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Latest episodes from The Ruth Stone House Podcast

God In the Inward Dark: Rilke’s Radical Book of Hours

Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2025


Read along with the PDF available in the show-notes! After a hiatus, Bianca Stone is back to discuss Rilke. Taking a break from the Elegies to look back at Rilke’s first collection, A Book for the Hours of Prayer (Das Stundenbuch) from the Robert Bly translated “Selected Rilke.” In these poems there is a fierce […]

It’s Raining in a Dead Language: The Fragments of Franz Wright, with Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright 

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 12, 2025


In this rich and searching episode, Bianca Stone talks with the translator Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright about her partner, the late poet, Franz Wright, focusing on a new chapbook from Foundling Press, At His Desk In The Past. This chapbook is the first U.S. publication of new work by Franz Wright since his death in 2015. […]

Reading with Rilke: the Sixth Elegy

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 1, 2025


The hero dominates the 6th elegy w his strange cosmic presence against the lovers; as a fig tree & its self-contained fruit/flower fuels Rilke’s sundry metaphor & crescendos into the Samson myth. Much is gleaned in the complex image of the fig tree & its strange fruit-flower-seed pod, that encompasses so much rich metaphor and […]

A History of Poetry & the Social Function of the Poet with Ryan Ruby

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 19, 2024


Talking with critic, novelist, poet and translator, Ryan Ruby about his new book Context Collapse, which investigates the secret history of poetry in a verse essay filled with wit and wisdom. Order the book here Check out the recording of the reading on Saturday, November 13th in The Flow Chart Foundation’s Flow Chart Space, celebrating […]

Intimacy & The Plural Self, with Forrest Gander

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 17, 2024


Bianca Stone and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Forest Gander, look at the complexities of multiple selves, and the very DNA that shows our biologically mongrel being, informed constantly by the landscape in which it is situated. We continue our discussion of the inward-outward, and the material and immaterial reality we have been honing in on with […]

Reading with Rilke: The Fifth Elegy

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 3, 2024


Poet and translator Alfred Corn, joins Bianca Stone to discuss his stunning translation of Rilke's, Die Fünfte Elegie.

Reading with Rilke: The Fourth Elegy

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 25, 2024


“Angel and Puppet: then, finally, the play begins” Bianca Stone in conversation with poet Peter Gizzi discussing Rainer Maria Rilke’s “The Fourth Elegy,” (Edward Snow translation). We’re working our way though the entire Duino Elegies. In today’s episode we begin by discussing the elegy form and both Gizzi’s personal uses of the form, as well […]

Reading with Rilke: The Third Elegy

Play Episode Listen Later May 30, 2024


Bianca Stone talks with the poet Dara Barrios/Dixon about Rilke’s “The Third Elegy,” from his famous Duino Elegies. Exploring more directly the poem and its language, Barrios/Dixon and Stone look at the magnificent poetic devices Rilke uses in his unique way, such as questioning, pathetic fallacy and fungibility of pronouns in the direct address. Join […]

Reading with Rilke: The Second Elegy

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 11, 2024


We continue our series on Rilke’s Duino Elegies with Edward Snow’s translation of The Second Elegy, talking with poet Mark Wunderlich. Wunderlich, who is currently at work on a book on Rilke, is deep research into the biography, which give us rich insight into creation of “The Second Elegy.” Beginning with what Wunderlich calls the […]

Reading with Rilke: The First Elegy

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 4, 2024


Rainer Maria Rilke has been hailed as one of the most profound and genius poets of the 20th century. His Duino Elegies in particular, in tandem with the Sonnets to Orpheus, are seen as the pinnacle of his poetic achievements. Whole books could be written on each elegy. Here, Bianca Stone joins with guests to […]

How Poetry Speaks to Change: Ovid’s Metamorphoses with Translator Stephanie McCarter

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 31, 2023


An incredible and in-depth conversation with Classical scholar, Stephanie McCarter about Ovid, Horace, greco Roman poetry, the tradition of translation, retelling of myth, and the movements of poetry across the ages. Ovid’s Metamorphoses continues to speak to our fundamental issues, but how, and why? What can this new translation tell us about not only Ovid’s […]

A Place Beyond Shame: Ed Steck on the B Horror Film of Life

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 2, 2023


Talking today about the work of creating a book from our private work on the self, reckoning with the most unbearable past; as it overlaps and interacts with the art in our lives, which in turn connects to the history of our relationship with art and others: Ed Steck, who spent much of his childhood […]

MARISA CRAWFORD, the DIARY & the 90s

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 20, 2023


What is the private space of a diary, what is the public space of a poem, and what does the psyche do in each? What is confession and what is memory in the poem, if it plays with the mechanism, or tone of Diary? How to explore and play the the personal expectations of those […]

Haunting Performances of the (un/discovered) Self: Dorothea Lasky

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 16, 2023


Dorothea Lasky and I discuss her newest collection of poetry The Shining, the deceptive nature of the “I” in poetry; the undiscovered language that haunts our very psyche–and of course a lot about Kubrick’s film adaptation of The Shining. Mactaggart Jewelry: use the code Psyche20 for 20% off! Louise Glück’s The Wild Iris Jung’s The […]

Poetry & Dreams with Mathias Svalina

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 4, 2023


Talking with the incredible poet and artist, Mathias Svalina, about language and space of dreams, as it mirrors and informs the poem. Working consistently within the epistolary form, and the “telling” of dream form, Svalina continues the work of looking and seeing the world through the lens of the surreal, pushing against the boundaries of […]

Violence in Language & Finding Repair in Poetry: Paul Hlava Ceballos

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 1, 2023


In Paul Hlava Ceballos’s Banana [] is a stunning debut full length collection that explored the crushing reality of the violence of “the extractive relationship the United States has with the Americas and its people through poetic portraits of migrants, family, and memory.” The title poem is part poetry and part reportage that traces the […]

Poetry & Dreams with Ana Božičević

Play Episode Listen Later Jul 21, 2023


Today we’re starting a new randomly occurring series on the podcast where we talk about–on top of whatever else–dreams. We start today with the poet and translator Ana Božičević, whose new book New Life came out this year from Wave Books. Ana Božičević is a poet, translator, teacher, and occasional singer. Ana grew up in […]

THE HUMAN DRIVE: SOPHIE KLAHR ON POETRY, MEMORY, LOOKING & LISTENING

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 27, 2023


SOPHIE KLAHR IS THE AUTHOR OF TWO OPEN DOORS IN A FIELD (BACKWATERS PRESS), MEET ME HERE AT DAWN (YESYES BOOKS) AND THERE IS ONLY ONE GHOST IN THE WORLD (FICTION COLLECTIVE 2), WINNER OF THE RONALD SUKENICK INNOVATIVE FICTION CONTEST, WHICH WAS CO-AUTHORED WITH COREY ZELLER. HER POEMS APPEAR IN THE NEW YORKER, AMERICAN […]

Muse of the Unconscious: mind, body & poetry

Play Episode Listen Later May 24, 2023


Today I’m talking with my friend and collaborator, Candace Jensen about the embodied and disembodies; poetry and inspiration; the soma and psyche; dyadic knowing and hidden; and the multifarious states of consciousness– this is what inspired us to host a week long in-person retreat this summer called The Unconscious Speaks and we wanted to include […]

“Varied Expressions of the Very Same Thing” with Charif Shanahan

Play Episode Listen Later May 2, 2023


Charif Shanahan is the author of Into Each Room We Enter without Knowing, a Lambda Literary Award and Publishing Triangle's Thom Gunn Award Finalist. His work has appeared in American Poetry Review, The Nation, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, PBS NewsHour, and Poetry. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts, the Stegner […]

“Distance Avails Not” Hannah Zeavin on the History of Teletherapy & Reorienting Intimacy

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2023


Translation’s Strange Gifts + Speaking Patterns of Violence in the Lives of Women & World: Mira Rosenthal

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 5, 2023


These conversations in and around poetry always attempts I think to reiterate in new ways to experience being alive…and love between people: the desire, frustration, denial as well as the joy…we gravitate in our work to those relationships that hurt, or that traumatize. The painfulness of relations between men and women is often the concern […]

Thinking, Reading and Imaging the Essay with Hilary Plum

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 15, 2023


Today I’m talking about the various forms of nonfiction that poet, essayist and novelist Hilary Plum has found herself interacting with in her newest book Hole Studies. From listening to music, to obsessively reading journalism, podcasts, or editing and examining the conventional forms of academic publishing–Plum’s inquisitive mind investigates the structures and mechanisms of forms […]

Alone & Together in Poetry: Talking with Ben Fama about what it means to watch the relational

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 21, 2022


What does it mean to make a narrative out of our thoughts and feelings. And really too, how do the people in our lives our relationships factor into our reality. When we write an ode to a lover, are we watching them in love with another person? Are we Keats watching the lovers in the […]

The Role of Psyche in Poetry (& Keats)

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 27, 2022


We're talking today about some of the origins of the themes of this podcast, my personal interest in combining poetry and the psychoanalytical, which are of course two instances of  exploring psyche through language and the relational, searching the self through lyrical uncertainty and narrative. It's almost frustrating to listen back to the conversation because […]

Writing From Within: The Language of Psychosis & Irreverent Narrators With Khashayar Mohammadi

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2022


Khashayar “Kess” Mohammadi (They/Them) is a queer, Iranian born, Toronto-based Poet, Writer and Translator. They were shortlisted for the 2021 Austin Clarke poetry prize and 2022's Arc Poem of the year award and they are the winner of the 2021 Vallum Poetry Prize. They are the author of four poetry chapbooks and three translated poetry […]

Elisa Gabbert, The Beautiful Strangeness of Boredom & Fact

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 18, 2022


Talking the poet Elisa Gabbert about her amazing new book Normal Distance. A collection of funny and thought-provoking poems inspired by surprising facts that will appeal to poetry lovers and poetry haters alike, from the author of the essay collection The Unreality of Memory, “a work of sheer brilliance, beauty, and bravery” (Andrew Sean Greer) Known […]

In the Kitchen Talking about Poetry & Process with Dara Barrois/Dixon

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 29, 2022


Dara Barrois/Dixon (formerly Dara Wier) is the author of Tolstoy Killed Anna Karenina (Wave Books, 2022). Other titles include In the Still of the Night (Wave Books, 2017), You Good Thing (Wave Books, 2014), Reverse Rapture (Verse Press, 2005), Hat on a Pond (Verse Press, 2002) and Voyages in English (Carnegie Mellon, 2001).  She has received awards from the Lannan Foundation, American Poetry Review, The Poetry Center Book Award, […]

The Exquisite Humor & Truth of Sommer Browning

Play Episode Listen Later Aug 23, 2022


Talking with the poet and artist, Sommer Browning about her new book GOOD ACTORS, from Birds LLC. Sommer Browning is an author, curator, and artist living in Denver. Her books include two collections of poetry Backup Singers and Either Way I’m Celebrating (both with Birds, LLC), as well as the artist book, The Circle Book (Cuneiform Press), the joke book You’re On My […]

Ben Purkert & the Continuously Emerging Poet

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 7, 2022


Talking in this episode with the poet and writer, Ben Purkert, about the manuscript editing process, teaching, self-imposed identities as a poet, and reading a lot of poems from his debut poetry collection For the Love of Endings! Ben Purkert is the author of the forthcoming novel The Men Can't Be Saved (Overlook, 2023). His […]

Generous Space: Emily Kendal Frey

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 6, 2022


Talking with the poet and therapist Emily Kendal Frey, about her most recent book, Loveability, and how In poems we're not only making space to explore risky ideas of self, but space for a reader to do the same. It’s a relationship with narrative that leaves space for the reader to see and being seen. But also […]

Skateboarding, Poetry & Psychotherapy with Matt L. Roar

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 18, 2022


Ben Pease and I talk with the poet and psychotherapist, Matt L. Rohrer (now publishing under “Roar”), (who also used to play on an all-poets basketball team in NYC with Ben) about his evolution from being a poet and working with kids to being an independent clinical social worker. Fascinatingly, Matt’s work with young men […]

Oral Traditions & Issues of Space: Shanta Lee Gander on Lucy Terry Prince

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2022


Ben Pease and I talked with the amazing Vermont poet, writer and artist Shanta Lee Gander who gives lectures on the life of Lucy Terry Prince as a member of the Vermont Humanities Council Speakers Bureau. As we are the end of Black History Month, we wanted to take a moment to really honor the […]

The Silent Theater of the Mind: Mark Leidner & Bianca Stone in Conversation

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 19, 2022


This episode is part-un-planned-conversation, part-mutual-interview–poets Bianca Stone and Mark Leidner discuss how the self functions in and outside of the poem, what it might say about the anxiety of the poet, how the speaker functions in the poem, the ecosystem of poetry and desire desire desire. What happens when poets sit down without much of […]

Episode 43: Talking Life & Poetry with Charles Simic

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 14, 2021


Bianca Stone talking with the acclaimed Serbian American poet and former co-poetry editor of the Paris Review, about what life and in Covid, marital squabbles of crows, the dullness of growing up between his grandfather’s farm in rural Serbia, and the excitement of Belgrade; how nature and city works in his poems, and the wandering […]

Episode 42: The Poems that Write Towards Nothing; Natalie Shapero

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 7, 2021


Talking today with acclaimed poet, Natalie Shapero about her most recent collection of poetry about the poetry that deal with the human being against an array of neoliberal and capitalistic systems; against the dynamics of people in proximity to one another; what it might look like to write towards oblivion; the wry truth of sadness; […]

Episode 41: Sex, Poetry and Angels with Chariot Wish & Ben Fama

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 29, 2021


In this podcast I’m talking with the poet Chariot Wish and their editor, the poet Ben Fama, about Chariot’s new chapbook called: a new heaven and a new earth, from Wonder. The poems in the book are intensely intimate, exploring sexuality, spirituality and the place of the self in a patchwork whirlwind of culture, society […]

Episode 40: Love, Anger & Waves with Sarah Arvio

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 3, 2021


like a spree of free association that comes to make meaning Talking with the acclaimed poet, Sarah Arvio about her beautiful new book. Cry Back My Sea, a book meditating on love and anger in the domestic relationship. Here, we discuss the musicality of words, their long associations and allusions; and writing the poems we […]

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