Oct 5, 2026 · 54 min · 12 segments
In this episode of The Poetic Turn, we welcomed Professor Joanne Diaz from Illinois Wesleyan University. The poem chosen for this episode, “Shotgun, Rabies,” is from her most recent book…
Joanne DiazGuestDarren StephensHostEvan CarlsonHostWell, that makes me think of, um, you know, you talk about writing being a muscle, and I, I feel like reading poetry is also a similar kind of muscle, where it, it could be dumbbells left in your closet or it could be this, uh, vital part of your life.
... wondering if maybe you could talk to us about why somebody might wanna go in the closet and pick up those dumbbells-
Well, the great news is that even someone who hasn't read poetry in a long time, or somebody who maybe read it in high school and didn't love it and doesn't feel like it's for them, if you do something as simple as subscribe to the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day or s- or Poetry Daily, you would get in your email inbox every morning a poem.
[chuckles] Quite often it's a very brief poem, and you just spend a couple of minutes with it and see how you feel about what the poet is doing.
And even if you have no background or education that would prepare you for that moment, you're just a person reading a poem, and you might encounter that poem and feel like it's not a style that's r- uh, speaking to you, but sometimes you're gonna read one of those poems and it's gonna make your heart leap out of your chest, and you're gonna buy that book.
And then you're gonna look inside the acknowledgments page of that book, and you're gonna see where that poet has published their work.
And then you're gonna go check out those literary magazines, and then you're gonna notice all these other poets that you love that are published in those magazines.
And then you're gonna realize that one of those poets is gonna be speaking in your hometown in a week's time, and you're gonna go there, and you're gonna have an amazing exper-
But I think we have to make the case for poetry because not everybody feels entirely comfortable with it, or maybe they don't always know where to start.
But it's sort of like, you know, my, my dear friend and my own podcast co-host, Abram Van Engen, he said this in a book he wrote, that p- for him, poetry is like a, a pool.
Maybe you wanna start with some simpler, briefer poems that are more accessible.
Maybe you wanna read John Milton's "Paradise Lost", but there's, th- th- the pool-
Well, that makes me think of, um, you know, you talk about writing being a muscle, and I, I feel like reading poetry is also a similar kind of muscle, where it, it could be dumbbells left in your closet or it could be this, uh, vital part of your life.
... wondering if maybe you could talk to us about why somebody might wanna go in the closet and pick up those dumbbells-
Well, the great news is that even someone who hasn't read poetry in a long time, or somebody who maybe read it in high school and didn't love it and doesn't feel like it's for them, if you do something as simple as subscribe to the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day or s- or Poetry Daily, you would get in your email inbox every morning a poem.
[chuckles] Quite often it's a very brief poem, and you just spend a couple of minutes with it and see how you feel about what the poet is doing.
And even if you have no background or education that would prepare you for that moment, you're just a person reading a poem, and you might encounter that poem and feel like it's not a style that's r- uh, speaking to you, but sometimes you're gonna read one of those poems and it's gonna make your heart leap out of your chest, and you're gonna buy that book.
And then you're gonna look inside the acknowledgments page of that book, and you're gonna see where that poet has published their work.
And then you're gonna go check out those literary magazines, and then you're gonna notice all these other poets that you love that are published in those magazines.
And then you're gonna realize that one of those poets is gonna be speaking in your hometown in a week's time, and you're gonna go there, and you're gonna have an amazing exper-
But I think we have to make the case for poetry because not everybody feels entirely comfortable with it, or maybe they don't always know where to start.
But it's sort of like, you know, my, my dear friend and my own podcast co-host, Abram Van Engen, he said this in a book he wrote, that p- for him, poetry is like a, a pool.
Maybe you wanna start with some simpler, briefer poems that are more accessible.
Maybe you wanna read John Milton's "Paradise Lost", but there's, th- th- the pool-
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