Spots of Time With Caroline (A Poetry Moment): Recent Episodes
Caroline Davidson
Here we connect to read & chat about poems that strike us, shape us, or confuse us. There's magic in attention. I'm here for the poetry lovers, writers, or those who want to dip into the world of words. You will also hear poet friends and other art-makers on their craft and processes and favorite poems, to bring you a meditative moment of inspiration and engagement. Will it devolve into poets ranting at one another? Well, like any poem, it may end up somewhere completely different than where it started. And that's damn beautiful.
Just a little interlude... why did I name this Spots of Time? How can we get back to a beginner's mind? To Nature's joy :)
Today's episode features Alicia Cook, an impressive, gorgeous, force!
Alicia Cook is the curly-haired human behind 2016’s bestselling book of poetry, Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately, 2018’s I Hope My Voice Doesn’t Skip, and 2020’s Sorry I Haven’t Texted You Back. She has contributed personal essays to 2019’s [Dis]Connected: Poems & Stories of Connection and Otherwise and 2022’s New Jersey Fan Club: Artists and Writers Celebrate the Garden State.
Cook dedicates much of her life to shedding light on how drug addiction impacts the mental health of families. She released a collection of essays on the topic entitled Heroin Is The Worst Thing To Ever Happen To Me. An essayist and speaker, her activism to fight the opioid epidemic is far-reaching and has garnered a worldwide readership, and her very own episode on the Emmy-nominated PBS series Here’s the Story. Her writing on addiction has appeared in the Asbury Park Press, LA Times, HuffPost, Your Tango, Thrive, and more.
We had a great talk and she discussed many topics, including:
- Her writing and activism on addiction awareness
- Writing from grief and loss
- The influence of music on poetry and vice versa
- Making her poetry an immersive experience for readers (Spotify playlists included!)
- Co-writing with independent musicians
- Holding space for her readers to share their personal struggles and stories with her
- The interconnections of mental health, running, sobriety, and healing our trauma!
I'm so thankful for her and the work she does and the positive impact she is spreading throughout the world!
Follow Alicia on Instagram!
Want to be a guest or have an idea? E-mail spotsoftimepod@gmail.com
or message Caroline on Instagram
Alise Versella is a lovely soul and prolific and accomplished poet who I met through a reading at my former art space in early 2021. She lives her poetry-- I mean, her business card says BE A POEM, which I just love.
Alise is twice nominated for the Pushcart prize, and is A Best of the Net nominated contributing writer for Rebelle Society. She is the author of the full-length When Wolves Become Birds (Golden Dragonfly Press 2021) and the forthcoming chapbook Maenads of the 21st Century (Dancing Girl Press). Her myriad publications and performances can be found on her website.
In this episode, Alise discusses, among other topics:
- The positive influence of early mentors, teachers, and Walt Whitman on her poetry path
- How to reclaim personal power and deal with grief through art
- Transformations both on and off the page during the writing of her beautiful book When Wolves Become Birds
- A love of mythology and birds of prey (particularly owls - those immaculate creatures!) and how empowering it is to re-imagine myths
- Performing poetry in front of audiences, and curating her own future events to keep poetry alive in her community.
- Tattoo-worthy last lines
She reads THIS great poem of hers, and the poem "Behind the Mechitza" by Claire Schwartz.
What a joy.
Follow her @alise0x
email spotsoftimepod@gmail.com
Follow Caroline @draculakittycaroline
Tara Jayakar is LOVE. She is a poet, editor, bookmaker, publisher, and Midwesterner based in Brooklyn, NY. She just radiates sensuality and care through her multiple artistic modes and I am always energized by talking to her.
Tara discusses her life of art and finding authentic ways to communicate. She talks about the positive influences of other poets, art-makers, and friends on her own poetic work and mission as an editor and community builder; and the beauty of intimacy, devotion, and collaborative growth. Later, she reads a gorgeous poem of hers, and then, this poem by Nadra Mabrouk.
Tara is so goddamn genuine and delightful.
Check out her publishing house and bookmaking studio, Raptor Editing & Press
Other poets and literary works mentioned in the episode:
Aracelis Girmay
The Jasmine Throne, a novel by Tasha Suri
Martha, by Leslie Allison
Thoughts, ideas, questions? E-mail spotsoftimepod@gmail.com
Follow Caroline on Instagram @draculakittycaroline
Tonight I speak with poet and musician Adrian Sobol, a gem of a human whose work invites the reader into a breathing, twisting, sardonically sweet world of linguistic freedom. He discusses his journey to poetry (by way of initially wanting to be a fiction writer), the formal parallels in constructing jokes, poems, and songs, the self in crisis examined through the intimate and the bizarre, and modern surrealism, among other topics! He then reads one of his newer poems, and a poem by Heather Christle!
Check out his collection, The Life of the Party Is Harder to Find Until You're the Last One Around, from Malarkey Books.
And his micro-chapbook, This Is Not Where We Parked. This Is Ohio, from Ghost City Press.
Follow him on Twitter @yo_adrianididit
Other poets Adrian mentions in the ep: James Tate, Noah Eli Gordon, Zachary Schomburg, Joshua Marie Wilkinson, Mathias Svalina
Connect with me on Insta @draculakittycaroline. I'll get an email for the pod soon. Love you! Xo, Caroline
Today I speak with the accomplished and beautiful poet, essayist, and cultural critic, Vanessa Angélica Villarreal.
Vanessa grew up in bilingual Mexican/American household among working-class musicians and immigrants in Houston and the borderlands, and her poetry "recovers the silences of migration" through lush, cutting, fantastical mindscapes.
Vanessa is a doctoral candidate at the University of Southern California and the recipient of many literary awards and honors.
We discuss her journey and how poetry can piece together fragmented and buried trauma, memories, and connections to ancestors; and how it can become an anchor to reality, or a meridian to and from the human/animal/spiritual self.
She reads a poem of hers, and a Rilke poem, and we also discuss Paul Celan a lot!
We get into a lot more stuff, too :)
Follow all things Vanessa
Read her essay, "``The Fantasy of Healing``," in the Cut.
Here's the poem of hers that she read on the pod, published in Poetry Magazine
Think of this as more of an aperitif...a bit of a ramble about my decision to start a poetry podcast. I (Caroline) am a poet (among many other, weirder things), who used to teach the craft but who has been out of practice for a while...until now. I feel called to focus, connect with, breathe, immerse in language and poetry again. I want to bring you, the listener, closer to the world of words, so I aim to read poems that strike us, go deeply into some readings, as well as speak with other poets about their inspirations, craft, processes, how they see the world...how poetry connects and widens it, or at times just prompts us to focus on the intricacies of life. Be warned, I do read a poem of mine in this preview, but don't worry, this will not be a mainstay segment. I hope to bring you, poetry writers, readers, or neither, some inspiration and a moment of meditative engagement. Love to you beautiful souls.