Best Poética Podcasts (2024)

1
AR Poetica with Kai Coggin 29:01

5d ago29:01

29:01

Meet Hot Springs poet Kai Coggin as she speaks up and speaks out about injustice, her love of nature, her beloved fu dogs, her marriage, and her journey to Arkansas...

1
Poems by Richard Chess & D.E. Kern 7:49

18d ago7:49

7:49

Richard Chess reads his poem, "The Loneliest Monk: By the Book," and "Sight Unseen." Richard Chess is the author of four books, most recently Love Nailed to the Doorpost (University of Tampa Press 2017). He is professor emeritus from UNC Asheville where, among other things, he directed its Center for Jewish Studies for 30 years. He serves on the bo…

1
Poems by Megan Huwa & 6:40

16d ago6:40

6:40

Megan Huwa reads her poem, "Counting Stars," and Hannah Butcher-Stell reads her poem, "one body." Megan Huwa is a poet and writer in southern California. A rare health condition keeps her and her husband from living near her family’s five-generation farm in Colorado, so her writing reaches for home—both temporal and eternal. Her work has been publi…

1
Poems by Jan Wiezorek & Megan McDermott 7:15

22d ago7:15

7:15

Jan Wiezorek reads his poem, "Suffering," and Megan McDermott reads her poem, "Ruth, on the Purity, or Impurity, of Attention." Jan Wiezorek's poetry appears, or is forthcoming, in The London Magazine, The Westchester Review, Lucky Jefferson, Loch Raven Review, and The Broadkill Review, among other journals. He taught writing at St. Augustine Colle…

1
Matthew J. Andrews's Review of Lacunae by Scott Cairns 8:16

25d ago8:16

8:16

Matthew J. Andrews reads his essay, "Never Yet an Emptiness," a review of Lacunae by Scott Cairns. Matthew J. Andrews is a private investigator and writer. He is the author of the chapbook I Close My Eyes and I Almost Remember and the forthcoming full-length collection, The Hours (Solum Press). He can be contacted at www.matthewjandrews.com. --- Su…

1
Poems by Brad Davis & Luke Usry 8:56

29d ago8:56

8:56

Brad Davis reads his poem, "Unanticipated," and Luke Usry reads his poem, "Leave Britney Alone." Brad Davis (MFA, Vermont College of Fine Arts) is a California-born Canadian living in northeastern Connecticut. Poems have appeared in Poetry magazine, The Paris Review, Vallum, JAMA, Puerto del Sol, Brilliant Corners, Image, and many other journals. H…

1
Lory Widmer Hess's Review of Life After Doom by Brian McLaren 11:48

1M ago11:48

11:48

Lory Widmer Hess reads her essay, "Seeing into the Future," a review of Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart by Brian McLaren. Lory Widmer Hess lives with her family in Switzerland, where she works with adults with developmental disabilities and is completing a training in Spiritual Direction. She is the author of When Frag…

1
Two Poems by Elizabeth Poliner 7:05

1M ago7:05

7:05

Elizabeth Poliner reads her poems, "Welcome World" and "Bat Mitzvah Dress," from our Summer 2024 issue. Elizabeth Poliner’s books include the poetry collection, What You Know in Your Hands (David Robert Books), and the novel, As Close to Us as Breathing (Little, Brown & Co.), winner of the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize in Fiction. A new novel, Spinni…

1
My Other Name Is Hagar by Heather M. Surls 30:48

1M ago30:48

30:48

Heather M. Surls reads her essay, "My Other Name Is Hagar." Heather M. Surls is an American writer and journalist who has lived in the Middle East for more than a decade. Her reporting has appeared in outlets like the Jordan News, Christianity Today, Hidden Compass, EthnoTraveler, and Anthrow Circus, while her creative nonfiction has been published…

1
Poems by Dominic Palmer & Arlene Tribbia 7:24

1M ago7:24

7:24

Dominic Palmer reads "Want Is My Shepherd," and Arlene Tribbia reads "Bolt Down the Universe." Dominic Palmer is a teacher, writer, and church musician living in Manchester. His poetry has been published or is forthcoming in journals including Blue Unicorn, Ekstasis, and EGG+FROG. Dominic and his wife have recently become parents for the first time…

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Ave Maria by Grace Donovan 35:59

2M ago35:59

35:59

Grace Donovan reads her short story, "Ave Maria." Grace Donovan is a fiction writer from Northeast Ohio. She currently resides in the DMV area where she is getting her MFA in fiction writing at George Mason University. Grace loves ice cream, her cat Patsy, the fiber arts, and the Brontë sisters. She often writes about women, queerness, and childhoo…

1
Three Poems by David Allen Sullivan 10:26

2M ago10:26

10:26

David Allen Sullivan reads his three poems, "Wine Skin Slippages," "Tympanic Membranes," and "This body," from our current Summer issue. Former Santa Cruz county poet laureate David Allen Sullivan’s books include Strong-Armed Angels, Every Seed of the Pomegranate, a book of co-translation with Abbas Kadhim from the Arabic of Iraqi Adnan Al-Sayegh, …

1
Contemplation of Creation: A Nature Meditation Walk 42:00

2M ago42:00

42:00

Kolya Braun Greiner leads a nature meditation walk, "Contemplation of Creation." Take this episode with you out on a walk, hike, or simply to a quiet spot indoors by a window. This rich offering includes exercises to center your mind, body, and spirit before the walk, as well as seven individual "encounters" with beings in nature. Listen to the gui…

1
Musical Tables with Poet Billy Collins 28:00

2M ago28:00

28:00

Coined "America’s favorite poet” by The Wall Street Journal, Billy Collins shares his collection of short poems, writing about nature, animals, poetry, and hotels—all in only a handful of lines.

1
Pastor & Actor Rev. Lisa Cole Smith 43:29

2M ago43:29

43:29

The Artist as Prophet, the Church as Collective: Pastor & actor Rev. Lisa Cole Smith speaks with our Assistant Interviews Editor Darby Brown on art as a spiritual language, the church's role in supporting artists, and "equipping artists to serve as prophetic critics and imaginative visionaries in the world." Rev. Lisa Cole Smith is an actor, direct…

1
Summer 2024 Trailer 5:33

2M ago5:33

5:33

The Summer 2024 issue of the journal is here! Tune in for a preview of the new works we'll be featuring this podcast season. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/vita-poetica/support

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adrienne maree brown — On Radical Imagination and Moving Towards Life 1:20:13

2M ago1:20:13

1:20:13

The wonderful civil rights elder Vincent Harding liked to look around the world for what he called "live human signposts" — human beings who embody ways of seeing and becoming and who point the way forward to the world we want to inhabit. And adrienne maree brown, who has inspired worlds of social creativity with her notions of "pleasure activism" …

1
“The End of Poetry” by Ada Limón 1:43

3M ago1:43

1:43

An impassioned plea, a yearning for connection — the poem U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón wrote when she says all language failed her. Take in Ada's reading of her piece, “The End of Poetry” — and hear her read more of her work in the On Being episode, “To Be Made Whole.” Ada Limón is the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States. She’s written six book…

1
Atul Gawande — On Mortality and Meaning 1:02:48

3M ago1:02:48

1:02:48

We are strange creatures. It is hard for us to speak about, or let in, the reality of frailty and death — the elemental fact of mortality itself. In this century, western medicine has gradually moved away from its understanding of death as a failure — where care stops with a terminal diagnosis. Hospice has moved, from something rare to something ex…

1
“Ars Poetica #100: I Believe” by Elizabeth Alexander 1:17

3M ago1:17

1:17

Today, a poem with a poignant question to live: “...and are we not of interest to each other?” Carry Elizabeth Alexander’s reading of her poem “Ars Poetica #100: I Believe” with you — and hear Elizabeth read more of her poetry in the On Being episode, “Words That Shimmer.” Elizabeth Alexander is a poet, author, and educator. Since 2018, she has ser…

1
Luis Alberto Urrea — On Our Belonging to Each Other 59:10

3M ago59:10

59:10

We humans have this drive to erect barriers between ourselves and others, Luis Alberto Urrea says, and yet this makes us a little crazy. He is an exuberant, wise, and refreshing companion into the deep meaning and the problem of borders — what they are really about, what we do with them, and what they do to us. The Mexican-American border was as cl…

1
Ross Gay — On the Insistence of Joy 59:05

3M ago59:05

59:05

In our world of so much suffering, it can feel hard or wrong to invoke the word "joy." Yet joy has been one of the most insistent, recurrent rallying cries in almost every life-giving conversation that Krista has had across recent months and years, even and especially with people on the front lines of humanity's struggles. Ross Gay helps illuminate…

1
Rights Delayed: The History of US Progressive Unions 52:29

4M ago52:29

52:29

Some have coined 2023 as the year of the union. But what are the historic roots of progressive unions 1935-1950 in the US? Join us as we journey into the history of US labor law with Charles Romney.

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Janine Benyus and Azita Ardakani Walton — On Nature's Wisdom for Humanity 1:16:20

3M ago1:16:20

1:16:20

In this all-new episode, Krista engages biomimicry pioneer Janine Benyus in a second, urgent conversation, alongside creative biomimicry practitioner Azita Ardakani Walton. Together they trace precise guidance and applied wisdom from the natural world for the civilizational callings before us now. What does nature have to teach us about healing fro…

1
Embodied Faith: Conversation with Dancers Hope Blackburn & Jacob Shoup 38:15

3M ago38:15

38:15

Assistant Interviews Editor Darby Brown speaks with dancers and choreographers Hope Blackburn and Jacob Shoup of Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet. A transcript of the interview is available here. Hope Blackburn and Jacob Shoup are dancers and choreographers with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet, a professional dance company of artist-theologians whose goal…

1
Befriend Your Body: A Compassionate Body Scan 11:16

4M ago11:16

11:16

In a time of stress, uncertainty, and isolation, Christine Runyan turns our attention to what often evades our awareness — the response of our nervous systems. As part of On Being’s 2021 Midwinter Gathering, she offered this brief, practical, gently guided practice as an invitation to befriend your beleaguered body, to “blanket it with a little bit…

1
A Journal of Many Colors by Rachel Berry 5:53

4M ago5:53

5:53

Rachel shares about her contemplative practice of journaling in "A Journal of Many Colors." Rachel Berry resides in Richmond, Virginia with her sweet dog Phin. She spends her free time journaling, dancing on her treadmill, and spending time with friends and family. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/vita-poetica/suppo…

1
Christine Runyan — On Healing Our Distressed Nervous Systems 1:01:11

4M ago1:01:11

1:01:11

The years of pandemic and lockdown are still working powerfully on us from the inside. But we have trouble acknowledging this, much less metabolizing it. This conversation with Christine Runyan, which took place in the dark middle of those years, helps make sense of our present of still-unfolding epidemic distress — as individuals, as communities, …

1
EP 69: The Word Weaver 21:29

4M ago21:29

21:29

Weaving in our own words. Featuring: •Corin Arenas •Jules Abraham De Leon •Mara Herrera

1
Review of Museum Exhibit "The Art of Knowing" 9:18

4M ago9:18

9:18

Cheryl Sadowski reads her essay, "Teachers, Sages, and Serpents," a review of the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art's ongoing exhibit, The Art of Knowing in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas, which is on view in Washington, DC. Cheryl Sadowski writes about art, books, landscape, and nature. Her essays, reviews, and short fiction …

1
“Joy is the Justice (We Give Ourselves)” by J. Drew Lanham 14:26

4M ago14:26

14:26

We are overjoyed to share this heart-stirring performance with you, which transpired when we invited the ornithologist/poet/former On Being guest J. Drew Lanham to offer some poetry at a live On Being event in January 2024. We could not have imagined the lightning in a bottle that unfolded — a live adaptation of the title poem that appears in Drew'…

1
Poems by Ping Yi Yee & Isabel Chenot 5:15

4M ago5:15

5:15

Ping Yi Yee reads his poem, "Fortune Center," and Isabel Chenot reads her poem, "pain is not an ark." Ping Yi Yee writes poetry, travelogues and fiction, and is in public service. His work has appeared in Litro, London Grip, Meniscus, La Piccioletta Barca, and Sideways, among others, and is forthcoming in Poetry Breakfast and Harbor Review. Ping Yi…

1
Lyndsey Stonebridge and Lucas Johnson — On Love, Politics, and Violence (Channeling Hannah Arendt) 1:15:26

4M ago1:15:26

1:15:26

Here is a stunning sentence for you, written by Lyndsey Stonebridge, our guest this hour, channeling the 20th-century political thinker and journalist Hannah Arendt: "Loneliness is the bully that coerces us into giving up on democracy." This conversation is a kind of guide to generative shared deliberations we might be having with each other and ou…

1
New From Poetry Unbound: A Series on Conflict and the Human Condition 11:09

4M ago11:09

11:09

A taste of a special mini-season of Poetry Unbound — bringing contemplative curiosity and the life-nurturing tether of poetry to the very present matter of conflict in our world. In this first offering, Pádraig introduces the intriguing idea of poems as teachers and ponders Wisława Szymborska’s “A Word on Statistics," translated by Joanna Trzeciak.…

1
Visual Art by Alexis Eke 6:49

4M ago6:49

6:49

Artist Alexis Eke shares about her digital artwork featured in our Spring 2024 issue, including on the cover. View her art can be viewed here. Alexis Eke is an artist based in Toronto, Ontario. She illustrates surrealism portraits and comic illustrations using vibrant colors, to communicate the truth of Gods Word and increase the representation of …

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