rachelspoetrycorner - Tumblr blog

rachelspoetrycorner · 1 month

Text

Honorable mention! Huracán Sterrato: Beyond the Concrete (2022)

In Episode 255, Griffin shocked and delighted everyone with his unique poetry rec, which is —you guessed it— a Lamborghini commercial.

Griffin: The agency that wrote the ad is called DDB Group Italy is all about creating, quote, "unexpected works." This is from their mission statement. "It means that the best idea is the one you never see coming. The thing that catches you so off guard you can look away. Creativity is having the fresh perspective and raw energy to bring something into the world that no one's ever seen before. We're talking about the courage to shake things up and maybe even change them."

Rachel: [giggling] "The courage."

Griffin: I mean, in that sense, mission fucking accomplished, guys. Like, you crushed it on this one. [...] I'm imagining Don Draper standing in front of a small television and showing a room full of execs every other car commercial and being like, "What's wrong with all of these? That's right. Their coherence."

Rachel: [laughs]

Griffin: And then they make this incredible poem. Well, thank you for coming to my poetry corner. I know it's dusty and dirty. There's empty Fritos bags all over the place.

Rachel: We'll see you again in three years.

What kind of blog would this be if it didn't include this unforgettable recommendation? A bad one. If you'd like to hear Griffin's entire segment on this dirty, dusty and wild piece of art, you can do so here: DAMN! I Feel Like a Frasier, from 8:20 - 19:30.

#poetry #rachel mcelroy #griffin mcelroy #poem #words #art #wonderful!#wonderful! podcast #rachel’s poetry corner #lamborghini #car #episode 255 #the absolute mad man. what a fucken champ

4 notes · View notes

rachelspoetrycorner · 1 month

Text

All-American (2016) by David Hernandez

In Episode 315, Rachel brings an all-american poem!

Rachel: David Hernandez said, “My poems are partially autobiographical. To put a percentage on it, 57.4%.”

Griffin: [laughs]

Rachel: “Honestly, it depends from poem to poem. Some are more informed by events in my life, while others are less so. Here’s the thing. When I’m writing a poem, that’s based on an experience from memory, I don’t feel beholden to the facts. That’s the job of journalists. I’m more concerned about conveying an emotional truth, with making art through language. If the poem’s telling me ‘Look, I know you had bananas this morning in your cereal, but blueberries is sonically more interesting’, I’m going with blueberries.” [giggles]

If you’d like to hear more, you can do so here: Popcorn Plausible Deniability, from 20:24 - 29:04

7 notes · View notes

rachelspoetrycorner · 1 month

Text

Survivor Guilt (2014) by Ron Padgett

In Episode 310, Rachel shares a poem guilty of being simply too good!

Rachel: The poet James Tate wrote: “Ron Padgett's poems sing with absolutely true pitch, and they are human-friendly. Their search for truths both small and large can be cause for laughter or at least a thoughtful sigh.” Which is exactly the kind of poet that I'm looking typically to bring to Wonderful. You know. Uh, a poet from a human.

Griffin: You did bring that dog poet one time—

Rachel: [laughs]

Griffin: —which I thought was... interesting?

Rachel: Bark... bark, bark, bark. Bark.

Griffin: I carry it in my bark.

I was gonna add a personal comment as usual, until I found this quote by Ron Padgett, that seems to have been made almost specifically for Rachel and Griffin: “Survivor Guilt is not about feeling bad about watching Survivor (the T.V. show). It’s about fickleness (a word we don’t hear much anymore). Plus ça change…”

If you'd like to hear about Ron directly soliciting poems from well-known authors to publish in his literary magazine and succeeding to do so all while still being in highschool, you can do so here: Body Burn, from 5:23 - 12:43

7 notes · View notes

rachelspoetrycorner · 1 month

Text

The Answer & Summertime (2019) by Carrie Fountain

In Episode 300, Rachel shares two poems by Carrie Fountain!

Rachel: She said "The way I think about motherhood poems now is that it's not writing about children. It's writing about the self, and children enter the poem. I hope it's not reductive to say children in poems are employed for metaphorical purpose, but I think you use what you experience with them, those bits of life, the true life, and then shape it to create an image to observe yourself."

The way I had to physically restrain myself from highlighting the entirety of Summertime should be studied by psychonalists or fellow mommy-issues dwellers. If you’d like to hear more about the author and her process, you can do so here: Exponentially Increased Clenching, from 25:54 - 36:44

5 notes · View notes

rachelspoetrycorner · 2 months

Note

Hi Rachel! My wife and I are fans of yours (as well as Griffin&co.), and I have been meaning to reach out to ask if you have read poems by Carolina Ebeid? If not, she's a lovely & brilliant person, which resonates into her poetry. She is of Palestinian & Cuban descent and she also lived in TX & MO. Highly recommended! Also, unrelated, but I just learned that you & I got the same undergrad degree. There's a good chance you might have landed in one of my dad's poetry/lit classes. Small world! :P

Hii, I'm so sorry for the misunderstanding! Rachel McElroy doesn't run this blog sadly :( It's just a fan blog I began last year as a way to chronicle all the poems Rachel brings to the podcast! But even though I'm not Rachel (omg I WISH) I'm super thankful for your recommendation, and I'll definetly check her out, she sounds amazing :D That's crazy about your dad's classes! It truly is such a small (and wonderful) world <3 Wish you the best!

#i bet if you send an email to them rachel would be able to see it!#or maybe post on facebook i think she checks that one more regularly #have a great one!#asks

2 notes · View notes

rachelspoetrycorner · 2 months

Text

The Patience of Ordinary Things (2005) by Pat Schneider

In Episode 293, Rachel shares a patient and spectacularly ordinary poem!

Rachel: [...] And I think she really became aware of the challenges of... What she called “traditionally silenced populations.” So she founded Amhurst Artists and Writers, which was a non-profit that focused on low-income women and children. Sponsoring writers workshops and retreats. Because I think, and I read an interview with her where she talked about the fact that just even putting content on a page is a barrier in itself.

Rachel mentions that this poem reminds her of a previous rec she'd brought to the Corner, and that is Naomi Shihab Nye's Famous. Both the similarities and the differences between them are fascinating; this idea of an assigned purpose that objects/things are destined to follow, and they do (they commit to the bit)!

If you’d like to hear more, you can do so here: Towels Drink the Wet from the Skin of the Back, from 3:30 - 11:48

#poetry #rachel mcelroy #griffin mcelroy #poem #Pat Schneider #poet #The Patience of Ordinary Things #writing #words #literature #love #life #appreciation #minimalist #cottagecore #wonderful!#wonderful! podcast #rachel’s poetry corner #episode 293

11 notes · View notes

rachelspoetrycorner · 2 months

Text

Unrequited Love Song for the Panopticon (2020) by Franny Choi

In Episode 291, Rachel shares a panoptical poem!

Rachel: Anyway, she writes a lot about tech. Her first book of poetry was called Soft Science, it came out in 2019. She said the book came out of writing a series of poems that were inspired by and in the voice of a character from the film Ex Machina, Kyoko.

Griffin: Oh, cool!

Rachel: "When I watched that film, I had a particular combination of emotional responses that provoked a desire to write, a mix of love, confusion, and outrage. I started writing to try and understand what I was feeling about her and quickly realized that the poems are speaking to other poems about my own experience as an Asian-American woman, as a queer Asian-American woman, about moving through the world in a body that had been made an object of desire, fantasy, and power, living as a soft, fleshy, objectified human of the world."

This is one of the few poems that make me feel electrified after reading it -as if, when I touched the page, I got quickly shocked by the static it possesses. If you’d like to hear more about Choi's writing and work, you can do so here: Porous as a Spreadsheet, from 5:45 - 16:04

10 notes · View notes

rachelspoetrycorner · 3 months

Text

Poem for the Women Who Help You Go to the Bathroom Hours After You’ve Given Birth and In the Field of the Dead (2022) by Luisa Muradyan

In Episode 285, Rachel shares two poems that are (maybe not so) funny!

Rachel: When she started writing, she thought she was just going to do just kind of funny poems. And so she turned in all these poems that she thought was funny to her writing mentor, and her mentor said “Well these poems are actually incredibly sad.” [laughs]

Griffin: [laughs]

Rachel: She said “It took someone else to read these poems and say ‘these poems are incredibly sad’ for me to really see how much the humor was operating as a vehicle for sadness.”

I think Luisa takes the cake for Most Relatable Poet, cause she's just like me for real. If you’d like to hear about her life experience, you can do so here: A Sad Jerry Seinfeld, from 6:29 - 15:10

8 notes · View notes

rachelspoetrycorner · 3 months

Text

Early Cascade (2006) by Lucia Perillo

In Episode 282, Rachel shares a (audience chosen) downer poem!

Rachel: She was diagnosed with MS when she was in her 30's, and wrote a collection of essays called I've Heard the Vultures Singing, which is a real examination into her life as a person with disabilities. [...] I mean, the reason I thought it was kind of a bummer is that it's somebody who finally has this moment of this kind of beautiful time to herself, and then she realizes, like, how lonely she is in that moment. I find that very, like... you know, relatable, and also sad.

This poem is definetly one of the most downer ones in Rachel's collection. But -just like the audience proved- we love to see it! (This might come from my own lunatic necessity to connect the dots where there are none, but) I do like thinking about this poem and William Carlos William's This Is Just To Say as two sides of the same coin. It's about the sweetness of the fruit.

If you’d like to hear the audience's reaction, you can do so here: Our Favorite Summer Stuff, Live from Raleigh!, from 30:25 - 34:36

7 notes · View notes

rachelspoetrycorner · 3 months

Text

The Early Bird (2003) & So This Is Nebraska (1980) by Ted Kooser

In Episode 276, Rachel shares two poems by her favorite Great Plains poet!

Rachel: Um, the thing I like is there's a real opportunity when you grow up in that area of the country. To kind of not have that kind of pride in what some people would consider like the simplicity of that experience, right? [...] There's a real opportunity for him to move on from that, but he loves and celebrates that place and still lives there today and it's very evident in his work. Uh, and I think it's really inspiring to people who are pursuing poetry or like recognize like, You're okay, right where you are, you know.

It's almost impossible not to think about Bob Hicok's A Primer, or Anna Journey's Mississippi: Origins while reading these poems. In my mind, they're all holding hands, swingin' them back and forth. If you’d like to hear more, you can do so here: One More Time, Dampen, from 5:55 - 18:08

2 notes · View notes

rachelspoetrycorner · 3 months

Text

Praise Song For The Day (2009) by Elizabeth Alexander

In Episode 270, Rachel shares another inaugural poem!

Rachel: Like, I love being hopeful.

Griffin: Sure!

Rachel: Which is probably not unique to me. [laughs] But I am always willing to fall for it. Like, you put the right words together, I'm like, “Yes! Yes! Things are going to be better!”

If you’d like to hear about Alexander's poem, you can do so here: Harma and Reg, from 6:00 - 18:20

1 note · View note

rachelspoetrycorner · 3 months

Text

What You Missed That Day You Were Absent from Fourth Grade (2016) by Brad Aaron Modlin

In Episode 267, Rachel brings the poem that made me want to do this blog!

Rachel: Usually when I read the poem of a poet that is currently practicing and publishing, I will reach out to them and let them know, "Hey, just so you know, we're gonna talk about your poem. I wanted you to know because I'm celebrating your work." But I feel like Brad is gonna be really let down if I reach out to him and say "Hey, we talked about your poem. We loved it. We also talked about haircuts for about 15 minutes in the middle."

Griffin: You know, but that's—is—what is that if not poetry?

Rachel: Maybe we should stop calling this segment the Poetry Corner and start calling it What Is...

Griffin: What Is That If Not Poe—

Rachel: What Is That?

Griffin: —If Not Poetry?

Rachel: If Not Poetry?

If you’d like to hear about Griffin's missing school so much being the actual reason for his imposter syndrome, you can do so here: What is a Short Podcast if Not Poetry, from 19:37 - 31:41

26 notes · View notes

rachelspoetrycorner · 3 months

Text

Afternoon at MacDowell (1993) by Jane Kenyon Summer Kitchen (1999) by Donald Hall

In Episode 263, Rachel shares one of the greatest poet romances of all time!

Rachel: I wanted to talk about Jane Kenya for a minute. So she is 20 years younger than him. Um, and that is significant because it makes kind of what happened in their relationship kind of all the more tragic. So in 1989, Donald Hall was diagnosed with colon cancer, and even though his chances of survival were really slim, he ended up going into remission. Five years later, Jane Kenyon was diagnosed with leukemia and died only 15 months later at age 47.

In those last months of her life, they were putting together an anthology of her work. And at the time she was kind of commenting on his health issues. So I wanted to read one of her poems about his illness, and then read his poem kind of about her. Because I think like, you appreciate his more if you have read hers.

[His poem] is lovely in the context of her poem, particularly because they both used the word "miracle", and her miracle is kind of in the context of poetry and art and this kind of high concept, you know, of what is spectacular. And then his is just kind of like, we had an incredible life, and that was a miracle, too.

This segment is such a gem. When Rachel pointed out the miracle link, I was blown away because I hadn't even noticed. Adding my two cents to the cause -and just like Rachel, I don't pretend or assume this is an actual connection meant by Hall- I like to think Donald was also echoing the use of the chair, and the use of light in his poem.

If you’d like to hear more about this poet romance, you can do so here: BoPo, from 8:01 - 17:56

7 notes · View notes

rachelspoetrycorner · 3 months

Text

For The Advice Cards At Baby Showers and Back to School Shopping (2020) by Kate Baer

In Episode 255, Rachel shares two poems from a poet that really shook her up a bit.

Rachel: Often she'll receive messages from readers suggesting she write about other subjects, as if motherhood isn't worthy of their time. And she says, "I mean, how many books have I read about baseball? There's no topic that's unwriterly. But motherhood gets stuck in that category."

The fact that I was hesitant to kind of embrace it says a lot about kind of my own experience of reading women writing about being women. You know? And it's interesting how I just kind of assume that that will not be of value to anybody besides women, you know?

If you’d like to hear more about Rachel's reckoning with this subject, you can do so here: DAMN! I Feel Like a Frasier, from 23:32 - 35:59

4 notes · View notes

rachelspoetrycorner · 3 months

Text

The Hot Dog Factory (1937) by Grace Cavalieri

In Episode 253, Rachel shares a poet that was one of the inspirations for Rachel's Poetry Corner!

Rachel: I read an interview with her in the NEA Artworks and she talks about playwriting versus writing poetry, and I thought it was interesting, because she talks about how playwriting is very collaborative. Everybody's kind of a part of making it better. Um, but she says, quote, "Poetry, nothing's at stake, because there's no stall in the marketplace. Nobody wants it." [laughs]

Griffin: [wheeze-laughs] [audience laughs]

Rachel: "You can write it, but that doesn't mean anyone has to read it. It is the most freeing, meditative part of my life. It is when I know who I am, and finding out who I am as I go through the poem. It is truly an act of self-discovery. It is a very interior process, and if someone publishes it, that's wonderful, and if someone reads it, you can't believe your good luck, because that's not why you write it."

In this segment Rachel also talks about Cavalieri's poetry radio show that has been going on for 22 years (!) where she invites poets and has them read their poems out loud. If you’d like to hear about that and more, you can do so here: Our Favorite Washington Stuff Live, from 24:28 - 32:53

1 note · View note

rachelspoetrycorner · 4 months

Text

A Poem for Emily (1985) by Miller Williams

In Episode 250, Rachel shares a pretty emotionally devastating poem!

Rachel: I had a moment where I was like, "I don't wanna read this poem because it's so difficult to read out loud." And then I was like, "No, that's why I have to!"

Griffin: That's why you have to. That's why you must.

Rachel: Go towards the fear.

Griffin: We can't get to the corner without you, babe.

When Rachel said she was leading us back to the Poetry Corner, I was ready to get back to our familiar nook of comfort and enjoy a lovely poem. Yet this poem isn't lovely; it's fataly beautiful. But I'm so glad and thankful that it's Rachel who's taking us there, how else would we make it through?

If you’d like to hear more (or are just in the mood for a good cry, believe me, Rachel reading this makes it 10 times more powerful) you can do so here: Where's the Anxiety Here, from 22:46 - 30:34

9 notes · View notes

rachelspoetrycorner · 4 months

Text

Oda a la Jardinera (2008) by Pablo Neruda / Girl Gardening translated by Ben Bellet / Ode to the Gardener translated by Google Translate

In Episode 248, Rachel brings us to the Poetry Hallway to talk about translation!

Rachel: Griffin was like: “Oh, are you talking about Pablo Neruda?” And I was like, “Haha! No! Tricked ya!” [laughs]

Griffin: Rachel does this thing sometimes where she runs really fast with both of her arms behind her back and she calls it a “Neruda run” and I don't think she… I haven't had the courage to correct her.

Rachel: I would like to say that that is a joke a small percentage of our listeners will get, but—

Griffin: Oh no, actually I've engineered- No, no, no, baby, I've been engineering that joke— [Rachel cackles] ... for four years, knowing that it would tactically strike basically every one of our listeners.

I've refrained from including an excerpt of the actual analysis that these two share about translation, because I need you to go listen to all of it, so you can discover which of these versions they preferred, and to hear Griffin call Neruda's writing "horny, horny on main, nonstop 24/7 Boner City."

If you’d like to hear that and more, you can do so here: Nicely Nicely Podcast from 24:29 - 38:51

4 notes · View notes