Of Poetry Podcast

Of Poetry is hosted by Han VanderHart, author of Larks (Ohio UP, 2025).--Read: "Listen to Yourself" (Sixth Finch)Purchase: The Visible Field (River River Books, 2026)Zoë Ryder White’s first full-length collection, The Visible Field, was published by River River Books in February, 2026. A chapbook, Via Post, was a finalist for Tupelo Press’ Snowbound Chapbook award and won the Sixth Finch chapbook contest in 2022. HYPERSPACE was the editors’ choice pick for the Verse Tomaž Šalamun Prize in 2020 and is available from Factory Hollow Press. She co-authored A Study in Spring (Rabbit Catastrophe Press, 2015) and Elsewhere (Sixth Finch Press, 2020) with Nicole Callihan. Her poems have appeared in Tupelo Quarterly, Iterant, Plume, and Threepenny Review, among others. A former elementary school teacher, she edits books for educators about the craft of teaching. She lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with her family.Reading RecommendationsVijay SeshadriEmily DickinsonLetters of Emily DickinsonNicole CallihanImogene's Antlers (children's book)The Poetics of Revery by Gaston BachelardThe Poetics of Space by Gaston BachelardMolly Spencer

Of Poetry is hosted by Han VanderHart, author of Larks (Ohio UP, 2025).--Read: the title essay "Backyard Alchemy" (The Common)Purchase: Backyard Alchemy: on life with other creatures in a time of salvage (River River Books, 2026)J.D. Ho was born by the sea, raised on a rock, schmoozed in Hollywood, drove to Austin, Texas for an MFA, and now lives among foxes and deer on a sliver of east coast green. J.D.’s work has appeared in Georgia Review, Missouri Review, Ninth Letter, and other journals.Reading RecommendationsMushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing The Fall of Iris Henley by Jennifer GrahamBrilliant Minds (tv show)Alban Fischer (Designer and editor)Pastoral, 1994 by Joe WilkinsScythe by Elizabeth SylviaYour Mother’s Bear Gun by Corrie WilliamsonEcoTheo Review

Of Poetry is hosted by Han VanderHart, author of Larks (Ohio UP, 2025).--Read: "On Learning that Kim Kardashian Exceeded her Water Allowance by 232,000 Gallons in June" (Passengers Journal)Purchase: Scythe (River River Books, 2026)Elizabeth Sylvia’s first book, None But Witches: Poems on Shakespeare’s Women (2022), won the 2021 3 Mile Harbor Press Book Award. Her chapbook My Little Book of Domestic Anxieties (2025) is available from Ballerini Books, and her second full-length collection, Scythe, is available now from River River Books. She has been a finalist or semi-finalist in competitions sponsored by the Burnside Review, C&R Press, DIAGRAM, Thirty West, Rare Swan, and Wolfson Press, and is a reader for SWWIM Every Day. Elizabeth has received fellowships from the New York Public Library, the West Chester University Poetry Center, and the Longleaf Writers Conference, and is the winner of the 2023 riverSedge Poetry Prize. Elizabeth grew up on Martha’s Vineyard and currently teaches in Southeastern Massachusetts, where she lives with her husband, two daughters, and an extravagantly demanding garden.Recommended Reading:Richard Siken's CrushLady Wing Shot by Sara Moore Wagner If Some God Shakes Your House by Jennifer FranklinCeive by BK FischerRue by Kathryn NuernbergerNo Longer at This Address by Andrew HemmersThe Garden Against Time by Olivia Laing 

Of Poetry is hosted by Han VanderHart, author of Larks (Ohio UP, 2025).--Read: "Ghazal: Morning" (The Offing)Purchase: In the House of Modern Upbringing for Girls(Wandering Aengus Press, 2025) Majda Gama was born in Beirut to a Saudi father and American mother. Her hometown is Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and her roots Hijazi, but she also has a long, complicated relationship with Northern Virginia where her father was stationed in the 1970's. Majda is the author of In the House of Modern Upbringing for Girls (Wandering Aengus Press, 2025) and The Call of Paradise, (Two Sylvia’s, 2023). Her poetry has been honored with the Graybeal-Gowen award for Virginia poets from Shenandoah and the Gregory Djanikian scholar award for poetry from Adroit. Recent poems have appeared in, or are forthcoming from, AGNI, Ploughshares, POETRY, Prairie Schooner, Swamp Pink, Tupelo Quarterly, and TriQuarterly.Recommended reading2017 PEN America World Voices: Sheyr Jangi (Poetic Battles)Lena Khalaf TuffahaMahmoud DarwishFady JoudahGwendolyn BrooksJill Kitchen

Of Poetry is hosted by Han VanderHart, author of Larks (Ohio UP, 2025).--Read: Three Poems by Frances Klein at Cultural DailyPurchase: Another Life (Riot in Your Throat Press, 2025)Frances Klein is an Alaskan poet and teacher. Klein is the author of the poetry collection Another Life (Riot in Your Throat Press, 2025). She is also the author of several poetry chapbooks, including (Text) Messages from The Angel Gabriel (Gnashing Teeth, 2024). Klein is the founding editor of Flight: A Literary Sampler, and an editor at The Weight Journal. Her writing has appeared in Best Microfictions, Rattle, the Harvard Advocate, the London Magazine, HAD, and others. Klein lives in Southeast Alaska with her husband and son.Recommended Reading:Terrance Hayes, "Wind in a Box" (poem, also recommend book)Jericho BrownMarianne Baruch, Grace, Fallen fromJoshua BennettRobert Hass Lucille CliftonSarah Vap, End of the Sentimental JourneyJames Tate

Of Poetry is hosted by Han VanderHart, author of Larks (Ohio UP, 2025).--Read: "Mother Water Ash" (Poets.org)Purchase: MOTHER WATER ASH(Louisiana State University Press 2024)Nicole Cooley grew up in New Orleans and is the author of seven books of poems, most recently MOTHER WATER ASH(Louisiana State University Press 2024), as well as OF MARRIAGE (Alice James Books 2018), GIRL AFTER GIRL AFTER GIRL (LSU Press 2018) and BREACH (LSU Press 2010). She has received the Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, an NEA grant, and the Emily Dickinson Award from The Poetry Society of America, and most recently a grant from the New Jersey Council for the Arts. She is a professor in the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College, The City University of New York and lives in NJ with her family.Reading Recommendations:Yannis RitsosIncendiary Art by Patricia SmithThe Dream of Reason by Jenny GeorgeThe Poet in the Worldby Denise LevertovThe Art of Deathby Edwidge DanticatAgainst Forgetting by Carolyn ForcheOrbit by Victoria ChangMother Hunger by Kelly McDaniel"A Small Needful Fact" by Ross GayC.D. WrightPhilip Levine

Natalie Solmer, a poet and visual artist from South Bend, Indiana, discusses her journey from florist to educator and author of the upcoming poetry collection, Water Castle. She explores her Polish heritage and its influence on her art, alongside the role of genealogy in her writing. Natalie shares insights on academic labor's complexities and the evolving literary scene in Indiana. The conversation also dives into the importance of visual aesthetics in poetry, touching on inspirations from artists like Klimt and Kahlo.

Of Poetry is hosted by Han VanderHart, author of Larks (Ohio UP, 2025).--Purchase: The Deletions (Editor’s Choice, Akron Poetry Prize)Sarah Green is the author of an April 2025 release, The Deletions (Editor’s Choice, Akron Poetry Prize) and a previous collection, Earth Science. Her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Paris Review, New Ohio Review, 32 Poems, FIELD, Copper Nickel, Gettysburg Review, Pleiades, and elsewhere. A two-time Pushcart Prize winner, she is an Associate Professor of English at St. Cloud State. Reading Recommendations:Kylie GellatlyMarie HoweBlueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskeyJames WrightMarianne MooreMerriam-WebsterThe Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane

Of Poetry is hosted by Han VanderHart, author of Larks (Ohio UP, 2025).--Purchase: Unrivered (Sundress Publications, 2025)Read: "Dysmorphia (Autumn)" at Harpur PalateDonna Vorreyer is the author of four full-length poetry collections: Unrivered ( 2025), To Everything There Is (2020), Every Love Story is an Apocalypse Story (2016) and A House of Many Windows (2013), all from Sundress Publications. Recent work has appeared in Ploughshares, Pleiades, Poet Lore, Colorado Review, Harpur Palate, Baltimore Review, Salamander, and many other journals. Donna lives  in the western suburbs of Chicago and runs the online reading series A Hundred Pitchers of Honey. She is the co-founder/co-editor of Asterales: A Journal of Arts & Letters.Reading/Listening Recommendations:Mary Ruefle’s essay “Pause”Diane Seuss's frank: sonnetsJohn Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions (1624)Philip Sidney, Astrophil and Stella (1591)Jane Hirshfield "Changing Everything"Richard Wilbur, “The Beautiful Changes”Joanne KygerEileen MylesSalvage by Heji ChoiTaylor Byas’s Resting Bitch FaceDustin Brookshire, Wild and Precious Life SeriesRobin Wall Kimmerer's The ServiceberryLewis Hyde's The Gift

Of Poetry is hosted by Han VanderHart, author of Larks (Ohio UP, 2025).--Purchase: Encounters for the Living and the Dead (River River Books, 2025)Jameela F. Dallis lives in Durham, NC. Her publications include poems, interviews, arts journalism, and literary scholarship in Feminist Studies, Honey Literary, The Fight and the Fiddle, Our State, Walter, The Bloomsbury Handbook to Toni Morrison, and elsewhere. She's inspired by memory and desire, the thrill of wandering new cities, and the wonder of everyday encounters. Her work explores texture, taste, sound, sensation, and the richness of visual art. She curated Material Encounters (Peel Gallery, Carrboro, March 2024), juried Scaffold (Artspace, Raleigh, April 2023), and has served on regional curatorial and fellowship committees. Jameela has taught dozens of university courses and facilitated creative workshops for more than a decade. Originally from Chattanooga, TN, Jameela received her B.A. in English from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and holds both an M.A. and Ph.D. in English from UNC-Chapel Hill. Encounters for the Living and the Dead is her first book of poetry. Read more at jameeladallis.comReading Recommendations:Pieter Aertsen's A Meat Stall with the Holy Family Giving Alms(1551)Henri Matisse's Les Betes de la Mer (1950)Five Questions with Author Jameela F. Dallis: River River Books' NewsletterJaki Shelton Green