Poetry Unbound

On Being Studios

Short and unhurried, Poetry Unbound is an immersive exploration of a single poem, hosted by Pádraig Ó Tuama.

Pádraig Ó Tuama greets you at the doorways of brilliant poems and walks you through — each one has wisdom to offer and questions to ask you.

Already a listener? There’s also a book (Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World), a Substack newsletter with a vibrant conversation in the comments, and occasional gatherings.

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224 episodes
Updated July 24

Episodes224

Newest first

Jan 8, 2024 · 14 min
Conor Kerr — Winter Songs
Conor Kerr’s “Winter Songs” depicts a future scene: coyotes roaming through a rewilded city, digging up the bones of Indigenous ancestors who then regenerate and reclaim what was taken. Power is dismantled, something original is restored.
Jan 5, 2024 · 14 min
Valencia Robin — The Coup
Valencia Robin’s poem portrays a tense relationship between mother and daughter; perhaps each resembling the other too much. In desperation — and shock — the daughter says the worst thing she can think of to her mother. What follows is like the fall of a dictator, a coup, an end, an opening.
Jan 1, 2024 · 15 min
Eugenia Leigh — How the Dung Beetle Finds Its Way Home
In a poem about how a small moment can help you make a wise decision, Eugenia Leigh finds the strength to go back home after storming out. No self-pity in the poem, just humor and brilliance. She had every reason to leave, and finds every reason to return.
Dec 18, 2023 · 1 min
Poetry Unbound — Season 8 Trailer
Poetry Unbound with host Pádraig Ó Tuama is back on Monday, January 1. Featured poets in this season include Amber McBride, Eugenia Leigh, Francisco Aragón, Ray Young Bear, and many more. New episodes released every Monday and Friday through February 23. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Overcast, or wherever you listen.
Nov 13, 2023 · 1 hr 5 min
Clint Smith with Krista Tippett — What We Know in the "Marrow of Our Bones"
Friends, Pádraig here — we are awakening your Poetry Unbound feed to share this brilliant episode from the newest season of On Being, which is well underway. Conversations on love and loss, comedy and ecology, social creativity, poetry, and more all await you in the On Being feed — subscribe now and don’t miss out. And — Poetry Unbound Season 8 is in production and will be arriving this winter.
Sep 1, 2023 · 1 hr 4 min
BONUS: Truth-seeking and the Symphony of Language with Henri Cole
A central duality appears in the work of Henri Cole: the revelation of emotional truths in concert with a “symphony of language” — often accompanied by arresting similes. We are excited to offer this conversation between Pádraig and Henri, recorded during the 2022 Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark, New Jersey. Together, they discuss the role of animals in Henri’s work, the pleasure of aesthetics in poetry, and writing as a form of revenge against forgetting.
Aug 30, 2023 · 1 hr
BONUS: Making Space for the Erotic with Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s poems are filled with butchery and blood as she carves space for desire, motherhood, and an encyclopedic knowledge of plants to coexist in life and on the page. We are excited to offer this conversation between Pádraig and Aimee, recorded during the 2022 Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark, New Jersey. Together, they explore the beauty of solitude, eroticism in poetry, and a letter writing practice for taking inventory of a life.
Aug 28, 2023 · 1 hr 8 min
BONUS: Poetry That Pays Attention with Patricia Smith
Through her poetry, Patricia Smith generously, skillfully puts language around what can be seen both in the present and deliberately looking back at oneself. We are excited to offer this conversation between Pádraig and Patricia, recorded during the 2022 Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark, New Jersey. Together, they explore how memory, persona, and a practice of curiosity inform Patricia’s work, and the ways writing a poem is like writing a piece of music.
Jul 28, 2023 · 15 min
Maya C. Popa — They Are Building a Hospital
So much of what was once deemed impossible was found — during Covid — to be possible. Here, a poet watches a tent, a huge temporary hospital, be raised up on the green of Central Park, a place she’d previously walked her dog.
Jul 24, 2023 · 13 min
Jenny Mitchell — A Man in Love with Plants
How to remember a beloved who died tragically, violently? Remember the violence? Sometimes, yes. But also this: remember his love of flowers.
Jul 21, 2023 · 13 min
Vidyan Ravinthiran — Artist
What self-consciousnesses do artists carry? It can be difficult to know how to hold onto confidence in your work, especially when small jibes from others remain long after apologies have been offered. Art compels and calls, and also complicates.
Jul 17, 2023 · 15 min
Mark Turcotte — Dear New Blood
A poet reads to a room full of youths who seem to have some residual resentment to the poet. The poet doesn’t mind — he understands, and calls on the listeners to share in the power of focused anger, to make it a motivation for their creativity.
Jul 14, 2023 · 12 min
Wo Chan — the smiley barista remembers my name
What do sandwiches, laundry, therapy, childhood homes, and forgiveness have to do with each other? Wo Chan weaves a poem that charts the many things a single day can hold.
Jul 10, 2023 · 17 min
Amanda Gunn — Ordinary Sugar
How can russet potatoes be made to taste of sugar and caramel? By dedication, love, and craft. Amanda Gunn places her poetry in conversation with the farming and culinary skills of her forebears: women who cultivated land, survival, strength, and family bonds.
Jul 7, 2023 · 13 min
J. Estanislao Lopez — Alternate Ending: The Escape of Jephthah’s Daughter
Old stories — of mythology or religion — have sometimes been depicted as having one narrative and one interpretation. Here, J. Estanislao Lopez takes on the voice of a character whose story ended in violence, inviting listeners to claim their agency as this character claims hers.
Jul 3, 2023 · 38 min
BONUS: A Conversation with Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe
We are delighted to offer this extended conversation between host Pádraig Ó Tuama and the poet Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe. Together, they take a deep dive into the story and language of her poem "Blue," featured in Season 7 of Poetry Unbound, as well as Sasha's beginnings in poetry.
Jul 3, 2023 · 17 min
Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe — Blue
In a poem that explores a story of a name, a story of a color, a story of a sound, a story of an identity, a the story of a person — we hear of ancestors, childhood innocences, exclusions, memories, sensualities, and the way that the dead are not always dead.
Jun 30, 2023 · 15 min
Charif Shanahan — Present Moment
On one particular day, a poem places events alongside each other, the ordinariness of each event casting the other events into light and shade.
Jun 26, 2023 · 15 min
Brenda Cárdenas — This Is Why
Why do we do the things we do when we’re young? Brenda Cárdenas recalls nights sneaking out of the house as a teenager, looking for highs, looking for company. “Why would you do that?” is the adult question throughout the poem. “Why wouldn’t I?” is a reply.
Jun 23, 2023 · 11 min
Nithy Kasa — Blouse
An item of clothing — the blouse of a grandmother — is praised for its artistry, is remembered for how it sits on the body. And then, having been lost, is remade, refined, and reimagined on a new body that recalls the bodies of women of previous generations.

Poetry Unbound

Conor Kerr — Winter Songs

Valencia Robin — The Coup

Eugenia Leigh — How the Dung Beetle Finds Its Way Home

Poetry Unbound — Season 8 Trailer

Clint Smith with Krista Tippett — What We Know in the "Marrow of Our Bones"

BONUS: Truth-seeking and the Symphony of Language with Henri Cole

BONUS: Making Space for the Erotic with Aimee Nezhukumatathil

BONUS: Poetry That Pays Attention with Patricia Smith

Maya C. Popa — They Are Building a Hospital

Jenny Mitchell — A Man in Love with Plants

Vidyan Ravinthiran — Artist

Mark Turcotte — Dear New Blood

Wo Chan — the smiley barista remembers my name

Amanda Gunn — Ordinary Sugar

J. Estanislao Lopez — Alternate Ending: The Escape of Jephthah’s Daughter

BONUS: A Conversation with Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe

Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe — Blue

Charif Shanahan — Present Moment

Brenda Cárdenas — This Is Why

Nithy Kasa — Blouse