SLEERICKETS

SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.

My book Midlife now exists. Buy it here, or leave it a rating here or here
For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW, join the group chat, and send me a poem for Listener Crit!
Leave the show a rating here (actually, just do it on your phone, it’s easier). Thanks!
Wear SLEERICKETS t-shirts and hoodies. They look good!
SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 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!
– Let me know if you’d like a review copy of my forthcoming chapbook The Soft Black Stars: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
– Vanderpump Rules Season 12
The Great Pottery Throwdown
Selling Sunset
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
Queen of Chess (2026)
how i be revising by Brandon Taylor
Sashay away
Coming down in Ohio by Dave Smith
Ep 234: Midlife Show-and-Tell, ft. Katie Dozier
Contrapoints Tangent: Liminal Spaces
Step wells

Secret show notes
Meanjin lives!
Tropical Skiing by John Forbes
Limiting Poetry’s Feedback Loop by Steven Searcy

Ep 231: Insidious Tendencies, ft. Steven Searcy
A Caveat-Filled Case for Atheism
The Via Negativa of R.S. Thomas on Versecraft
Nick Cave’s Red Hand Files Issue #265
The Siberian unicorn
A Holy Dread by R. A. Villanueva
Bill Hicks: Pro Life

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 25 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!
– A conversation Alice & I had for Poetry London!

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

Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
Poetry Says by Alice Allan
I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
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 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 25 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!
– I’m reading this Saturday, March 14, at 6:00 p.m. at the Mettlesome Theater in Durham, NC
– Brian’s appearance on The Gist
– The Mysterious Case of Gothic Verse Narratives by Brian Brodeur
– Pre-order Sixteen Games of Hide and Seek by Stephen Bass and Steve Teare!
– Sofia Kavlin Castaneda of Unsent Letterbox
– Rosanna Oh
– Sonnet 130
– One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
– Poetry by Joseph Harrison
– Moira Egan
– Joe Osterhaus
– Robert Schreur
– Sunil Iyengar
– The Same City by Terrance Hayes
– Maps by James Baker Hall
– Michael Theune
– Kim Noriega
– Kim Addonizio
– Poetry Says Ep 294. The American Ecstatic
– Dan Kois
– The Martin Chronicles
– Lauren Wethers
– Reclaiming Jane
– Jordan Kisner
– Thresholds
– The Critic and Her Publics
– Michele Moses

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

Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
Poetry Says by Alice Allan
I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
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 is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.

My book Midlife now exists. Buy it here, or leave it a rating here or here
For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW, join the group chat, and send me a poem for Listener Crit!
Leave the show a rating here (actually, just do it on your phone, it’s easier). Thanks!
Wear SLEERICKETS t-shirts and hoodies. They look good!
SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 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!
– My chapbook The Soft Black Stars is out now!
– Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
Queen of Chess (2026)
Poetry Says Ep 296. Gena Rowlands Poetics
Adam Curtis
Night by Ellie Wiesel
Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life by Francesc Miralles and Hector Garcia
Marie Kondo
After Apple-Picking and Mending Wall by Robert Frost
Malcolm Gladwell
Tim Ferriss
Julie Steiner
Egg and Dart by Matthew Buckley Smith
Deceptacon by Le Tigre
The touch move rule
The Queen’s Gambit (2020)
Judit’s TED talk
My Best Game Ever: Vishy Anand vs. Judit Polgar
Judit Polgar tricks Magnus Carlsen in a game of blitz in the park
Nigel Short vs. Judit Polgar
Two Catholic sonnets by Julie Steiner
On Noticing How Many Pro-Life Men Are Smokers by Julie Steiner
Julie’s Sapphics thread on Eratosphere

Secret Show notes
The Sparrow by Mary Roia Russell
Dana Gioia
Weldon Kees
I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
Supernatural Horror and Literature by H.P. Lovecraft

Secret show notes
Meanjin lives!
Tropical Skiing by John Forbes
Limiting Poetry’s Feedback Loop by Steven Searcy

Ep 231: Insidious Tendencies, ft. Steven Searcy
A Caveat-Filled Case for Atheism
The Via Negativa of R.S. Thomas on Versecraft
Nick Cave’s Red Hand Files Issue #265
The Siberian unicorn
A Holy Dread by R. A. Villanueva
Bill Hicks: Pro Life

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
– Tristram Fane Saunders

Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
Poetry Says by Alice Allan
I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
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 is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems.

My book Midlife now exists. Buy it here, or leave it a rating here or here
For more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW, join the group chat, and send me a poem for Listener Crit!
Leave the show a rating here (actually, just do it on your phone, it’s easier). Thanks!
Wear SLEERICKETS t-shirts and hoodies. They look good!
SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!
For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 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!
– Let me know if you’d like a review copy of my forthcoming chapbook The Soft Black Stars: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
– Vanderpump Rules Season 12
The Great Pottery Throwdown
Selling Sunset
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
Queen of Chess (2026)
how i be revising by Brandon Taylor
Sashay away
Coming down in Ohio by Dave Smith
Ep 234: Midlife Show-and-Tell, ft. Katie Dozier
Contrapoints Tangent: Liminal Spaces
Step wells

Secret show notes
Meanjin lives!
Tropical Skiing by John Forbes
Limiting Poetry’s Feedback Loop by Steven Searcy

Ep 231: Insidious Tendencies, ft. Steven Searcy
A Caveat-Filled Case for Atheism
The Via Negativa of R.S. Thomas on Versecraft
Nick Cave’s Red Hand Files Issue #265
The Siberian unicorn
A Holy Dread by R. A. Villanueva
Bill Hicks: Pro Life

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
– Tristram Fane Saunders

Other Ratbag Poetry Pods:
Poetry Says by Alice Allan
I Hate Matt Wall by Matt Wall
Versecraft by Elijah Perseus Blumov
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