Welcome to Sharpen Your Tongue, a podcast aimed at making poetry accessible and fun. Each episode, we’ll do a deep dive into a favorite poem, investigating its rhythm and imagery, and breaking down how and why that particular work enchants us.
Francesca Capossela and Tory Dickerson
For a very special seventh episode, we are joined by Galway writer Caileigh Ryan to discuss Philip Larkin's famous meditation on death, Aubade. Listen now as we drink hot whiskeys and consider how the poem treats death as a lover, whether Larkin should be read in an Irish accent, and why this piece is so well-loved. Support the show
Ada Limón's "Late Summer After a Panic Attack" is a poem rich in disquiet and suburban claustrophobia. Join us as we discuss Limón's mastery of stillness, and whether or not we should get these lines as a tattoo: "What if I want to go devil instead?/ Bow down to the madness that makes me."Support the show
"Always be closing,Said our favorite professor beforeHe let the gun go off in his mouth"In our fifth episode, join us for a discussion of "Another Elegy" by 2020 Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown. We talk about sunsets, mountains, and idioms, as well as the form of the elegy and the poem's motto: "always be closing."Support the show
With this episode, we hope to reintroduce you to the much-studied "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop. Tune in to hear us discuss poetic form (specifically villanelles), self-aware writing, and the art of losing. Support the show
Today on Sharpen Your Tongue we talk about "They Don't Love You Like I Love You" from Natalie Diaz's Pulitzer-prize-winning collection, Postcolonial Love Poem. Join us for a cocktail recipe crafted by the poet herself as we discuss Beyoncé, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and literary allusions.Support the show
In our second episode, we talk about "Perhaps the World Ends Here," a beautiful poem written by the current U.S. poet laureate, Joy Harjo. Join us for cocktails and a fun discussion about the understated power and communal nature of this piece's main image — the kitchen table. Support the show
On our first ever episode, we discuss Joshua Bennett's poem "Owed to Pedagogy", his playful take on an ode, the amazing sounds at work in this poem, and the math terms we don't quite understand... Join us as we sip cocktails and talk about this stunning poem.Support the show
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