SLEERICKETS

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:

– Check out Alice’s SLEERICKETS Episode map!
– Pre-order the new book of short stories by my wife, Joanna Pearson!
– Buy 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!
– Watch the Think Symposium talks and readings here! (Here’s a link to mine, which stars at 52:14)
– Elijah’s book Against Oblivion is out now!
– ALSCW conference 2026
– Elijah Perseus Blumov
– Versecraft
– Emily Grace
– Literary Matters
– David Starkey
– Anacapa Review
– Gunpowder Press
– CPT AndrewVisscher (Drew Visscher is a literary scholar whose work explores the intersections of literature, history, and military culture in nineteenth-century Britain. His current project examines military memoirs and periodicals as sites of knowledge production that helped shape broader transatlantic military identities. Context: I am what USMA calls a "Junior Rotator," a full-time Instructor within the English Division, temporarily "plucked" from the regular Army. My program funds an MA as a prerequisite to teach entry-level Composition and Literature at USMA as an active-duty assignment, and there are future competitive paths to AP. Whether through this program or as a retired civilian, I'm using this project to guide doctoral research down the road.)
– The United Service Journal
– Mary Finnegan
– Tamarah Rockwood
– Fiona Spring
– Forester McClatchey
– John Poch
– Dora Malech

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
– Alex McKeown

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: Poetry Says
Brian: brianplatzer [at] gmail [dot] com
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 32 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com

Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:

– Check out Alice’s SLEERICKETS Episode map!
– Pre-order the new book of short stories by my wife, Joanna Pearson!
– Buy 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!
– Watch the Think Symposium talks and readings here! (Here’s a link to mine, which stars at 52:14)
– Elijah’s book Against Oblivion is out now!
– ALSCW conference 2026
– Elijah Perseus Blumov
– Versecraft
– Emily Grace
– Literary Matters
– David Starkey
– Anacapa Review
– Gunpowder Press
– CPT AndrewVisscher (Drew Visscher is a literary scholar whose work explores the intersections of literature, history, and military culture in nineteenth-century Britain. His current project examines military memoirs and periodicals as sites of knowledge production that helped shape broader transatlantic military identities. Context: I am what USMA calls a "Junior Rotator," a full-time Instructor within the English Division, temporarily "plucked" from the regular Army. My program funds an MA as a prerequisite to teach entry-level Composition and Literature at USMA as an active-duty assignment, and there are future competitive paths to AP. Whether through this program or as a retired civilian, I'm using this project to guide doctoral research down the road.)
– The United Service Journal
– Mary Finnegan
– Tamarah Rockwood
– Fiona Spring
– Forester McClatchey
– John Poch
– Dora Malech

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
– Alex McKeown

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: Poetry Says
Brian: brianplatzer [at] gmail [dot] com
Cameron: Minor Tiresias
Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Music by ETRNL
Art by Daniel Alexander Smith

NB: My hypothetical about being born in California in 1960 sounds like it’s specifically referring to Ted Kooser’s birth, but I meant it more generally. Also, I probably should have said 1950.

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:

– Check out Alice’s SLEERICKETS Episode map!
– Pre-order the new book of short stories by my wife, Joanna Pearson!
– Buy 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!
– Watch the Think Symposium talks and readings here! (Here’s a link to mine, which stars at 52:14)
– Elijah’s book Against Oblivion is out now!
The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James
Ted Kooser
The Stafford Challenge
9 October by Anne Carson
Boris Drayluk
The Poetry Space: Does a Poem Need Something to Say? with Matthew Buckley Smith (Part 1) | Ep. 158
Robert Chaboneau
Cat Person by Kristen Roupenian
Watchmen (2009)
ALSCW conference 2026

Secret Show notes
The Invention of Love by Tom Stoppard
Bitters by Chris Childers
The Score by Oliver Cotton
You Can See Everything (2026)
Legend (1985)
Matthew's conversation with Elijah about poetry podcasting

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
– Alex McKeown

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: Poetry Says
Brian: brianplatzer [at] gmail [dot] com
Cameron: Minor Tiresias
Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Music by ETRNL
Art by Daniel Alexander Smith

NB: Right, right, right, actually “nights” and “ignites” don’t make a true rhyme but rather an identical rhyme.

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:

– Check out Alice’s SLEERICKETS Episode map!
– Pre-order the new book of short stories by my wife, Joanna Pearson!
– Buy 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!
– Watch the Think Symposium talks and readings here!
– Elijah’s book Against Oblivion is out now!
– Cameron’s poem Alternative Autobiography in Poetry London
– My conversation with Elijah at the Versecraft substack
– LM 19.1
– Tar River Poetry Fall 2026
– M. D. Skeen’s post on The Hotel Barth
– The Survivalist (2015)

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
– Alex McKeown

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: Poetry Says
Brian: brianplatzer [at] gmail [dot] com
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 32 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com

Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:

– Check out Alice’s SLEERICKETS Episode map!
– Pre-order the new book of short stories by my wife, Joanna Pearson!
– 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 Think Symposium is this Friday, October 16, and Saturday, October 17
– I’ll be giving a talk Friday, October 16, at 5:00 p.m. and a reading with Boris Dralyuk and Sunil Iyengar Friday, October 16, at 8:00 p.m.
– New Verse Review’s Halloween Issue
– Zara Raab’s Review of The Soft Black Stars
– BlackRaven’s Review of The Soft Black Stars
– Groom by Austin Segrest
– The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein
– Song of Solomon
– Conversion on the Way to Damascus by Caravaggio
– The Man of Adamant by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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
– Alex McKeown

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: Poetry Says
Brian: brianplatzer [at] gmail [dot] com
Cameron: Minor Tiresias
Matthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com
Music by ETRNL
Art by Daniel Alexander Smith