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SLEERICKETS

Matthew Buckley Smith
SLEERICKETS
Latest episode

277 episodes

  • SLEERICKETS

    Ep 249: We Hogs Need This, Pt. 1

    05/06/2026
    SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.

    Make a one-time donation (not tax-deductible)
    For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW!
    Leave the show a rating here!
    SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
    For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 32 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com

    Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:

    – Order Brian’s book The Optimists! It’s so good! Now give Brian’s book a 5-star review!
    – My chapbook The Soft Black Stars is out now!
    – Join the Zoom conversation I’m having with Jimmy Pappas this Monday, June 8, at 7:00 p.m. US Eastern: Poems Against Hope
    Zina Gomez-Liss
    Can Art Teach? by David S. Wallace
    Michel de Montaigne
    The Pitt
    Suits
    Anthony Lane
    J. M. Coetzee
    A Few Words OnImproving Your Life Through the Great Books by Ethan McGuire

    Secret show notes
    Ep 246: A Case for Didactic Poetry, ft. Daniel Cowper
    Why Don't People Like Poetry? What Poetry Do They Like? by Daniel Cowper
    Night by Elie Wiesel
    Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
    Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
    The Souls of Black Folk by W. E. B. Du Bois
    Plato's Republic
    Giovanni’s Room and Notes of aNative Son by James Baldwin
    Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
    The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
    Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor
    The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James

    Frequently mentioned names:
    – Joshua Mehigan
    – Shane McCrae
    – A. E. Stallings
    – Ryan Wilson
    – Morri Creech
    – Austin Allen
    – Jonathan Farmer
    – Zara Raab
    – Amit Majmudar
    – Ethan McGuire
    – Coleman Glenn
    – Chris Childers
    – Alexis Sears
    – JP Gritton
    – Alex Pepple
    – Ernie Hilbert
    – Joanna Pearson
    – MattWall
    – Steve Knepper
    – Helena Feder
    – David Yezzi
    – Victoria Moul
    – Katie Dozier & Tim Green
    – George David Clark
    – Tristram Fane Saunders
    – Philip Metres
    – Helena Feder
    – Nida Sophasarun

    Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
    Poetry Says by Alice Allan
    I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
    Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
    Advice from an Unknown Poet by Alice Allan & Jonathan Farmer

    Alice: In Future Posts
    Brian: brianplatzer [at] gmail [dot] com
    Cameron: Minor Tiresias
    Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
    Music by ETRNL
    Art by Daniel Alexander Smith
  • SLEERICKETS

    Ep 248: The Montreal Fiasco, ft. Ernest Hilbert, Pt. 1

    29/05/2026
    SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.

    Make a one-time donation (not tax-deductible)
    For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW!
    Leave the show a rating here!
    SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
    For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 32 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com

    Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:

    – Order Brian’s book The Optimists! It’s so good! Now give Brian’s book a 5-star review!
    – My chapbook The Soft Black Stars is out now!
    Ep 122: The Sore Thumb Crisis, ft. Ernie Hilbert
    Poetry readings I have known by Ernie Hilbert
    The Red Tower by Thomas Ligotti
    This Lime-tree Bower my Prison by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
    Easton Press
    Franklin Library
    Fallingwater
    The Henry Heckelbeck Collection by Wanda Coven
    Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
    Caligulan by Ernie Hilbert
    ContraPoints: Cringe
    Toynbee tiles
    Poetry for Dummies
    Savage Night at the Opera by Destroyer

    Frequently mentioned names:
    – Joshua Mehigan
    – Shane McCrae
    – A. E. Stallings
    – Ryan Wilson
    – Morri Creech
    – Austin Allen
    – Jonathan Farmer
    – Zara Raab
    – Amit Majmudar
    – Ethan McGuire
    – Coleman Glenn
    – Chris Childers
    – Alexis Sears
    – JP Gritton
    – Alex Pepple
    – Ernie Hilbert
    – Joanna Pearson
    – MattWall
    – Steve Knepper
    – Helena Feder
    – David Yezzi
    – Victoria Moul
    – Katie Dozier & Tim Green
    – George David Clark
    – Tristram Fane Saunders
    – Philip Metres
    – Helena Feder
    – Nida Sophasarun

    Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
    Poetry Says by Alice Allan
    I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
    Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
    Advice from an Unknown Poet by Alice Allan & Jonathan Farmer

    Alice: In Future Posts
    Brian: @BPlatzer
    Cameron: Minor Tiresias
    Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
    Music by ETRNL
    Art by Daniel Alexander Smith
  • SLEERICKETS

    Ep 247: Listener Crit #11

    23/05/2026
    NB: Apologies to all the people to whom I owe emails! Solo with the girls and trying to meet some deadlines, so I’ve been a zombie. I promise I’ll write you soon!

    SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.

    Make a one-time donation (not tax-deductible)
    For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW!
    Leave the show a rating here!
    SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
    For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 32 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com

    Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:

    – Order Brian’s book The Optimists! It’s so good!Now give Brian’s book a 5-star review!
    – My chapbook The Soft Black Stars is out now!
    – The Frost Farm Prize results
    – Why Don’t People Like Poetry? What Poetry Do People Like? by Daniel Cowper
    – Ep 246: The Case for Didactic Poetry Part 1 & Part 2
    – L’Allegro, Il Penseroso, and Lycidas by John Milton
    – Odysseus’ Last Return to Ithaca by Pedro Poitevin
    – XXIV by Philip Larkin
    – Dune by Frank Herbert
    – Dune (2021)

    Frequently mentioned names:
    – Joshua Mehigan
    – Shane McCrae
    – A. E. Stallings
    – Ryan Wilson
    – Morri Creech
    – Austin Allen
    – Jonathan Farmer
    – Zara Raab
    – Amit Majmudar
    – Ethan McGuire
    – Coleman Glenn
    – Chris Childers
    – Alexis Sears
    – JP Gritton
    – Alex Pepple
    – Ernie Hilbert
    – Joanna Pearson
    – MattWall
    – Steve Knepper
    – Helena Feder
    – David Yezzi
    – Victoria Moul
    – Katie Dozier & Tim Green
    – George David Clark
    – Tristram Fane Saunders
    – Philip Metres
    – Helena Feder
    – Nida Sophasarun

    Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
    Poetry Says by Alice Allan
    I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
    Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
    Advice from an Unknown Poet by Alice Allan & Jonathan Farmer
    Ratbag Poetics By David Jalal Motamed

    Alice: In Future Posts
    Brian: @BPlatzer
    Cameron: Minor Tiresias
    Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
    Music by ETRNL
    Art by Daniel Alexander Smith
  • SLEERICKETS

    Ep 246: A Case for Didactic Poetry, ft. Daniel Cowper, Pt. 1

    16/05/2026 | 1h 26 mins.
    NB: Another poem (one of Jonathan’s favorites) about having an orange and not wanting to kill yourself.

    SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.

    Make a one-time donation (not tax-deductible)
    For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW!
    Leave the show a rating here!
    SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
    For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 32 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com

    Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:

    – Order Brian’s book The Optimists! It’s so good!Now give Brian’s book a 5-star review!
    – My chapbook The Soft Black Stars is out now!
    – Why Don’t People Like Poetry? What Poetry Do People Like? by Daniel Cowper
    – Kingdom of the Clock by Daniel Cowper
    – A Review of The Soft Black Stars by Sunil Iyengar
    – On Not Knowing How to Start by Sunil Iyengar
    – What He Really Wanted by Zina Gomez-Liss
    – If by Rudyard Kipling
    – Ep 245: The Tuna Incident, ft. Nida Sophasarun
    – Giving the Devil His Due by Elijah Perseus Blumov
    – September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden
    – On the Inner Nature of Art by Arthur Schopenhauer
    – On the origin of poetry by Friedrich Nietzsche

    Frequently mentioned names:
    – Joshua Mehigan
    – Shane McCrae
    – A. E. Stallings
    – Ryan Wilson
    – Morri Creech
    – Austin Allen
    – Jonathan Farmer
    – Zara Raab
    – Amit Majmudar
    – Ethan McGuire
    – Coleman Glenn
    – Chris Childers
    – Alexis Sears
    – JP Gritton
    – Alex Pepple
    – Ernie Hilbert
    – Joanna Pearson
    – MattWall
    – Steve Knepper
    – Helena Feder
    – David Yezzi
    – Victoria Moul
    – Katie Dozier & Tim Green
    – George David Clark
    – Tristram Fane Saunders
    – Philip Metres
    – Helena Feder
    – Nida Sophasarun

    Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
    Poetry Says by Alice Allan
    I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
    Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
    Advice from an Unknown Poet by Alice Allan & Jonathan Farmer
    Ratbag Poetics By David Jalal Motamed

    Alice: In Future Posts
    Brian: @BPlatzer
    Cameron: Minor Tiresias
    Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
    Music by ETRNL
    Art by Daniel Alexander Smith
  • SLEERICKETS

    Ep 245: The Tuna Incident, ft. Nida Sophasarun

    09/05/2026 | 1h 11 mins.
    SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.

    Make a one-time donation (not tax-deductible)
    For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW!
    Leave the show a rating here!
    SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
    For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 32 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com

    Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:

    – Order Brian’s book The Optimists! It’s so good!Now give Brian’s book a 5-star review!
    – My chapbook The Soft Black Stars is out now!
    Novice by Nida Sophasarun
    An Incomplete Mentorship by Rachel Jamison Webster
    Ellen Bryant Voigt

    Advice from an Unknown Poet Ep 05. Bad Advice

    Ep 244: Possible Horrible Truth, Pt. 1
    Nida's poem Violent Femmes
    Corniche by Les Murray

    Secret show notes

    Dead Poets Society (1989)

    Paterson (2016)

    A Quiet Passion (2016)

    Yasujiro Ozu

    Last Chance U (2016)

    Friday Night Lights

    I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

    Reality Bites (1994)

    Matthew's essay Where the Money Is
    The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

    Film Quarterly

    Frequently mentioned names:
    – Joshua Mehigan
    – Shane McCrae
    – A. E. Stallings
    – Ryan Wilson
    – Morri Creech
    – Austin Allen
    – Jonathan Farmer
    – Zara Raab
    – Amit Majmudar
    – Ethan McGuire
    – Coleman Glenn
    – Chris Childers
    – Alexis Sears
    – JP Gritton
    – Alex Pepple
    – Ernie Hilbert
    – Joanna Pearson
    – Matt Wall
    – Steve Knepper
    – Helena Feder
    – David Yezzi
    – Victoria Moul
    – Katie Dozier & Tim Green
    – George David Clark
    – Tristram Fane Saunders
    – Philip Metres
    – Helena Feder
    – Nida Sophasarun

    Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
    Poetry Says by Alice Allan
    I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
    Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
    Advice from an Unknown Poet by Alice Allan & Jonathan Farmer
    Ratbag Poetics By David Jalal Motamed

    Alice: In Future Posts
    Brian: @BPlatzer
    Cameron: Minor Tiresias
    Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
    Music by ETRNL
    Art by Daniel Alexander Smith
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About SLEERICKETS
Welcome to SLEERICKETS, a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.
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