writing poems that forgive.

Better Broken Than Whole

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 00:00:00 CDT

Will Harris on mixedness, intimacy, and the music of difficult poems.

No Place Like Home

Tue, 22 Sep 2020 00:00:00 CDT

Camille Dungy on words, home, and motherhood in times of climate collapse.

Words in the Attic

Tue, 08 Sep 2020 00:00:00 CDT

Joy Ladin on the failures of language, courage, and the trans parable of Jonah and the Whale.

Heroes History Forgets

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 00:00:00 CDT

Remembering Irish poet Eavan Boland, with her friends Jody Allen Randolph and Paula Meehan.

I Love You, Wanda

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 00:00:00 CDT

Terrance Hayes on Wanda Coleman.

Note from Terrance Hayes: “I cancelled this interview about Wanda Coleman’s work after signing the Poetry Foundation Petition. When the Foundation President and Board chair resigned, I decided to resume the interview believing the actions an indication of the PF’s willingness to change. Though I’m not yet quite convinced I should resume submitting my own poems to the magazine, I hope this interview represents a willingness to remain in dialogue as PF rises to meet the other demands and challenges. Do check out the work of Wanda Coleman."

To learn more: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/LetterOfCommitment

The Bureau Under Your Bed

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 00:00:00 CDT

Interrogating the government’s half century of surveillance of Black writers.

Empire State of Mind

Tue, 07 Jul 2020 00:00:00 CDT

Take a walk through post-WWI Paris in this recently reissued Modernist epic.