The Beat

Donovan McAbee and Kathleen Jamie

Donovan McAbee is a poet, songwriter, and essayist. His work has appeared in The New York Times, TIME magazine, The Hudson Review, The Sun, Garden & Gun, Poetry London, and others. McAbee grew up in a small town in South Carolina, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. He holds a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and a PhD in Creative Writing and Contemporary Poetry from the University of St Andrews in Scotland. McAbee lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his wife and two children. Kathleen Jamie was raised in Currie, Scotland, and she studied philosophy at Edinburgh University. Her awards include the Forward Prize for best poetry collection of the year, a Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, a Paul Hamlyn Award, and a Creative Scotland Award. From 2021 to 2024, Kathleen Jamie served as Scotland’s Makar (a title given to the national poet). "The Whale-watcher," "The Buddleia," and "The Wishing Tree" were recorded with permission from Kathleen Jamie. Links: Donovan McAbee Read "The Tunnel," "Holy the Body," and "Sightings" in [https://www.thesunmagazine.org/authors/11725-donovan-mcabee]The Sun Magazine [https://www.thesunmagazine.org/authors/11725-donovan-mcabee] Read "Coming Back Down" in [https://reflections.yale.edu/article/new-voyages-church-today-and-tomorrow/poem-coming-back-down]Reflections [https://reflections.yale.edu/article/new-voyages-church-today-and-tomorrow/poem-coming-back-down] Donovan McAbee's website [https://www.donovanmcabee.com/] Hear Major Jackson read McAbee's "Desert Sayings" on [https://www.slowdownshow.org/episode/2025/03/24/1318-desert-sayings-by-donovan-mcabee]The Slowdown [https://www.slowdownshow.org/episode/2025/03/24/1318-desert-sayings-by-donovan-mcabee] Kathleen Jamie Read "The Whale-watcher," "The Wishing Tree," and other poems at Scottish Poetry Library [https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/kathleen-jamie/] Bio and poems at The Poetry Foundation [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/kathleen-jamie] Hear 19 poems by Jamie at The Poetry Archive [https://poetryarchive.org/poet/kathleen-jamie/]

Matt Broaddus

Matt Broaddus is the author of Deeper the Tropics and Temporal Anomalies. His poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Annulet, Denver Quarterly, and The Paris Review. He lives in Colorado and serves as an Advisory Poetry Editor for The Paris Review. Links: Matt Broaddus' website [https://www.matt-broaddus.com/] "'Blue Prints' and Other Poems" at [https://changes.press/matt-broaddus/]Changes [https://changes.press/matt-broaddus/] "The Seal of Approval" at [https://aprweb.org/poems/the-seal-of-approval]American Poetry Review [https://aprweb.org/poems/the-seal-of-approval] "The Sun Is a Disembodied Thought: An Interview with Matt Broaddus" at [https://poems.com/features/what-sparks-poetry/the-sun-is-a-disembodied-thought-an-interview-with-matt-broaddus/]Poetry Daily [https://poems.com/features/what-sparks-poetry/the-sun-is-a-disembodied-thought-an-interview-with-matt-broaddus/] "These Lit Particulars: On Matt Broaddus’ [https://clereviewofbooks.com/these-lit-particulars-on-matt-broaddus-deeper-the-tropics/]Deeper the Tropics [https://clereviewofbooks.com/these-lit-particulars-on-matt-broaddus-deeper-the-tropics/]" at [https://clereviewofbooks.com/these-lit-particulars-on-matt-broaddus-deeper-the-tropics/]Cleveland Review of Books [https://clereviewofbooks.com/these-lit-particulars-on-matt-broaddus-deeper-the-tropics/] Mentioned in this episode: KnoxCountyLibrary.org Thank you for listening and sharing this podcast. Explore life-changing resources and events, sign up for newsletters, follow us on social media, and more through our website, www.knoxcountylibrary.org. Rate & review on Podchaser [https://the-beat.captivate.fm/rate]

Shuly Xóchitl Cawood

Shuly Xóchitl Cawood teaches writing workshops, doodles with Sharpies and acrylic paint, and is raising two poodles and a dwindling number of orchids. Her books include Something So Good It Can Never Be Enough (Press 53, 2023) and Trouble Can Be So Beautiful at the Beginning (Mercer University Press, 2021), winner of the Adrienne Bond Award for Poetry. Her work has been published in The New York Times, The Sun, and Rattle. Links: Shuly Xóchitl Cawood's website [https://www.shulycawood.com/] "Poem in Which I Fail to Teach My Dog How to Fetch" at [https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/25927-poem-in-which-i-fail-to-teach-my-dog-how-to-fetch]The Sun [https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/25927-poem-in-which-i-fail-to-teach-my-dog-how-to-fetch] Two Poems at [https://www.havehashad.com/hadposts/two-poems-af4ba0fd-8c2d-4f09-bf1c-fabcf647dab6?fbclid=IwAR1GRW_wg_ybHSMTTOvMEU1HXA27HGcO0OMYq_H-v-defwr-HTG9QbhwGJk]Have Has Had [https://www.havehashad.com/hadposts/two-poems-af4ba0fd-8c2d-4f09-bf1c-fabcf647dab6?fbclid=IwAR1GRW_wg_ybHSMTTOvMEU1HXA27HGcO0OMYq_H-v-defwr-HTG9QbhwGJk] Interview and four poems at [https://www.doesithavepockets.com/features/shuly-xchitl-cawood]Does It Have Pockets [https://www.doesithavepockets.com/features/shuly-xchitl-cawood] Video: Cawood reading her poem "You Are Not a Cat" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEjICY5i3Ic] Mentioned in this episode: KnoxCountyLibrary.org Thank you for listening and sharing this podcast. Explore life-changing resources and events, sign up for newsletters, follow us on social media, and more through our website, www.knoxcountylibrary.org. Rate & review on Podchaser [https://the-beat.captivate.fm/rate]

Arlene Keizer's Poems for Beauford Delaney

Arlene Keizer, an Afro-Caribbean American poet and scholar, writes about the literature, lived experience, theory, and visual culture of the African Diaspora. The recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize, she later earned an MA in English and Creative Writing (Poetry) at Stanford University and a PhD at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the author of Black Subjects: Identity Formation in the Contemporary Narrative of Slavery (Cornell UP), and her poems and articles have appeared in African American Review, American Literature, The Kenyon Review, Obsidian: Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora, PMLA, Poem-a-Day, TriQuarterly, and other venues. Fraternal Light: On Painting While Black, her collection of poems about the African American painter Beauford Delaney, won the 2022 Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize and was published in 2023 by the Kent State University Press. She is a professor at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Links: Arlene Keizer   Arlene Keizer’s page at Pratt Institute [https://www.pratt.edu/people/arlene-keizer/]  Interview with Arlene Keizer at Speaking of Marvels [https://spkofmarvels.wordpress.com/2023/04/27/arlene-keizer/]  “Canopy” in Poem-A-Day [https://poets.org/poem/canopy]  Fraternal Light: On Painting While Black at Kent State University Press [https://www.kentstateuniversitypress.com/2023/fraternal-light/]   Beauford Delaney   Bio and artwork at Knoxville Museum of Art [https://knoxart.pastperfectonline.com/bycreator?page=3&keyword=Delaney%2C%20Beauford&searchType=creator&showsearch=True]   Bio and Artwork at the Smithsonian [https://americanart.si.edu/artist/beauford-delaney-1186]    Bio and artwork at Studio Museum in Harlem [https://www.studiomuseum.org/artists/beauford-delaney]   Artwork at Michael Rosenfeld Gallery [https://www.michaelrosenfeldart.com/artists/beauford-delaney-1901-1979/selected-works/8]   “Beauford Delaney in Knoxville” at Knoxville History Project [https://knoxvillehistoryproject.org/2020/02/26/beauford-delaney-in-knoxville/]  Mentioned in this episode: KnoxCountyLibrary.org Thank you for listening and sharing this podcast. Explore life-changing resources and events, sign up for newsletters, follow us on social media, and more through our website, www.knoxcountylibrary.org. Rate & review on Podchaser [https://the-beat.captivate.fm/rate]

Chris Barton and Peter Gizzi

Chris Barton is the author of the poetry chapbook A Finely Calibrated Apocalypse, published by Bottlecap Press in 2024. His writing has appeared in Epiphany, Peach Magazine, The Plenitudes, Hotel, and elsewhere. From 2016 to 2019, he co-hosted the Electric Pheasant Poetry in Knoxville, TN.  Peter Gizzi grew up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. His many books of poetry include Artificial Heart, Threshold Songs, In Defense of Nothing: Selected Poems, 1987–2011 and Archeophonics, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. His book Fierce Elegy, published in 2023, won the T. S. Eliot Prize. He teaches at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.  “In Defense of Nothing” from In Defense of Nothing: Selected Poems, 1987–2011 © 2015 by Peter Gizzi. Published by Wesleyan University Press. Used by permission. Links: Read "our free trial lives," "last supper," and "the bafflement" by Chris Barton [https://files.captivate.fm/library/6ed3e466-d98b-416f-9e28-18df35147498/Three-Poems-by-Chris-Barton.pdf] Read "In Defense of Nothing" by Peter Gizzi [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/58106/in-defense-of-nothing] Chris Barton A Finely Calibrated Apocalypse by Chris Barton (Bottlecap Press) [https://bottlecap.press/products/calibrated] "2 Poems by Chris Barton" in Peach Magazine [https://www.peachmgzn.com/chris-barton-2] "Ouroboros as a Treat" in The Plentitudes [https://www.theplentitudes.com/piece/ouroboros-as-a-treat] "Three Poems" in Potluck Magazine [https://potluckmag.com/three-poems-by-chris-barton/] Peter Gizzi Bio and poems at The Poetry Foundation [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/peter-gizzi] Bio and poems at Poets.org [https://poets.org/poet/peter-gizzi] "Peter Gizzi Talks About His Work" (YouTube Video--T.S. Eliot Prize) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtqtkfGu8qk] Mentioned in this episode: KnoxCountyLibrary.org Thank you for listening and sharing this podcast. Explore life-changing resources and events, sign up for newsletters, follow us on social media, and more through our website, www.knoxcountylibrary.org. Rate & review on Podchaser [https://the-beat.captivate.fm/rate]