The Poetry Space_

Poets known for writing short poems are all too uncommon. In this episode, Katie & Tim look at two of contemporary poetry's best: Andrea Cohen and Mike White. What is the strength in brevity? Tune in to get the long and short of it!

At the Table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green.

Our Prufrock deep dive continues as the table turns from the poem to everything it set loose. We take on the most controversial aspects of the long poem, and what about those the 38 lines Eliot cut? We dare to eat the peach.At the Table:  Katie Dozier, Timothy Green, Brian O'Sullivan, Dick Westheimer, and Joe Barca.

T.S. Eliot was 22 when he drafted it, 26 when Ezra Pound finally strong-armed it into print, and the first edition took five years to sell 500 copies. In this episode, we walk "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" from that etherized evening sky down to the ragged claws—Dante's epigraph, the yellow fog that's a cat, the coffee spoons, and the overwhelming question nobody ever asks. 

At the Table:  Katie Dozier, Timothy Green, Brian O'Sullivan, Dick Westheimer, and Joe Barca.

Our Mary Oliver deep dive continues as Katie Dozier and Timothy Green take a closer look at her craft, philosophy, relationship with her audience, and enduring influence on contemporary poetry. Through readings and close discussion of work from across her career, we consider what Oliver understood about clarity, attention, accessibility, and the reader—and why her enormous popularity may have caused critics to underestimate her.

At the Table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green

Mary Oliver is one of the most beloved—and most often most dismissed—American poets. Katie Dozier and Timothy Green look beyond the familiar story of the nature poet, exploring Oliver’s life, craft, popularity, and the tension between the deeply personal and strangely impersonal in her work. Along the way, we read and discuss some of her most famous poems, including “The Journey” and “Wild Geese,” and ask what made her poetry connect with millions of readers.

At the Table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green.

Over twenty years ago, the  Los Angeles Times called our guest "the most despised—some would say most feared—man in American poetry.” We invited Alan Cordle Villegas to talk about Foetry.com—the website he created, initially anonymously, with the tagline: “Exposing fraudulent contests. Tracking the sycophants. Naming names.” Would he do it all again? What does it mean to be transparent in an opaque world?At the Table: Katie Dozier, Timothy Green, and Alan Cordle Villegas.

Marie Howe went from eldest of nine in Rochester, to winning a Pulitzer Prize last year. Lucia Perillo was a wildlife biologist and park ranger, and later a MacArthur genius—writing about MS with more jokes than most poets manage about anything. This week’s Duel puts What the Living Do head-to-head with Inseminating the Elephant—Who wins? Tune in and see whose lines land the strongest!

At the table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green.

With the aim of getting to more listener questions, Rattle editors Timothy Green and Katie Dozier return to demystify the editing process. When is a poem publishable? Tune in to hear our thoughts on many different aspects of poetry editing.

What goes into editing one of the largest poetry magazines? In this multi-part series, Rattle editors Timothy Green and Katie Dozier pull the curtain back on the process, offering up their own insights into surprising aspects of the process as well as fielding questions from listeners. More to come!

At the Table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green.

Timothy Green and Katie Dozier go head-to-head in a Poetry Duel between The Arkansas Review and Fourteen Hills, each armed with randomly-picked poems they think can take the other magazine down. They read, debate, and question each other’s taste, as always! Together, they decide which literary journal wins bragging rights—all while talking contemporary poetry, editing, and what actually makes a poem memorable.

At the Table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green.

Part two of our "bring a poem you love" experiment picks up where we left off, finishing out Joe Barca's pick, James Wright's "A Blessing" (yes, THAT ending). Then Dick Westheimer digs into the dirt with Ada Limón's "The Burying Beetle," and we close out with Billy Collins' "The Art of Drowning." Craft talk, scansion, and a few strong opinions!At the Table: Katie Dozier, Timothy Green, Dick Westheimer, Joe Barca & Brian O'Sullivan.

This week, everyone at the table comes bearing gifts — not their own poems, but someone else's genius they can't stop thinking about. Tim kicks things off with Alan Shapiro's "Closer," a breakup poem disguised as a baseball play-by-play, before Brian O'Sullivan brings us Alicia Ostriker's "Demeter to Persephone," a myth retelling with a shockingly modern mom voice. We also get our first bite of Joe Barca's pick, James Wright's classic "A Blessing" — don't worry, we'll finish that one next week. Close reading, scansion, and a little bit of poem-crush confession, all in one sitting.

At the Table: Katie Dozier, Timothy Green, Dick Westheimer, Joe Barca, and Brian O'Sullivan.

Mary Oliver is widely considered the most popular English-language poet of recent generations. In this episode, we put her work head-to-head against revered poet Jack Gilbert by analyzing three random poems from each of their collections. We explore themes of light and darkness, accessibility, and poetic craft in this lively discussion. It's poet vs. poet. Who will win this time?

At the Table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green

Katie & Tim take a look at his new book, Poems for Katie. Tim shares his poems, discusses how the subconscious comes into play, and talks about the power of prompts. How did poetry help him find his way? Tune in this week to find out. At the table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green.

In this raw episode, Katie talks about Residency Review: A Memoir in Verse. She shares poems from her new book, and together Katie and Tim explore the emotional landscape that went into crafting it.

At the Table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green

It’s AGNI vs. New England Review in a literary-magazine duel for the ages—or at least for the slightly over-caffeinated poetry set. As always, we never know where these duels will lead us, and this one includes a heated discussion of imagism and its evolution. Which journal will reign supreme? Tune in to turn the pages. At the table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green

When it comes to meter, free verse poets have been known to ask, “what’s in it for me?!” In part two, Katie and Tim keep the party going with Susan Spear, Brian O’Sullivan, Chelsea McClellan, and Christiana Doucette, moving into visible form, hidden form, terza rima, repetition, rhyme, humor, and one thing not often discussed within the realm of meter: free verse! 

At the table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Susan Spear

Brian O’Sullivan

Christiana Doucette

Chelsea McClellan 

Patterns are all around us, and meter doesn’t have to be scary--even with its mysterious little slash marks reminiscent of gaping wounds. In part one of this two-part conversation, Katie and Tim talk with Susan Spear, Brian O’Sullivan, Chelsea McClellan, and Christiana Doucette about how English verse actually moves—from the big drumbeat of alliterative verse to the sneakier pleasures of iambs, speech stress, and scansion. Susan Spear and David Rothman’s book Learning the Secrets of English Verse: The Keys to the Treasure Chest is featured.

At the table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Susan Spear

Brian O’Sullivan

Christiana Doucette

Chelsea McClellan 

In this episode, we're once again joined by ONE ART: A Journal of Poetry's editor, Mark Danowsky to talk about how Katie and Mark began curating the yearly haiku anthology. We continue sharing some of the great poems curated in this years' anthology.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Mark Danowsky

In this episode, we're joined by ONE ART: A Journal of Poetry's editor, Mark Danowsky to talk about how Katie and Mark began curating the yearly haiku anthology. We share some of the great poems curated in this years' anthology.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Mark Danowsky

It's been a while since our last duel, so we were primed to come out swinging for this episode, which pits Volume 57.1 of Modern Haiku up against Poetry magazine's March 2026 issue. How will the short poems stack up against the longer ones? Tune in to find out who reigns victorious!

At the Table: Katie Dozier & Timothy Green

Episode 134 finds us joining Rhina Espaillat at her kitchen table, along with Pedro Poidevin. After enjoying lunch Rhina prepared, she talks about verse feels like a dance to her. Along the way, Rhina reads from For Instance, bringing wit, grace, and the kind of effortless music that makes you want to pull up a chair and stay awhile.

At the Table (Rhina's!):

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Rhina P. Espaillat

Pedro Poitevin 

Part two of this mini-series on songwriting continues backstage at the House of Blues, only a few hours before Frank Turner's concert. This episode further explores metaphor and we finally get to hear Frank's poem!

At the Table:

Katie Dozier 

Timothy Green

Frank Turner

"Live from the House of Blues" was not the way we ever thought we'd begin an episode of our poetry podcast, but thanks to our special guest Frank Turner, it became true with this episode. What followed backstage was a chance to explore songwriting as it relates to poetry, and even moreso, what makes art itself art? And have you heard the rumor that Frank wrote a poem?

At the Table:

Katie Dozier 

Timothy Green

Frank Turner

In this episode, we pick up where we left off, exploring "negative space," with Pedro Poitevin, who finishes his poem "Between Us."

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Pedro Poitevin

Brian O'Sullivan

Dick Westheimer

Joe Barca

In this episode, we explore the concept of "negative space," a term of art usually reserved for non-typographic visual mediums. What is negative space as it relates to poetry? And how can we best utilize it to maximize the positive? Joined by Pedro Poitevin, we dive right in!

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Pedro Poitevin

Brian O'Sullivan

Dick Westheimer

Joe Barca

Ding, ding! In this episode, we pit poems from issue #96 of Willow Springs up against issue #47.2 of Indiana Review. Which biannual lit mag will reign supreme? Tune in to the main event to find out!

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

In this episode, we explore self-portrait poems through the lens of visual art—from “plating poems” to Dante Di Stefano’s haunting idea of “ghost-ekphrasis.” Along the way, we dig into standout work by Hayden Saunier, Donald Hall, Seamus Heaney, Chen Chen, A.K. Ramanujan, Denise Duhamel, and Di Stefano himself—plus we paint an intense detour into Caravaggio. If you love ekphrastic poetry, craft talk, and poems that double as portraits, this one’s for you.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Dante Di Stefano

Brian O'Sullivan

Joe Barca

In this episode, Katie reads from her new chapbook All That Glitter which was the 2025 Editor's Choice Winner for the Poetry Box's Chapbook Prize—as selected by Shawn Aveningo Sanders. The chapbook is available for pre-orders now, with an official release date of February 2nd, 2026 on ThePoetryBox.com.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

More title nerdery, more poetic mischief! In this episode we keep digging into poem titles with Dante Di Stefano—how a title frames the reader, flips the meaning, or sets the trap door. We continue to unpack Dante’s Poets & Writers essay. Warning: you may immediately rename a draft of your own!

At the table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Dante Di Stefano

Brian O'Sullivan

Dick Westheimer

A perfect title can catapult a poem into greatness, while a one bad one can sabotage even an otherwise strong poem. In this episode, we return to titles (first tackled way back in Ep. 37) with special guest Dante Di Stefano. What makes a good title--and perhaps just as important--what makes for a weak title?

At the table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Dante Di Stefano

Brian O'Sullivan

Dick Westheimer

We kick off 2026 with a poetry magazine smackdown: American Poetry Review (APR) vs Beloit Poetry Journal (BPJ). We read three random poems from each journal head-to-head to crown a champion—with craft talk, close reads, and a little friendly literary trash talk along the way.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

The viral-poem deep dive continues—no coughing required, thanks to remote recording. Katie, Tim, and The Squad read the rest of the lineup and unpack what makes certain poems travel fast: voice, surprise, clarity, heat, and the exact kind of line you can’t help but send to someone. Featuring poems by Taylor Mali, Matthew Olzmann, Joseph Fasano, and Andrea Cohen.

At the table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Dick Westheimer

Joe Barca

Brian O'Sullivan

Fresh off a viral illness (the irony!), Katie, Tim, and The Squad dive into what it means for a poem to “go viral”—and why that metaphor matters. With Brian O’Sullivan, Dick Westheimer, and Joe Barca bringing standout picks, we read and talk craft, shareability, and that lightning-strike feeling when a poem suddenly belongs to everyone. We wrap Part 1 with Alison Luterman’s “Holding Vigil," after looking at "Good Bones" by Maggie Smith.At the table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Dick Westheimer

Joe Barca

Brian O'Sullivan

In episode #121 we bind you into a conversation about chapbooks—what they are, why they matter, and how we can bring them into the world together through self-publishing and small-press routes. We read from our own self-published haibun crown, Did You See the Moon Honey, and share what we learned about shaping a manuscript, editing, design, printing, and finding readers. If you’ve ever dreamed of holding your own chapbook in your hands, this episode is a friendly, practical guide to help you take the next step.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

In this episode, we talk with Jackdaw Review founding editor Anna DiMartino about how to start a lit mag from scratch. We dig into naming your literary magazine, defining a clear editorial mission, choosing platforms and submission policies, handling fees and unpaid labor, and building a sustainable readership without burning out. If you’ve ever dreamed of launching your own online poetry journal or print literary magazine, this episode is your practical guide to getting started.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Anna DiMartino

Joe Barca

Jane Hirshfield returns to continue our assay of assays, and to talk about poetry's smallest forms—her pebbles and haiku. Jane's poetry provides proof that a few words can hold whole worlds, and that brevity itself may be one of the deepest forms of generosity.

At the table:

Jane Hirshfield

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Dick Westheimer

Brian O'Sullivan

Poet, Zen practitioner, and word-miner Jane Hirshfield joins us to talk about her signature form—the assay. We hear the fascinating story of how she created assays, and why curiosity might just be poetry’s truest form.

At the table:

Jane Hirshfield

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Dick Westheimer

Brian O'Sullivan

Continuing on in our series of checking out current lit mags, we were excited to look at these two with a lot in common. Both The Mississippi Review and The Florida Review were founded in 1972 and affiliated with universities. Will one of these two journals reign supreme in our battle of cold-read poems?

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

What makes a poetry event truly work? From open-mic chaos to moments of real poetic hospitality, we're joined by Rick Lupert to explore the art of hosting. We trade stories, share practical tips, and share a few poems to explore how a good host creates space for both laughter and vulnerability.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Rick Lupert

Dick Westheimer 

In the second half of our series with Gregory Orr, the conversation turns to grief, tenderness, and the healing power of the lyric. We talk about Emily Dickinson’s role and the role of the lyric in contemporary poetry. If part one asks what the lyric is, part two asks what it’s for—and how it helps us endure what can’t be said any other way.

At the Table:

Gregory Orr

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Dick Westheimer

Brian O'Sullivan

Joe Barca

What does it mean to write the kind of poem that saves your life? In the first half of our two-part conversation on lyric poetry, we're joined by Gregory Orr to explore that urge to capture private emotion in a single, shining moment. We read and unpack Orr’s poems and look to the past to tracing how feeling becomes a form in itself. Join us as we ask what lyric poetry can do in a noisy world—and why it keeps calling us back. Inevitably, Katie brings up haiku again!

At the Table:

Gregory Orr

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Dick Westheimer

Brian O'Sullivan

Joe Barca

Katie and Tim crack open their college-era poems—complete with awkward workshop moments, zany titles, and even Tim’s hilarious old pseudonym. From Katie's days at Florida State University with tutelage from Barbara Hamby and David Kirby, to Tim stumbling into an "Intro to Poetry" course with James Longenbach, this episode is fueled by memories. We rip apart our regretful diction, and explore just how far our poetry has come. Or at least, how far we hope it has!

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Katie, Tim and the Squad continue exploring persona poems with Suji Kwock Kim’s "Monologue for an Onion," Ai’s "The Kid." They also share their own work—Dick Westheimer’s "Eve Corrects the Record" and Eve’s "First Bite," Brian O’Sullivan’s "No! In Thunder," Joe Barca’s "Abraham Lincoln Talks to His Therapist," Timothy Green’s "Sirhan Sirhan Under Hypnosis" and Katie Dozier’s "Teddy Bear Arithmetic." Together, we investigate how persona lets poets slip into other voices, from biblical figures to assassins to household objects, and what writing in persona truly means. 

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Joe Barca

Dick Westheimer

Brian O’Sullivan 

In this episode of The Poetry Space_, we explore the power of persona poems. We dive into Robert Browning’s "My Last Duchess," William Blake’s "The Chimney Sweeper," Nikky Finney’s "Red Velvet," Margaret Atwood’s "Pig Song," and James Tate’s "The Motorcyclists." What happens when poets speak through masks, giving voice to dukes, children, pigs, and even storms? Join us as we unpack how persona reveals hidden truths, sparks empathy, and complicates the line between poet and speaker.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Joe Barca

Dick Westheimer

Brian O’Sullivan 

In the second half of our visit with Billy Collins, the door stays wide open. We talk dogs, humor, memory, and the surprising turns that make his poems feel like they’ve been waiting for us all along. If the first episode was the invitation, this one’s the living room conversation you never want to leave.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Billy Collins

Dick Westhiemer

Joe Barca

Nate Jacob

Brian O'Sullivan

Billy Collins joins Katie and Tim for a conversation that we hope feels like one of his poems: open-armed, slyly funny, and disarming in the best way. We dive into the idea of poetic hospitality—how a poem welcomes its reader in—and explore how Billy pulls off that rare trick of being both approachable and profound.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Billy Collins

Dick Westhiemer

Joe Barca

Nate Jacob

Brian O'Sullivan

The first episode that falls under the new “current state of lit mags” banner, Katie, Tim and the Squad examine the New Yorker which has been in print for 100 years. Will the institution’s high profile equate to a consistently high caliber of poems? Listen in as we discuss recent poems to appear in the New Yorker by Maya C. Popa, Jericho Brown, Ocean Vuong, and Bob Hicok.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

Joe Barca

Dick Westheimer

After a summer break, Katie and Tim return to the ring—the poetry ring, that is—to pit two literary heavyweights against each other: the venerable Poetry Magazine and the nimble 32 Poems. Who’s got the more electrifying lines, the sharper editorial eye? In this episode, Katie and Tim swap hot takes, and maybe even disagree (politely…mostly). In the end, one will take home the championship belt, but you’ll be the real winner for tuning in.

At the Table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green

What happens when you pit a hoops-loving narrative philosopher against a tight-lipped Zen wit with a side hustle in metaphysical mischief? You get this episode of The Poetry Space_, where Pulitzer Prize winners Stephen Dunn and Kay Ryan go poem-to-poem in a lyrical Duel that’s part therapy session and part riddle wrapped in enjambment.

Dunn brings conversational wisdom and emotional nuance to the ring. Ryan counters with compressed clarity and punchlines precise enough to crack granite. Who wins? Who learns? Who makes the best metaphors out of antiquated outergarments? Tune in to find out.

At the table:

Katie Dozier

Timothy Green