Let Go The Goat

Renee Emerson is a poet, online writing instructor, and homeschooling mom of five.She is the author of three poetry collections; her first collection, Keeping Me Still (Winter Goose Publishing 2014), was a finalist in the Jacar Press Julie Suk Award for Best Poetry Book Published by an Independent Press in 2014. Her second collection, Threshing Floor, was published by Jacar Press in 2016, and Church Ladies was published by Fernwood Press in 2023.She is also the author of several poetry chapbooks, the most recent of which is the The Commonplace Misfortunes of Everyday Plants (Belle Point Press). Her middle-grade novel is Why Silas Miller Must Learn to Ride a Bike (Winter Goose Publishing 2022). Her poetry has recently appeared in publications such as Shenandoah, Windhover, Poet Lore, Dappled Things, Contrary, Christian Courier, The Rabbit Room, Coffee + Crumbs, and Ekstasis, among others.She holds an MFA in poetry from Boston University, where she was also awarded the Academy of American Poets Prize. In 2016, she was awarded an Individual Artist Grant by the Arkansas Arts Council. In recent years, she has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations in poetry. Currently, she teaches online classes for Indiana Wesleyan University and Shorter University.Originally from Tennessee, she has lived all over the South before settling in Missouri with her husband and children. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

Burl discusses the process of putting together his anthology To Heaven's Rim The Kingdom Poets Book of World Christian Poetry, Beginnings to 1800, in English Translation.About Burl Horniachek – Burl grew up near Edmonton, went to the University of Toronto to study Ancient Near Eastern Studies (Hebrew/Ancient Israel) and eventually came back to study creative writing with Nobel Prize winner Derek Walcott at the University of Alberta. His wife is from Winnipeg and they now live in Selkirk. He worked for many years as a high school teacher, but now mostly takes care of their two children.About Mike Rippy – Mike has worked in the art museum industry for over 20 years and the visual arts for over 30. Through Let Go The Goat, Mike will be sharing his own burgeoning journey into a deeper understanding of poetry so that others who may be curious but intimidated by the medium may feel less apprehensive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

A presentation by Jane Greer discussing what is a poem and why we should respect meaning and definition. This presentation preceded our monthly poetry discussion group as a prompt for deeper conversation.About Jane Greer – Jane Greer is a Catholic formalist poet. She founded and edited Plains Poetry Journal (1981-1993). PPJ was an advance guard of the New Formalism movement—although Greer didn’t know that at the time. Her two most recent poetry collections are Love Like a Conflagration (2020) and The World as We Know It Is Falling Away (2022), both from Lambing Press. She lives in North Dakota.About Mike Rippy – Mike has worked in the art museum industry for over 20 years and the visual arts for over 30. Through Let Go The Goat, Mike will be sharing his own burgeoning journey into a deeper understanding of poetry so that others who may be curious but intimidated by the medium may feel less apprehensive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

About Betsy K. Brown – Betsy is a poet, essayist, and curricular writer. Her work has appeared in many outlets, including First Things, The New Ohio Review, and The Circe Institute website. She is the author of Leading a Seminar on Frankenstein and chairs the humanities department of a classical school. You can read more of her work at betsykbrown.com. About Mike Rippy – Mike has worked in the art museum industry for over 20 years and the visual arts for over 30. Through Let Go The Goat, Mike will be sharing his own burgeoning journey into a deeper understanding of poetry so that others who may be curious but intimidated by the medium may feel less apprehensive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

About Daniel Mitsui – Daniel’s meticulously detailed ink drawings, made entirely by hand on paper or vellum, are held in collections worldwide. He desires to make art that is faithful to tradition yet strikingly original, and vigorously medieval in spirit.Daniel is also a formal poet and a prolific designer of typefaces, surface patterns, and ornament. He lives in Indiana with his wife and their four children. He is currently accepting commissions; contact him at [email protected] if interested.About Mike Rippy – Mike has worked in the art museum industry for over 20 years and the visual arts for over 30. Through Let Go The Goat, Mike will be sharing his own burgeoning journey into a deeper understanding of poetry so that others who may be curious but intimidated by the medium may feel less apprehensive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

About Greg Lookerse – (USA, b. 1987) is an interdisciplinary artist, author and educator based in West Michigan. Lookerse makes mixed media drawings, installations and performances. Born and raised in Yucaipa, California, Lookerse received his BFA from Biola University (2009) and his MFA from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston at Tufts University (2014). He has won awards and grants, exhibited internationally, and lectured extensively.Arts Presentation Series – Artists present a more in depth look into their own work or present a topic of their own interest, as an example, how poetry slows down time, the differences between “beauty” and “romance”, or bringing awareness to a forgotten or overlooked artist. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

About – Jesse Keith Butler lives with his wife and two children in Ottawa, Ontario. He recently completed a PhD in Education, which led to his current work in the Canadian civil service. His eclectic education has also included an MA in English Language and Literature and a BA in Liberal Arts. His lifelong exploration of poetic form is grounded in his experience of the life of faith: a guiding structure that opens up new possibilities for freedom.Poets Presentation Series– Poets present a more in depth look into their own work or present a topic of their own interest, as an example, how poetry slows down time, the differences between “beauty” and “romance”, or bringing awareness to a forgotten or overlooked poet. Cover image from Grace College This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

An interview with Katie Hartsock where we discuss how students become interested in poetry. What is erasure poetry and can it be a poem and worth pursuing.About Katie Hartsock – Katie Hartsock grew up around Youngstown, Ohio, where Mill Creek Park remains one of her favorite places in the world. She is the author of Wolf Trees (2023) and  Bed of Impatiens (2016), both from Able Muse Press. She is an associate professor of English at Oakland University, where she teaches creative writing, English literature, and classical mythology. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with her husband and their two young sons.Her work appears in journals such as Kenyon Review, Ecotone, POETRY, 32 Poems, Thrush,  The Greensboro Review, Arion, Iron Horse Literary Review, Pleiades, MER, Oxford Poetry, RHINO, Dappled Things, Nimrod, and Rattle’s Poets Respond, and is forthcoming in The Threepenny Review,  The New Criterion,  Birmingham Poetry Review, Image, and Plume.  Her current projects include The Iliad Rewilded, a hybrid text combining translation with vignettes of the epic’s ancient audiences and creative commentary.  Selections of her translations of Homer appeared in Exchanges: Journal of Literary Translation.She holds a PhD in Comparative Literary Studies from Northwestern University. Her dissertation was entitled, “The Past Like Never Before: Classical Women in Revisionary Poetry from Euripides and Ovid to H.D., Rita Dove, and Carol Ann Duffy.”  She received a MFA from the University of Michigan, where she received the major Hopwood award in poetry, and a BA in English Literature with a minor in Classics from the University of Cincinnati. She served as the editor of #WordsForResilience, a community literary project addressing the Covid-19 pandemic from Oakland University’s Center for Public Humanities. She has taught at Northwestern University and University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers Program.About Mike Rippy – Mike has worked in the art museum industry for over 20 years and the visual arts for over 30. Through LGTG, Mike will be sharing his own burgeoning journey into a deeper understanding of poetry so that others who may be curious but intimidated by the medium may feel less apprehensive.Image by Lisa Mancuso Horn This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

An interview with David J. Rothman. We discuss how to engage poetry. He shares his thoughts on elegy and grief poetry.About David J. Rothman – David J. Rothman has published six volumes of poetry, including "My Brother’s Keeper" (Lithic Press, 2019) and "The Elephant’s Chiropractor" (Conundrum Press, 1998), both of which were Finalists for the Colorado Book Award. Over the last 40 years hundreds of his poems and essays have appeared Appalachia, The Atlantic, The Formalist, The Gettysburg Review, The Hudson Review, The Journal, The Kenyon Review, The Literary Review, Light, Measure, Poetry, The Threepenny Review and scores of other newspapers, magazines, and journals. In 2018 he won a Pushcart Prize for the poem “Kernels,” which originally appeared in The New Criterion. In 2013 he published "Living the Life: Tales from America’s Mountains & Ski Towns," based on decades of experience in the ski and ski-mountaineering world. He is co-author, with Stanley Rothman and Stephen Powers, of "Hollywood’s America: Social and Political Themes in Motion Pictures." His most recent full-length critical book (co-edited with Jeffrey Villines) is "Belle Turnbull: On the Life and Work of an American Master," published by Pleiades Press in 2017. His most recent work is a poetry textbook, "Learning the Secrets of English Verse," co-authored with Susan Spear, which appeared from Springer in August 2022.About Mike Rippy – Mike has worked in the art museum industry for over 20 years and the visual arts for over 30. Through LGTG, Mike will be sharing his own burgeoning journey into a deeper understanding of poetry so that others who may be curious but intimidated by the medium may feel less apprehensive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

About James Matthew Wilson – James is the Cullen Foundation Chair in English Literature and the founding director of the MFA program in Creative Writing at the University of Saint Thomas. The author of fourteen books, his most recent collection of poems is Saint Thomas and the Forbidden Birds (Word on Fire, 2024). The Strangeness of the Good (2020), won the poetry book of the year award from the Catholic Media Awards. The Dallas Institute of Humanities awarded him the Hiett Prize in 2017; Memoria College gave him the Parnassus Prize, in 2022; and the Conference on Christianity and Literature twice gave him the Lionel Basney Award. In addition to his role at the University of Saint Thomas, he serves as poet-in-residence of the Benedict XVI Institute, scholar-in-residence of Aquinas College, editor of Colosseum Books, and poetry editor of Modern Age magazine. Wilson was educated at the University of Michigan (B.A.), the University of Massachusetts (M.A.), and the University of Notre Dame (M.F.A., Ph.D.), where he subsequently held a Sorin Research Fellowship. Wilson joined the University of Saint Thomas, Houston, in 2021, when he co-founded the Master of Fine Arts program. Poets Presentation Series – Poets present a more in depth look into their own work or present a topic of their own interest, as an example, how poetry slows down time, the differences between “beauty” and “romance”, or bringing awareness to a forgotten or overlooked poet. Cover image from Grace College This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

An interview with Amit Majmudar. We discuss how poets enter into the poetry world through academia or professionally and the limits of each. He shares the first poem shared from his X feed.About Amit Majmudar – Amit diagnostic nuclear radiologist who lives in Westerville, Ohio, with his wife and three children. He is the author of four volumes of poetry, most recently What He Did in Solitary. His first collection, 0°, 0°, was a finalist for the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award; his second, Heaven and Earth, was selected for the 2011 Donald Justice Prize. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Best of the Best American Poetry, and many other places, including the eleventh edition of The Norton Introduction to Literature. He blogs for The Kenyon Review and is also a critically acclaimed novelist.Biography from Penguin Random House websiteAbout Mike Rippy – Mike has worked in the art museum industry for over 20 years and the visual arts for over 30. Through LGTG, Mike will be sharing his own burgeoning journey into a deeper understanding of poetry so that others who may be curious but intimidated by the medium may feel less apprehensive.Headshot Ami Buch Majmudar/Alfred A. Knopf This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

An interview with Mischa Willett. He discusses some early moments with poetry in high school. We discuss how to enter into the poetry space as a Christian. Mischa reads two soon to be published poems.About Mischa Willett – Mischa is a specialist in British Literature of the Nineteenth-Century, particularly the poetry of writers such as William Wordsworth, Percy Shelley, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, though he often teaches Shakespeare and the History of Drama as well. Recently, his interest in the aesthetic movements of the period has caused him to engage the curious school of poets known as the “Spasmodics.” Consisting of mostly working-class writers from the north of Britain, the Spasmodics are the most popular writers that most people have never heard of.As a poet, he is interested in the pliability of formal structures and in making verse informed by historical Christianity and the past of classical antiquity. He also writes poetic translations from Italian, German, and Greek.His essays range from topics such as Native American spirituality, to the theology of action movies; from university pedagogy, to Italian painting.When he is not thinking about, teaching, or writing poetry, Willett can be found worshiping with his family in the local Anglican church, perusing the shelves of Seattle’s many excellent book and record stores, or watching one of his wife’s ballets.[bio from Seattle Pacific University website]About Mike Rippy – Mike has worked in the art museum industry for over 20 years and the visual arts for over 30. Through LGTG, Mike will be sharing his own burgeoning journey into a deeper understanding of poetry so that others who may be curious but intimidated by the medium may feel less apprehensive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

About Jane Clark SchoolJane Clark Scharl is a poet and critic. Her poetry has appeared in some of the nation’s top poetry journals, as well as internationally on the BBC. Her collection Ponds is coming out in April 2024. She is the Seminar Manager for Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Her first verse play, Sonnez Les Matines, debuted in 2023, and her second, The Death of Rabelais, is coming out in 2025. Poets Presentation SeriesIn this series poets present a more in depth look into their own work or present a topic of their own interest, as an example, how poetry slows down time, the differences between “beauty” and “romance”, or bringing awareness to a forgotten or overlooked poet. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

An interview with A.M. Juster. We discuss how he became involved with poetry. How is poetry and other aspects of academia prescriptive? Can social media reengage people to poetry? And more.About A.M. Juster – Michael James Astrue is an American lawyer and, under the pen name A. M. Juster, a poet and critic. He served as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration from 2007 to 2013. Astrue was Poetry Editor of First Things from 2018 to 2020, and became Poetry Editor of Plough Quarterly in 2020About Mike Rippy – Mike has worked in the art museum industry for over 20 years and the visual arts for over 30. Through LGTG, Mike will be sharing his journey into a deeper understanding of poetry so that others who may be curious but intimidated by the medium may feel less apprehensive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

An interview with Mary Finnegan where we discuss how she first was introduced to poetry and the journey to arrive at Wiseblood Books. Mary shares a bit about how Wiseblood operates and the overall poetry publishing industry.About Mary Finnegan –  Mary worked as a Registered Nurse in various settings, including the operating room and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She is now a freelance editor and writer. Mary earned a BA in English, a BS in Nursing, and is currently pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of St. Thomas, Houston. Mary’s poetry, essays, and stories can be found in Ekstasis, Lydwine Journal, American Journal of Nursing, Catholic Digest, Amethyst Review, and elsewhere. She is the social media editor at Dappled Things.About Mike Rippy – Mike has worked in the art museum industry for over 20 years and the visual arts for over 30. Through LGTG, Mike will be sharing his own burgeoning journey into a deeper understanding of poetry so that others who may be curious but intimidated by the medium may feel less apprehensive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

An interview with Betsy K. Brown where we discuss how she first became involved with poetry and the process to arrive at her first published book. We also get a little heady and discuss the “romantic versus beautiful” and poetry that slows down time.About Betsy K. Brown – Betsy is a poet, essayist, and curricular writer. Her work has appeared in many outlets, including First Things, The New Ohio Review, and The Circe Institute website. She is the author of Leading a Seminar on Frankenstein and chairs the humanities department of a classical school. You can read more of her work at betsykbrown.com. About Mike Rippy – Mike has worked in the art museum industry for over 20 years and the visual arts for over 30. Through LGTG, Mike will be sharing his own burgeoning journey into a deeper understanding of poetry so that others who may be curious but intimidated by the medium may feel less apprehensive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

An interview with Burl Horniachek where we discuss his book To Heaven's Rim: The Kingdom Poets Book of World Christian Poetry, if poets make the best translators, a few contemporary Christian poets he enjoys, and an excerpt from his book.About Burl HorniachekBurl grew up near Edmonton, went to the University of Toronto to study Ancient Near Eastern Studies (Hebrew/Ancient Israel) and eventually came back to study creative writing with Nobel Prize winner Derek Walcott at the University of Alberta. His wife is from Winnipeg and they now live in Selkirk. He worked for many years as a high school teacher, but now mostly takes care of their two children.About Mike RippyMike has worked in the art museum industry for over 20 years and the visual arts for over 30. Through LGTG, Mike will be sharing his own burgeoning journey into a deeper understanding of poetry so that others who may be curious but intimidated by the medium may feel less apprehensive.Headshot from Winnipeg Free Press This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

An interview with Jane Clark Scharl where we discuss what makes a good poem.About Jane Clark ScharlJane Clark Scharl is an American poet, playwright, and critic.Her poetry has appeared in many American and European outlets, including the BBC, The Hopkins Review, The New Ohio Review, The Hudson Review, The American Journal of Poetry, The Lamp, Measure Review, and others. Her criticism has appeared in Dappled Things, Fare Forward, Plough Quarterly, and others.Her first verse drama, Sonnez Les Matines, was published by Wiseblood Books in February 2023.She lives in Detroit with her husband and children.About Mike RippyMike has worked in the art museum industry for over 20 years and the visual arts for over 30. Through LGTG, Mike will be sharing his own burgeoning journey into a deeper understanding of poetry so that others who may be curious but intimidated by the medium may feel less apprehensive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

Jesse and I discuss the process of becoming a poet, developing the work, and having it published.About Jesse Keith ButlerJesse is a formalist-leaning poet, based in Ottawa, Ontario. His work bridges traditional and contemporary poetic forms, rooted in his experience of the life of faith. He recently was a third place winner in the Kierkegaard Poetry Competition, judged by Dana Gioia and Mary Grace Mangano. His book, The Living Law, is forthcoming from Darkly Bright Press. Find out more about Jesse on his website, jkbpoetry.wordpress.com.About Mike RippyMike has worked in the art museum industry for over 20 years and the visual arts for over 30. Through LGTG, Mike will be sharing his own burgeoning journey into a deeper understanding of poetry so that others who may be curious but intimidated by the medium may feel less apprehensive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

An interview with Jane Greer where we discuss what is a poem and what do words mean.About Jane GreerJane Greer is a Catholic formalist poet. She founded and edited Plains Poetry Journal (1981-1993). PPJ was an advance guard of the New Formalism movement—although Greer didn’t know that at the time. Her two most recent poetry collections are Love Like a Conflagration (2020) and The World as We Know It Is Falling Away (2022), both from Lambing Press. She lives in North Dakota.About Mike RippyMike has worked in the art museum industry for over 20 years and the visual arts for over 30. Through LGTG, Mike will be sharing his own burgeoning journey into a deeper understanding of poetry so that others who may be curious but intimidated by the medium may feel less apprehensive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

An interview with Maya Clubine. We discuss her new chapbook, how she became involved with poetry, and how readers find her work.About Maya ClubineMaya Clubine is a writer and artist from the Canadian East Coast. She is an MFA candidate at the University of St. Thomas (TX) where she received a Scanlan Fellowship. Maya has published in Rattle, The Literary Review of Canada, Modern Age, The South Shore Review, and Ekstasis, among others. She is a member of the Common Milkweed Collective. Find out more about Maya at her website, mayaclubine.ca.About Mike RippyMike has worked in the art museum industry for over 20 years and the visual arts for over 30. Through LGTG, Mike will be sharing his own burgeoning journey into a deeper understanding of poetry so that others who may be curious but intimidated by the medium may feel less apprehensive. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com

An interview with James Matthew Wilson where we discuss how someone new to poetry begins to engage the medium.James Matthew Wilson is Cullen Foundation Chair in English Literature and the Founding Director of the Master of Fine Arts program in Creative Writing , at the University of Saint Thomas, Houston.  An award-winning scholar of philosophical-theology and literature, he has authored dozens of essays, articles, and reviews on all manner of subjects secular and divine, and especially on those where we see the two in their intrinsic relation, as truth, goodness, beauty, and being disclose themselves in art and culture, in the political and intellectual life, in our quest for self knowledge and the contemplation of God.  His scholarly work especially focuses on the meeting of aesthetic and ontological form, where the craftsmanship of art-work discloses the truth about being. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letgothegoatpoetry.substack.com