Rattle Poetry

In this special episode of The Rattlecast, we reveal the results of the 2026 Rattle Poetry Prize, our annual poetry competition offering $25,000 in total awards for individual poems. We’ll announce this year’s $15,000 winner and ten finalists, and most of the 11 prize-winning poets will join us live to read their winning poems and talk briefly about the work. The Rattle Poetry Prize is one of the highlights of our year, bringing together poems selected from thousands of entries by poets around the world. This episode is a chance to hear the winning poetry in the poets’ own voices and meet the writers behind the poems. Learn more about the Rattle Poetry Prize: https://rattle.com/page/poetryprize/ As always, we’ll also open the lines for Prompt Lines, our live prompt-based poetry reading. A Zoom link will be shared in the YouTube chat before that segment begins. For all past episodes of The Rattlecast: https://www.rattle.com/rattlecast/

Wendy Videlock returns to The Rattlecast for a conversation with Timothy Green about poetry, nature, animals, language, and her new book, Desert Kin: Speaking Animal in the American Southwest. A poet, essayist, visual artist, and Poet Laureate of Western Colorado, Videlock’s work has appeared in Poetry, The New York Times, Best American Poetry, Hudson Review, and Rattle. She was also a two-time Rattle Poetry Prize finalist and previously joined us as the featured guest on Rattlecast #84. In this episode, we discuss Desert Kin, a collection of poems and essays rooted in the landscape and wildlife of the American Southwest, and the ways close attention to place can shape a poet’s voice. We’ll talk about nature poetry, animals and the human imagination, rhythm and sound, humor and wonder, and the relationship between poetry and the visual arts. Wendy will also revisit older poems from across her career and discuss how her work has evolved since her first Rattlecast appearance. As always, we’ll open the lines for this week’s prompt-based poetry reading. Find more about the poet here: https://wendy-videlock.constantcontactsites.com/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about a time that speed was a big factor in your life. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about a specific wild animal. Include as many tactile details as possible. Submit your poem through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited on the show: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online The Rattlecast livestreams every Monday on YouTube, Facebook, and X, then becomes available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen.

Rebecca Gayle Howell joins Timothy Green on The Rattlecast for a conversation about poetry, erasure, climate change, spirituality, and her new book, Erase Genesis. A poet, translator, editor, and librettist, Howell is the recipient of a United States Artists Fellowship, the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry, and a Pushcart Prize. She previously served as poetry editor of the Oxford American and currently teaches poetry and translation at the University of Arkansas. Howell is also a former Rattle Poetry Prize finalist and Readers’ Choice Award winner for “My Mother Told Us Not to Have Children.” In this episode, we discuss Erase Genesis, a book-length poem that repeatedly erases the first three chapters of the King James Bible to reimagine the creation story for the age of climate change. We’ll talk about erasure poetry, visual poetry, ecopoetics, literary translation, faith and spirituality, and the process of making each page by hand with watercolor. Rebecca will also look back at earlier poems—including her Rattle Readers’ Choice winner—and read work spanning different periods of her career. As always, we’ll open the lines for this week’s prompt-based poetry reading. Find more about the poet here: https://www.rebeccagaylehowell.com/ This Week’s Prompt: Write an ode to an antiquated piece of technology. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about a time that speed was a big factor in your life. Submit your poem through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited on the show: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online The Rattlecast livestreams every Monday on YouTube, Facebook, and X, then becomes available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen.

Mary Keating joins Timothy Green on The Rattlecast for a conversation about poetry, disability, humor, resilience, and her memoir in verse, Recalibrating Gravity. A poet, lawyer, and disability-rights advocate, Keating became paraplegic following a car accident at age fifteen and went on to graduate from Yale Law School, build a legal career, and advocate for accessibility and disability rights. A longtime member of the Rattle community and three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, her poetry has appeared in Rattle, The Fiddlehead, ONE ART, Wordgathering, and elsewhere. In this episode, we discuss Recalibrating Gravity, writing honestly about disability without being defined by it, using humor in poems about difficult experiences, and turning a lifetime of memories into a memoir in verse. We’ll also talk about poetry as a way of finding balance after life changes, Mary’s journey into the Rattle community, and her Rattle poem “Full of It,” a ghazal featured as Poem of the Day. As always, we’ll open the lines for this week’s prompt-based poetry reading. Find more about Mary Keating here: https://www.marykeatingpoet.com/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that’s a page or longer, and then edit it down to a maximum of 14 lines. Include both versions of your poem in the submission, with the shorter poem first. Next Week’s Prompt: Write an ode to an antiquated piece of technology. Submit your poem through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited on the show: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online The Rattlecast livestreams every Monday on YouTube, Facebook, and X, then becomes available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen.

Matthew Olzmann joins Timothy Green on The Rattlecast for a conversation about contemporary poetry, humor, love poems, imagination, and what makes a poem connect with readers. The author of Mezzanines, Contradictions in the Design, and Constellation Route, Olzmann is an assistant professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College and the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell, and Kundiman. His fourth collection, An Oral History of the Flat Earth, is forthcoming from Alice James Books in 2027. Olzmann has appeared several times in Rattle, most famously with “Mountain Dew Commercial Disguised as a Love Poem,” one of the most-read poems in Rattle’s history and a love poem that has continued to find new audiences online. In this episode, we discuss humor and surprise in poetry, love poems, memorable images, the strange places poems can begin, and how poetry can move between the absurd and the profound. We’ll also talk about “Mountain Dew Commercial Disguised as a Love Poem,” Olzmann’s other work and books, and the craft of writing poems that readers want to return to and share. As always, we’ll open the lines for this week’s prompt-based poetry reading. Find more about Matthew Olzmann here: https://matthewolzmann.com/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a hot haibun. Next Week's Prompt: Write a poem that’s a page or longer, and then edit it down to a maximum of 14 lines. Include both versions of your poem in the submission, with the shorter poem first. Submit your poem through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited on the show: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online The Rattlecast livestreams every Monday on YouTube, Facebook, and X, then becomes available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen.

Katie Dozier joins Timothy Green on the Rattlecast for a conversation about poetry, trauma, memoir in verse, and her new book, Residency Review: A Memoir in Verse. Rattle’s Creative Editor and creator of The Poetry Space_, Katie is also the author of All That Glitter and Watering Can. Residency Review grew out of her experience at a low-residency MFA program and braids poetry with emails, quotations, and a Title IX document to explore sexual assault, institutional silence, disability, motherhood, and what happens when a community fails to listen. In this episode, Katie shares poems from Residency Review and discusses writing about trauma, transforming lived experience into poetry, the possibilities of memoir in verse, and using forms including haibun and contemporary haiku alongside documentary material. We’ll also talk about the relationship between poetry and testimony, the challenges of writing an intensely personal book, and how poetry can say what official language cannot. As always, we’ll open the lines for this week’s prompt-based poetry reading. This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about something you’ve kept on a shelf for far too long. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a hot haibun. Submit your poem through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited on the show: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online Find more about Katie Dozier here: https://www.khdpoet.com/ The Rattlecast livestreams every Monday on YouTube, Facebook, and X, then becomes available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen.

Hemat Malak joins Timothy Green on the Rattlecast for a conversation about poetry, identity, poetic form, and her debut collection, Shelf Life, published by 5 Islands Press. An Australian poet based in Picton, New South Wales, Hemat returned to poetry after more than four decades away and won the 2025 Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize for “I Don’t Say My Name Right.” A longtime Rattle listener and member of the community, she has published several poems with Rattle, including the title poem “Shelf Life,” which we nominated for a Pushcart Prize. In this episode, we discuss Shelf Life, returning to poetry later in life, Australian poetry, identity and immigration, motherhood and belonging, formal poetry, sound and revision, and the role that prompts and poetry communities can play in developing a writer’s voice. We’ll also talk about Hemat’s journey from Rattle listener to Rattle contributor and award-winning poet, and open the lines for this week’s prompt-based poetry reading. This Week’s Prompt: Write a contemporary epic poem. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about something you’ve kept on a shelf for far too long. Submit your poem through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited on the show: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online Find more about Hemat Malak here: https://hematmalak.com/ The Rattlecast livestreams every Monday on YouTube, Facebook, and X, then becomes available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen.

Jeffrey Bean joins Timothy Green on The Rattlecast for a conversation about poetry, invented poetic forms, music, and his latest collection, Everywhere, Everywhere, winner of the 2024 Vern Rutsala Book Prize. A poet and professor of English at Central Michigan University, Jeffrey appears in the Invented Forms section of Rattle’s Summer 2026 issue with “Bach’s Bones,” part of a new series of poems inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach. In this episode, we discuss the quatrain ghazal and the possibilities of combining traditional poetic forms, Bach and music as influences on poetry, rhyme and formal poetry, the poems of Everywhere, Everywhere, and the craft of writing poems that make the ordinary strange and new. We’ll also open the lines for this week’s prompt-based poetry reading. This Week’s Prompt: Think of something you didn’t expect to open up but did. Make it risky! Next Week’s Prompt: Write a contemporary epic poem. Submit your poem through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited on the show: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online Find more about Jeffrey Bean here: https://www.jeffreybeanpoet.com/ The Rattlecast livestreams every Monday on YouTube, Facebook, and X, then becomes available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen.

Joanna Preston joins Timothy Green on The Rattlecast for a conversation about her poetry and writing life. An Australian-born, New Zealand-based poet, editor, and creative writing tutor, Joanna is the author of The Summer King (winner of the Kathleen Grattan Award and Mary Gilmore Award) and Tumble (winner of the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry). She appears in the Invented Forms section of our Summer 2026 issue, sharing her "decima." In this episode, we discuss her work, the craft of poetry, myth and nature, and life between two countries. We’ll also open the lines for this week’s prompt-based reading. This Week’s Prompt: Pick a time in your life that was particularly impacted by the weather, and make us feel it right alongside you. Next Week’s Prompt: Think of something you didn’t expect to open up but did. Make it risky! Submit your poem through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited on the show: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online Find more about Joanna Preston here: https://joannapreston.com/ The Rattlecast livestreams every Monday on YouTube, Facebook, and X, then becomes available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen.

Lisa Baird joins Timothy Green on The Rattlecast for a conversation about her poetry and writing life. A spoken word poet, essayist, and community acupuncturist, her work has been shortlisted for the Room Poetry Contest, Ralph Gustafson Poetry Contest, and Sappho Poetry Prize, and longlisted twice for the CBC Poetry Prize. Her most recent book is When Whales Went back to the Water. In this episode, we discuss her work, the craft of poetry, trauma and recovery, nature, acupuncture, and more. We’ll also open the lines for this week’s prompt-based reading. This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that quotes a line from a Rattle Poetry Prize finalist from the year you found out about Rattle. Next Week’s Prompt: Pick a time in your life that was particularly impacted by the weather, and make us feel it right alongside you. Submit your poem through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited on the show: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online Find more about Lisa Baird here: https://www.lisabaird.ca/ The Rattlecast livestreams every Monday on YouTube, Facebook, and X, then becomes available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen.

Rasaq Malik Gbolahan joins Timothy Green on The Rattlecast for a conversation about his poetry and writing life. A Nigerian poet, performer, translator, and editor, Rasaq is the winner of the 2024 Anhinga Prize for Poetry for his first full-length collection The Origin of Wounds. He is the founding editor-in-chief of Agbowó and co-founder of Àtẹ́lẹwọ́, a digital journal dedicated to Yorùbá-language literature. In this episode, we discuss his work, the craft of poetry, and African literary spaces. We’ll also open the lines for this week’s prompt-based reading. This Week’s Prompt: Think of the moment in your life that you most wish you had a photo of but don’t. Make it come to life in a sensory-rich poem. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that quotes a line from a Rattle Poetry Prize finalist from the year you found out about Rattle. Submit your poem through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited on the show: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online Find more about Rasaq Malik Gbolahan here: https://rasaqmalikgbolahan.com/ The Rattlecast livestreams every Monday on YouTube, Facebook, and X, then becomes available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen.

Adam Scheffler is the author of two books of poems: Heartworm, which won the 2021 Moon City Press Prize, and A Dog’s Life, which won the 2016 Jacar Press Book Contest. He is also the author of a book of literary criticism, So This Is What It Feels Like: Empathy in the Poetry of James Wright (LSU Press, 2026). He grew up in Berkeley, California, received his MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and his PhD in English from Harvard. He is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Wichita State University and a member of their MFA Faculty in Poetry. Find more here: https://adamscheffler.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem so light that it may even float! Next Week’s Prompt: Think of the moment in your life that you most wish you had a photo of but don’t. Make it come to life in your sensory-rich poem. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

D.M. Aderibigbe is from Lagos, Nigeria. His most recent book, 82nd Division, was selected for the National Poetry Series. His debut book, How the End First Showed, won the Brittingham Prize in Poetry, among other honors. He has received fellowships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference (Walter E. Dakin Fellowship), The James Merrill House, OMI/Ledig House, Ucross, Jentel, and Boston University where he earned his MFA in creative writing. His poems appear in The Atlantic, The Nation, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, and New England Review, among others. He’s an assistant professor in the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi. Find more 82nd Division: https://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/82nd-division/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that reimagines a time when you didn’t speak up but should have. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem so light that it may even float! The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Amy M. Alvarez is the author of Makeshift Altar, winner of the 2025 American Book Award and CariCon Poetry Prize. Born to Jamaican and Puerto Rican parents in New York, New York, her work focuses on race, ethnicity, gender, place, and social justice. Selected as one of 2022’s Best New Poets, her poetry has appeared in Ploughshares, The Missouri Review, Poetry Foundation, and elsewhere. She has been awarded fellowships from CantoMundo, VONA, Macondo, the Virginia Creative Arts Center, and the Furious Flower Poetry Center. In 2022, she was inducted as an Affrilachian Poet. She has taught at public high schools in the Bronx, New York, and Boston, Massachusetts, and at West Virginia University. She currently teaches writing and literature at Boston College as an Associate Professor of the Practice. Find more here: https://www.amymalvarez.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a pantoum that plays! Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that reimagines a time when you didn’t speak up but should have. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Valentina Gnup is a two-time Rattle Poetry Prize Finalist, and also appears in our new Best of the Ekphrastic Challenge anthology. She received her bachelor's degree in journalism from CSUF in 1980 and her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles in 2002. Her most recent book is Ruined Music. She has two grown daughters and currently lives in Mill Valley, California, where she coaches high school writers. Find more here: https://www.valentinagnup.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about a time you got into trouble outdoors. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a pantoum that plays! The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Robert Wrigley's collections of poetry include The True Account of Myself as a Bird (Penguin, 2022; Box (Penguin, 2017); Anatomy of Melancholy & Other Poems (Penguin, 2013); winner of the Pacific Northwest Book Award; Beautiful Country (Penguin, 2010); Earthly Meditations: New and Selected Poems (2006); Lives of the Animals (2003), winner of the Poets Prize; Reign of Snakes (1999), winner of the Kingsley Tufts Award; and In the Bank of Beautiful Sins (1995), winner of the San Francisco Poetry Center Book Award and finalist for the Lenore Marshall Award from the Academy of American Poets. His most recent book is a collection of essays, Nemerov's Door, published by Tupelo Press. Find more here: https://robertwrigley.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that’s all about taste! Include a scent, but not the word “delicious.” Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about a time you got into trouble outdoors. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Lisa Wells is a poet, essayist, and documentarian. She is the author, most recently, of The Fire Passage, selected by Diane Seuss as the winner of the Levis Poetry Prize (Four Way Books, 2025). Her debut poetry collection, The Fix, won the Iowa Poetry Prize. She is also the author of Believers: Making a Life at the End of the World, (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), a finalist for the 2022 PEN E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. Her work has been published in Granta, The Believer, N+1, The New York Times, Harper’s Magazine, and in The Best American Science and Nature Writing and The Best American Food and Travel Writing. She has taught for The University of Iowa, The University of Arizona, Portland State University, Yale-NUS and currently serves as co-editor of the Kuhl House Poets Series at the University of Iowa Press. Find more here: https://www.lisawellswriter.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write an after poem to one of the Rattle Poetry Prize finalist poems. Make sure not to take the magic from the source poem. Instead, create your own transformation! Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that’s all about taste! Include a scent, but not the word “delicious.” The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Luigi Coppola has appeared in multiple issues of Rattle and the Ekphrastic Challenge. He is a teacher, poet, DIY music producer and multimedia artist (recording and performing as The Only Emperor), first-generation immigrant and avid rum and coke drinker. A graduate of the Warwick University Creative writing programme, he is Bridport Prize shortlisted, Ledbury and National Poetry Competition longlisted, has been included in the Poetry Archive Worldview winner’s list. He has performed poetry and music across the UK, including at the Poetry & Words tent at Glastonbury, literature festivals in Brighton, Coventry and London, and numerous events, slams and open mics. In 2022 he collaborated with the American singer Kyla Gabka on her debut album Waiting for Autumn. His most recent book, Even God Gets Distracted Sometimes, combines his poems with visual art by Mark Shuttleworth. Find more here: https://linktr.ee/PoetryPreacher As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Consider your most controversial opinions and boldly write a poem about at least one without apologizing for the stance. Include a fresh metaphor. Next Week’s Prompt: Write an after poem to one of the Rattle Poetry Prize finalist poems. Make sure not to take the magic from the source poem. Instead, create your own transformation! The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

JeFF Stumpo is the author of the full-length poetry collection these are the waterfalls in my head, winner of the 2026 Granite State Poetry Prize and forthcoming from Yas Press (University of New Hampshire). He has published five chapbooks of poetry, most through Seven Kitchens Press, including Against Itself Cannot Stand, along with a spoken word album. His other honors include the 2024 Subnivean Award for Poetry and runner-up for the 2023 Joy Harjo Prize. A former bookstore owner, adjunct professor, and slam poet who founded and hosted a slam in Central Texas for five years, JeFF has been a featured performer at some of the oldest slam venues in the US. He lives in New Hampshire. Find more here: jeffstumpo.com Get the new book here: https://learnforlife.unh.edu/portal/events/reg/participantTypeSelection.do?method=load&entityId=676734136 As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem in which utilizes a quote as the title, and indicate who said it within the body of the poem. Next Week’s Prompt: Consider your most controversial opinions and boldly write a poem about at least one without apologizing for the stance. Include a fresh metaphor. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Alan Shapiro first appeared in episode 248. He's back with a new book, Diver. He's the author of 15 books of poetry, including Reel to Reel, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Night of the Republic, a finalist for both the National Book Award and The Griffin Prize, two memoirs, a novel, two books of critical essays, and two translations. Shapiro has taught at Stanford University, Northwestern University, Warren Wilson College (in its low residency MFA program for writers), and from 1995 to 2021 he was the William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina. Find more here: https://www.unboundedition.com/product/diver-alan-shapiro-poetry/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that uses the present tense as one of the ways in which it creates tension. Next Week's Prompt: Write a poem which utilizes a quote as the title, and indicate who said it within the body of the poem. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Daniel Donaghy is the author of five poetry collections, most recently Somerset, which was named co-winner of the 2019 Paterson Poetry Prize. His previous poetry collections include Start with the Trouble, and Streetfighting, a Paterson Poetry Prize Finalist. He earned a BA in English from Kutztown University, an MA in English/Creative Writing from Hollins College, an MFA in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Cornell University, and a PhD in English from the University of Rochester. Donaghy was awarded the 2022 Auburn Witness Poetry Prize and a 2019 Artist Fellowship by the Connecticut Office of the Arts. He is Professor of English at Eastern Connecticut State University, where he edits Here: a poetry journal with his students, and serves as Poet Laureate of Windham, CT. He grew up in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, PA, which has inspired many of his poems. Find more here: https://www.danieldonaghy.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Pick a decision that shaped the trajectory of your life and imagine if you’d calculated a different choice. Include at least one scent. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that uses the present tense as one of the ways in which it creates tension. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Matthew Buckley Smith first appeared in episode 226. He won the 2025 Rattle Chapbook Prize for The Soft Black Stars. He's the author of Midlife (Measure, 2024) and Dirge for an Imaginary World (Able Muse, 2012). His poems have been featured in American Life in Poetry, Best American Poetry, and Poetry Daily. He hosts the poetry podcast SLEERICKETS. Find more here: https://www.matthewbuckleysmith.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a villanelle that features something you see every day–and you’re the only person in the world that does. Next Week’s Prompt: Pick a decision that shaped the trajectory of your life and imagine if you’d calculated a different choice. Include at least one scent. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Brendan Constantine first appeared on Rattlecast 108. He's back with a brand new book from Red Hen Press, The Opposites Game. Brendan is a poet based in Los Angeles. His work has appeared in many of the nation’s standards, including Poetry, The Nation, Best American Poetry, Ploughshares, Tin House, Virginia Quarterly, and Poem-a-Day. A popular performer, Brendan has presented his work to audiences throughout the U.S. and Europe, also appearing on NPR’s All Things Considered, TED ED, numerous podcasts, and YouTube. Brendan currently teaches at the Windward School and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Since 2017, has been developing poetry workshops for people with Aphasia and Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI). Find more here: https://brendanconstantine.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that rallies against its own epigraph. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a villanelle that features something you see every day–and you’re the only person in the world that does. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Lori Jakiela was a 2025 Rattle Poetry Prize Finalist for "Build a Bear." She is the author of eight books, including the memoir Belief Is Its Own Kind of Truth, Maybe, which received the Saroyan Prize for International Literature from Stanford University, was a finalist for the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses' Firecracker Award and the Housatonic Book Award, and was named one of 20 Not-To-Miss Nonfiction Books of 2015 by The Huffington Post. Her most recent book, All Skate: True Tales from Middle Life, was published by the great literary underground Roadside Press in 2025. A former international flight attendant, Jakiela directs the writing program at The University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, teaches creative writing in the doctoral program at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and leads many community workshops. Find more here: https://www.lorijakiela.net/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write about a time you took something more literally than you probably should have. Include as many colors as possible. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that rallies against its own epigraph. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

David Mason first appeared in episode 64. He returns to share his new book, Cold Fire. David grew up in Bellingham, Washington and has lived in many parts of the world, including Greece and Colorado, where he served as poet laureate for four years. His books of poems began with The Buried Houses, The Country I Remember, and Arrivals. His verse novel, Ludlow, was named best poetry book of the year by the Contemporary Poetry Review and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. It was also featured on the PBS NewsHour. He has written a memoir and four collections of essays. He lives with his wife Chrissy (poet Cally Conan-Davies) in Tasmania on the edge of the Southern Ocean. Find the book here: https://redhen.org/book_author/david-mason/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Pick an obscure holiday that occurs during the next week, and write a poem that celebrates accordingly. Include which holiday/date in the notes of your submission. Next Week’s Prompt: Write about a time you took something more literally than you probably should have. Include as many colors as possible. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Nick Lantz's poem "Dolorimetry" appeared in issue 88 and won the 2026 Neil Postman Award for Metaphor. He's the author of five collections of poetry, most recently The End of Everything and Everything That Comes After That (University of Wisconsin Press, 2024). His poetry has received several awards, including the Larry Levis Reading Prize, the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writer Award, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He teaches in the MFA program at Sam Houston State University and lives in Huntsville, Texas, with his wife and cats. Find more info here: https://www.nick-lantz.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about a time you couldn’t keep the correct time straight. Include at least one temporal shift. Next Week’s Prompt: Pick an obscure holiday that occurs during the next week, and write a poem that celebrates accordingly. Include which holiday/date in the notes of your submission. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Jane Zwart teaches literature and writing at Calvin University, where she also co-directs the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing. Her poems have appeared widely in periodicals, including Poetry, The Poetry Review, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, and Threepenny Review. Her first book, Oddest & Oldest & Saddest & Best, was just released from Orison Books. Find more info here: https://www.janezwart.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem which confesses something that’s secretly seasonal to you, but not so much to others. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about a time you couldn’t keep the correct time straight. Include at least one temporal shift. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

​jason b. crawford (He/They) born in Washington DC and raised in Lansing, Michigan, is the author of Year of the Unicorn Kidz. Their second collection, YEET! is the winner of the Omnidawn 1st/2nd Book Prize and was published Fall 2025. They have been published in Poetry Magazine, Academy of American Poets, Cincinnati Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, RHINO Poetry, among others. They are a 2023 Emerging Writers Fellow for Lambda Literary and hold their MFA in Poetry from The New School. Find more info here: https://www.jasonbcrawford.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that begins precisely where you currently are in life, but lands somewhere else entirely. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem which confesses something that’s secretly seasonal to you, but not so much to others. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Alexandra Oliver was a finalist for the 2025 Rattle Poetry Prize. She is the author of three collections published through Biblioasis: Meeting the Tormentors in Safeway (2013; recipient of the Pat Lowther Memorial Award), Let the Empire Down ( 2016), and Hail, the Invisible Watchman (2022). Her libretto for From the Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King, conceived in conjunction with composer Scott Wilson at the University of Birmingham, was performed by Continuum Music in Toronto in December, 2017. Oliver is a past co-editor of Measure for Measure: An Anthology of Poetic Meters (Everyman’s Library/Random House, 2015) as well as of the formalist journal The Rotary Dial. She has performed her work for CBC Radio and NPR, as well as at The National Poetry Slam and a murder of festivals and conferences. Oliver teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto and OCAD University. Find her most recent book here: https://www.biblioasis.com/shop/new-releases/hail-the-invisible-watchman/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that examines a surprising aspect of a job you otherwise generally love to do. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that begins precisely where you currently are in life, but lands somewhere else entirely. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Morri Creech is the winner of the 2025 Rattle Poetry Prize. He is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently The Sentence. His book Field Knowledge (Waywiser, 2006) received the Anthony Hecht Poetry prize and was nominated for both the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the Poet’s Prize. The Sleep of Reason was a 2014 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A recipient of NEA and Ruth Lilly Fellowships, as well as grants from the North Carolina and Louisiana Arts councils, he is the Writer in Residence at Queens University of Charlotte, where he teaches courses in both the undergraduate creative writing program and in the low residency M.F.A. program. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife and two children. Find more at his website: https://www.morricreech.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Quick! Write a poem that moves fast. Include as many unique verbs as possible. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that examines a surprising aspect of a job you otherwise generally love to do. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Luisa Muradyan is originally from Odesa, Ukraine and is the author of I Make Jokes When I'm Devastated (Bridwell Press, 2025), When the World Stopped Touching (YesYes Books, 2027), and American Radiance (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). She holds a Ph.D. in Poetry from the University of Houston and won the 2017 Raz/ Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize. Additionally, Muradyan is a member of the Cheburashka Collective, a group of women and nonbinary writers from the former Soviet Union. Additional work can be found at Best American Poetry, the Threepenny Review, Ploughshares, and Only Poems among others. Find more at her website: https://www.luisamuradyan.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a Petrarchan, Shakespearean, Spenserian, or Miltonic sonnet. Use an exclamation mark at some point, and don't forget the volta! Next Week’s Prompt: Quick! Write a poem that moves fast. Include as many unique verbs as possible. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Note: Due to technical difficulties, Rhina wasn't able to join us. Instead, Timothy Green and Katie Dozier talked about her work and read poems with her friends Alfred Nichol and Pedro Poitevin. Rhina P. Espaillat is a bilingual poet, essayist, short story writer, translator, and former English teacher in New York City’s public high schools. Her newest book is For Instance, just out from Wiseblood Books. She has previous published twelve books, five chapbooks, and a monograph on translation. Her most recent works include the poetry collections: And After All, The Field, and Brief Accident of Light: A Day in Newburyport, co-authored with Alfred Nicol. Her numerous translations include work by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, San Juan de la Cruz, Garcia Lorca, Miguel Hernandez, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, Richard Wilbur, and many contemporary poets of the Americas and the Hispanic diaspora, among others. Find For Instance here: https://www.wisebloodbooks.com/store/p173/For_Instance%3A_Poems_by_Rhina_P._Espaillat.html As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that explores how one of the cognitive biases has shaped your life. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a formal sonnet—choosing between a Petrarchan, Shakespearean, Spenserian, or Miltonic sonnet. Don’t forget the volta and at some point, use an exclamation mark! The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Liz Robbins won the 2025 Rattle Chapbook Prize for her book Backlit. She's author of four previous collections, including Night Swimming, which won the 2023 Cold Mountain Press Annual Book Contest, and Play Button, which won the Cider Press Review Book Award, judged by Patricia Smith. She lives in St. Augustine, Florida, where she works as an editor, as well as a poetry screener for Ploughshares. Find more on Liz at her website: https://www.lizrobbins.net/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. Submit your poems through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited: https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about a time something was put somewhere that it didn’t belong. Include an unusual detail about the person that found it. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that explores how one of the cognitive biases has shaped your life. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Billy Collins has contributed frequently to Rattle over the years, including an interview in issue 15. He is the author of 16 collections of poetry, including Sailing Alone Around the Room, Aimless Love and, most recently, Dog Show. He served two terms as United State Poet Laureate and is a former Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman College and New York State Poet. He is a New York Public Library Literary Lion and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is currently “between dogs,” his most recent an Australian Shepherd mix named Jeannine. He lives in Winter Park, Florida, with his wife Suzannah. Find Dog Show here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790238/dog-show-by-billy-collins/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that describes the taste of a surprising food as creatively as possible. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about a time something was put somewhere that it didn’t belong. Include an unusual detail about the person that found it. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Poet, writer, food-travel journalist, dining critic, and educator Jen Karetnick is the author/co-author of 22 books, including seven full-length poetry collections, including Organ Language (Lit Fox Books, forthcoming September 2026); Domiciliary (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, forthcoming October 2026); and Inheritance with a High Error Rate, winner of the 2022 Cider Review Press Book Award. She is co-founder/co-curator of the non-profit organization, SWWIM (Supporting Women Writers in Miami), which offers residencies and a reading series for women-identifying poets, and Managing Editor of its publishing arm, the daily online literary journal, SWWIM Every Day. Find more on Jen here: https://jkaretnick.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that explores something left behind. Include as many tactile details as possible. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that describes the taste of a surprising food as creatively as possible. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Ron Koertge first appeared in episode #47. A prolific writer, Ron began publishing in the ’60s, including many novels for young adults, and is a two-time winner of the PEN Literary Award for Children’s Literature. Author of over 20 books of poetry, his most recent is Pandora's Kitchen, just out from Red Hen Press. Find more on Ron here: http://www.ronkoertge.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a villanelle that involves a trip. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that explores something left behind. Include as many tactile details as possible. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Manuel Iris served as Poet Laureate of Cincinnati, Ohio, and as Writer-in-Residence at both the Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library and Thomas More University. In 2021, he was named a member of Mexico’s National System of Art Creators, one of the country’s highest honors for artists. Author of six poetry collections, Iris has been awarded the Mérida National Poetry Prize (2009) for Cuaderno de los sueños and the Rodulfo Figueroa Regional Poetry Prize (2014) for Los disfraces del fuego, a book that was also a finalist for Ecuador’s International Poetry Prize Ciudad de la Lira. In 2025, Iris received the Ambroggio Prize from the Academy of American Poets for his book The Whole Earth is a Garden of Monsters/Toda la tierra es un jardín de monstruos. Manuel Iris has given readings, lectures, and talks across Mexico, the United States, and Europe. He currently resides and writes in Cincinnati, Ohio. Find more on Manuel here: https://manueliris.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Think about the biggest improvement you’ve made as a poet this year and write a poem that showcases your skill. Include what you’ve learned in the notes with your submission. Next Week's Prompt: Write a villanelle that involves a trip. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Julia B. Levine has appeared twice in Poets Respond, and she has a new chapbook, Lullaby for the Sixth Extinction, is just out from Wolfson Press. Her poetry awards include the 2015 Northern California Book Award for her fourth collection, Small Disasters Seen in Sunlight (LSU 2014), a 2024 Pushcart Prize, the 2024 Terrain Poetry Prize, the 2023 Oran Robert Perry Burke Award from The Southern Review, as well as a 2022 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship for her work in building resiliency in teenagers in the context of climate change. Her fifth collection, Ordinary Psalms (LSU 2021), won a Nautilus Silver Award in Poetry. Find more on Julia here: https://sites.google.com/view/juliablevine As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that’s all about breaks. Next Week’s Prompt: Think about the biggest improvement you’ve made as a poet this year and write a poem that showcases your skill. Include what you’ve learned in the notes with your submission. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Our scheduled guest, Billy Collins, was sick with a cold, so he postponed to January 19, 2026. Instead, we'll reveal this year's Pushcart Prize winners, and invite you to share your favorite poem that you wrote or published this year. You can still find Billy Collins' new book, Dog Show, here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790238/dog-show-by-billy-collins/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that begins at the kitchen table and interrupts itself. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that’s all about breaks. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Jeff McRae’s debut collection, The Kingdom Where No One Dies, honors the ache and beauty of ordinary life. A contributor to Rattle dating back to 2004, Jeff lives in Vermont with his wife and three children. He earned a Masters in Writing from the University of New Hampshire and a Masters in Fine Arts in poetry from Washington University, St. Louis. Since returning to Vermont, he’s worked as a fly rod builder, a digital marketing copywriter, a youth employment specialist, and for fifteen years as a creative writing and literature instructor. He has been a finalist for several first book awards including the New Issues Poetry Prize, the Gerald Cable Book Award, and the Cider Press Review Book Award. An active musician, he also performs in theaters, clubs, and concert halls throughout New England. Find the book here: https://www.pulleypress.com/the-kingdom-where-no-one-dies As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write an ode to something personal to you without it becoming a “personal poem”—i.e., a poem that only carries meaning to a very select group privy to specific knowledge. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that begins at the kitchen table and interrupts itself. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Richard Gilbert first appeared in episode 6 of the Rattlecast, way back in 2019. He earned a Ph.D. in Poetics and Depth Psychology at the Union Institute and University, 1990. In 1997, he moved to Japan to pursue Japanese haiku research. He is currently Associate Professor, Department of British and American Language and Literature, at Kumamoto University. In 2006, Richard was awarded a two-year grant from MEXT (the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) for research on modern Japanese haiku. His most recent book, Haiku Language Thought, explores haiku as the essence of poetic consciousness. Find the book here: https://www.modernhaiku.org/mhbooks/Gilbert-book-2025.html As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that begins with an ordinary parenting event that snowballs into something more. Next Week's Prompt: Write an ode to something personal to you without it becoming a “personal poem”—i.e., a poem that only carries meaning to a very select group privy to specific knowledge. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Julia Kolchinsky came to the United States as a Jewish refugee when she was six years old, from Dnipro, Ukraine. She is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently Parallax(The University of Arkansas Press, 2025), selected as finalist for the Miller Williams Prize by Patricia Smith. Her other books include of 40 Weeks (YesYes Books, 2023), Don’t Touch the Bones, and The Many Names for Mother. Her next book is When the World Stopped Touching (YesYes Books, 2027), a collaborative collection with Luisa Muradyan. She is Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Denison University and lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her family. Find more Julia's most recent books here: https://www.juliakolchinsky.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write an assay that includes an allusion to at least five senses. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem that begins with an ordinary parenting event that snowballs into something more. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Kai Carlson-Wee is the author of RAIL (BOA Editions, 2018). His next book, The Cloudmaker's Key, is coming out in the fall of 2027. He has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, and his work has appeared in Ploughshares, Best New Poets, and the most recent issue of Rattle. His poetry film, Riding the Highline, received the Jury Award at the 2015 Napa Valley Film Festival. A former Wallace Stegner Fellow, he lives in San Francisco and is a lecturer at Stanford University. Find more most recent books here: http://kaicarlsonwee.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about a time you found yourself somewhere you didn’t belong, but have the poem turn to somewhere that you do. Next Week’s Prompt: Write an assay that includes an allusion to at least five senses. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

J.R. Solonche has published poetry in more than 500 magazines, journals, and anthologies since the early '70s, including five times in past issues of Rattle. He's the author of 40 books of poetry, most recently Barren Road. Professor Emeritus of English at SUNY Orange, he lives in Hudson, New York. Find more most recent books here: https://servinghousebooks.com/j-r-solonche/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Invent a form that borrows something you love about an existing form—but spins it in a new direction. (Also encouraged to submit this to our call for our invented forms tribute section, due January 15th, 2026.) Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about a time you found yourself somewhere you didn’t belong, but have the poem turn to somewhere that you do. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Crystal Simone Smith is the author of Runagate: Songs of the Freedom Bound (Duke University Press, 2025) and Dark Testament (Henry Holt, 2023). In 2022, her collection of haiku, Ebbing Shore, won The Haiku Foundation Touchstone Distinguished Book Award. Smith is the recipient a Duke Humanities Unbounded Fellowship. Her work has appeared in numerous journals including POETRY Magazine, Harper’s Magazine, Rattle, Poetry Daily, Frogpond, and The Heron’s Nest. She teaches in the Thompson Writing Program at Duke University and writes poetry about the human condition and social change. Find more on Crystal at her website: https://www.crystalsimonesmith.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about the influence music has had on you over the years while making the poem itself as musical as possible. Next Week’s Prompt: Invent a form that borrows something you love about an existing form—but spins it in a new direction. (Also encouraged to submit this to our call for our invented forms tribute section, due January 15th, 2026.) The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Al Maginnes has published 15 books of poetry, including Fellow Survivors: New and Selected Poems (Redhawk Publications, 2023) and most recently Second Line, a sonnet sequence which just released this month. He has worked as a mail clerk, a landscaper, an electrician, a carpenter's helper, a hammock weaver, surveyor, and, since 1990, as a teacher. Al has published widely, including issues 63 and 89 of Rattle. He lives with his family in Raleigh, NC. Find his new and selected here: https://redhawkpublications.com/Fellow-Survivors-p529556536 As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a haiku sequence inspired by the seasons. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about the influence music has had on you over the years while making the poem itself as musical as possible. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Chiwenite Onyekwelu’s debut poetry chapbook, EXILED, was published by Red Bird Chapbooks, and his work has appeared in two recent issues of Rattle. He was shortlisted for the 2024 Isele Magazine Poetry Prize. In 2023, he won the Hudson Review’s Frederick Morgan Poetry Prize, and was a finalist for the Alpine Fellowship Prize, as well as the Writivism Poetry Prize. Chiwenite served as chief editor at The School of Pharmacy, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, where he recently completed his undergraduate studies. Find more info here: https://linktr.ee/chiweniteonyekwelu As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about a time you were haunted and how you overcame the experience. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a haiku sequence inspired by the seasons. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

José Enrique Medina is winner of the 2025 Rattle Chapbook Prize for Haunt Me. He earned his BA in English from Cornell University. His poetry and fiction have appeared in Best Microfiction 2019, The Los Angeles Review, The Tahoma Review, Burnside Review, and many other publications. A VONA fellow and frequent poetry slam judge, he writes with heart, heat, and just the right amount of haunt. He is the founder of the Chickens and Poetry Residency for Writers. When he’s not wrangling words, he’s usually on his ranch in Los Angeles, chasing after bunnies and baby chicks. Find more info here: https://medinawrites.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/page/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Orange you glad you get to write a prompt poem? Next Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about a time you were haunted and how you overcame the experience. The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Isabella DeSendi is a Latina poet and educator, and a finalist for the 2023 Rattle Poetry Prize. Her debut poetry collection, Someone Else's Hunger, is just out from Four Way Books. Her chapbook, Through the New Body, won the Poetry Society of America's Chapbook Fellowship and was published in 2020. Recently, she has been named a 2025 New Jersey Poetry Fellow, a finalist for the Ruth Lilly Fellowship, and was included in the 2024 Best New Poets anthology, among other awards. Isabella has attended Bread Loaf Writers' Workshop, the Storyknife Writers’ Residency in Alaska, and holds an MFA from Columbia University. She currently lives in Hoboken, New Jersey. Find more info here: https://www.isabelladesendi.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a persona poem that includes the word “prompt.” Next Week’s Prompt: Orange you glad you get to write a prompt poem? The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

Roberta Beary (they/she) first appeared on episode 133. Roberta is long-time haibun editor at Modern Haiku and travels the world as Roving Ambassador for The Haiku Foundation. Their new book, Crazy Bitches, includes 80 haibun selected from poems written over a 20-year period, 2004 through 2024. With Lew Watts and Rich Youmans, Roberta Beary is co-author of Haibun: A Writer's Guide (2023). Find more info here: https://robertabeary.com/ As always, we'll also include the live Prompt Lines for responses to our weekly prompt. A Zoom link will be provided in the chat window during the show before that segment begins. For links to all the past episodes, visit: https://www.rattle.com/rattlecast/ This Week’s Prompt: Write a poem about a time you got more than you bargained for. Next Week’s Prompt: Write a persona poem that includes the word “prompt.” The Rattlecast livestreams on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, then becomes an audio podcast. Find it on iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts.