The Poetry's Dead Podcast
by Ryan Duggins and Leon Dunne
Ryan and Leon are delighted to bring you your NEW favourite poetry podcast, exploring the work of poets old and new, with a little bit of craic mixed in. We'll share our love of poetry every week, taking you on a journey through work from poets you'll have heard of, as well as poets you may not have heard of and even people you had no idea wrote poetry.! We'll also help with our Agony Poet part of the show where we'll accept any challenge of solving a problem with a poem. Nothing is too trivial or too serious. Ryan Duggins is a published English poet based in Dublin, with work found in journals Dreich, Flare and his first collection 'You're Never Too Old To Know Better' was published in April '23. He's also performed at Electric Picnic and is a regular on the open mic scene in Dublin Leon Dunne is a spoken word artist and cornerstone of the poetry scene in Ireland. He is the 2022 All Ireland Poetry Slam Champion and co-founder of Rising Tide, an events co
Episodes
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John Cooper Clarke, Pádriag O'Tuáma and Living In The Era Of Being Sound
Imagine writing a poem 40 years ago and then Louis Theroux finds out it’s better than you thought it was? That’s what happened to John Cooper Clarke after his chat on Louis’s podcast this week as he was promoting his new collection Have It. We share a poem from that book this week. Movember is in...
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Chats In The Flats, Pat Ingoldsby and A Ghost Story By Shirley Jackson
Lads, its freezing out there, isn't it! Baltic you might say. We'll do our best to keep you warm this week with a few poems, will we? Deborah Byrne's piece 'Some Other Mothers Son' takes the stage this week, a poem Ryan got the pleasure of seeing in person at Dublin's Finest last Sunday. We have...
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Ted Lasso, William S Burroughs And Saying Goodbye To 'Starting On' People
We are ready to snuggle in to a new season of The Poetry's Dead Podcast with Ryan and Leon, keeping you company through the radiator months all the way into 2027. You can tell we haven't spoken on-mic for 4 months from the absolute guff of stories and nonsense being spued by both of us this week....
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Leaving Home, Not Hating Your Exes And Poetry From Katriona O'Sullivan
It's taken ages but we've finally stopped sunbathing and watching the World Cup to bring to you the final episode of the series! So many bangers to go through today, but we want to say a special thank you to the writer Katriona O'Sullivan who has recorded 4 poems for us to share on the show this...
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Dostoevsky, Self-Confidence And Skint Artists
Few weeks break and we are back with giddyness, giggles and ballads galore! I think you can tell we missed you lot with the amount of absolute nonsense we are spouting on the show this week in between the laughs. We do however bring poems too, with pieces from Dana Gioia, Dostoevsky, Sam Tovey…
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Michael Jackson, Road Dahl & Poetry From Jessie Buckley's Dad
In this week’s episode we look at the conflict and tension that comes natural when there is out you like from awful people. Sparked by the new Michael Jackson biopic, we discuss. We also share a poem from Tim Buckley, the father of actor Jessie Buckley, after she talked about her dad’s poems on…
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Baz Luhrmann, 'The Matchmaker' Willie Daly And Intrusive Thoughts
Poems from the show: Aisling Bonner - Dublin, Oh Dublin (Taken from RTE's 2FM Breakfast Show) Aisling Bonner (@aisling_bon) | TikTok Robert Sheehan - Untitled Poem Robert Sheehan - IMDb Claudine Tierney - Willie Daly, Matchmaker Extraordinaire Claudine Tierney (@claudine_artist) • Instagram…
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Seamus Heaney, John Keats And What Ever Happened To Timbaland?
This week's show we keep it a little lighter, but I think in doing so we accidentally got a bit macho. Nightmare really. Especially that chat we have about what dog should you aspire to be. That was definitely a toxic conversation lol. Anyway! Poems this week about being sound, being brave, being...
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James Plunkett, Banjo Paterson And CNN's Expose On Rape Academy
Trigger warning: This episode includes subjects that some listeners might find difficult to listen to, including sexual assault and rape. If you are a long-time listener, you'll know that we like to keep it light. However, we felt after reading the CNN Rape Academy expose that there was a duty to...
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T.S Eliot, Morgan Freeman And Remembering Things That Didn't Happen
Did you ever think you did something awful as a child that didn't actually happen? Yeah, no, mad to think that's something common and not just you, don't you think? We talk about that today on the podcast after we share a poem that was Nelson Mandela's favourite poem. If you don't know what the...
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Andrea Gibson, Harry Baker And Putting Life On The Long Finger
The Times' newspaper lost a few subscribers this week after a ridiculous critique of Harry Baker's life show had caused a rightful stir in the poetry community. We talk about the snobbery elitism that hums in the background of the current movement of really sound people performing really powerful...
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Words That Changed Your Life - Grian Chatten, Derek Mahon, John O'Donoghue And More
Words That Changed Your Life We opened last week’s show with a clip from Hollywood actor Bill Murray talking about art. He shared a story about how, on his darkest day, he was saved by a painting in a Chicago gallery that gave him the hope he needed to keep going. We thought we’d ask our…
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John Steinbeck, Woody Harrelson And Finding The Antidote To The Manosphere
We both have been chewing the Louis Theroux 'Manosphere' documentary around in hour mouths for a few days so it was only natural we spend way too much time this week talking about it. Hopefully we add something to the conversation of the world of vulnerable men being taken advantage of with a few...
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Swear Words, Leo Tolstoy and Charles Bukowski At A Pasadena Orgy
Not sure what was in the water this week, but f*** me do we have some awful language in the podcast We celebrate the swearers on this week’s podcast, from Jan Brierton reciting her poem ‘Dear Body’ on The Tommy Tiernan show to Charles Bukowski’s dirty-words ridden story about an orgy in Pasadena....
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Hamnet, Donna Ashworth and Signs Preceding The End Of The World
There's not a podcast out there that will cover both Shakespeare and the bliss of receiving a free bowl of chips at an Irish pub, and that is something we will forever be proud of. Back with a banger where we rant about phone addiction, praise the wild ones and simmer into the beauty of words and...
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We're Back With Season 3! - Teaser Episode
We are back just as the moon is arriving a little later and the garden is whispering to you saying - 'Remember me? - Get that lawn mower!' A little hello from us welcoming you to season 3 of The Poetry's Dead Podcast that returns on Monday and will be with you EVERY Monday in 2026! Imagine! Where...
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End Of Year Special - Christmas, JRR Tolkien And Petty Crimes
Jesus. That year went by fecking quickly, but life tends to slip by when it’s greased up with so many bloody brilliant poems. In our final podcast of the year, we celebrate the winners of our Quillkeeper collaboration that all have won a page in our second anthology that will be out next week!…
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Robert Sheehan, Ireland Beating Hungary And Male Triggers
We couldn’t start the podcast any other way than with a poem from Sean Watmore of celebration for the Ireland Football Team getting the job done in Hungary. World Cup 2026? COYBIG! We are so thrilled with the amount of poems that were submitted for the book, especially the many amazing…
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Chris Eubank, Phone Addiction and Poems From Mountjoy Prison
Thanks to everyone who has submitted a poem for us for our 2nd volume of The Poetry's Dead Anthology. Submissions are now closed, and we have over 200 poems to read through to bring you a lovely book perfect for Christmas this year. Today's show we have a lot of beautiful poems for you, along…
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Halloween! - Frankenstein, Vampires and Shirley Jackson
OK fair, we are a few days late, but keep the skeletons out for a bit longer as we bring you our Halloween special! Frankenstein, Dracula, the Rock DJ video where we strips his skin off, we leave no tombstone unturned as we take you to the darkest corners of horror with a few poems in the…
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Raising Men's Mental Health Awareness With Movember
Join us this week for a special men's mental health podcast in collaboration with Movember. It's not easy out there. Juggling responsibilities, craving rest where there is little time, keeping struggles to yourself. Life can be a very difficult thing to navigate, and today's episode we hope to…
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Manchán Magan, Basic Income For Artists And Remembering Our Grannies
We are paying tribute this week to the late writer and researcher of all things Irish, Manchán Magan who has departed our current world for the next one. We talk about his influence on the recent fire under the belly of Irish culture and share a few pages of his book '99 Words For Rain'. Good…
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Matthew McConaughey, Brianna Parkins and A Lesbian Van
Alright, alright, alright...it was too tempting to type so leave us alone. How else do you expect us to start this podcast description when we're celebrating the poetry of Matthew McConaughey? Exactly. There are many poems we could have shared from his new books 'Poems and Prayers' but we went…
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Live @ Culture Night Special
We have a chonky boy of an episode for you this week! Due to the magical powers of our sound man, the wonderful Finn O'Reilly (@finnreuben), we present to you our Culture Night episode recorded live at The LAB in Dublin. This episode is an absolute banger, where we cover everything from poetry,...
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Philip Larkin, CMAT and Should We Stop Listening To Men?
We don't agree with CMAT, even though we love her. We think Larkin would have been her biggest fan. Not yet discussed on the podcast, we share Aubade one of Larkin's masterpieces. We then talk about that ability of turning the mundane into art a lot on today's show. We also talk about men, and…
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Claddagh Records, President Michael D Higgins And A Surprise Poem At Electric Picnic
The President of ireland has a spoken word album Let us do that one more time for you. The President of Ireland has a spoken word album. What a sentence, and you know what, it’s a brilliant piece of work. We discuss the release with chairman of Claddagh Records James Morrissey about the release,...
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Oasis In Dublin And Poetry At Electric Picnic
This podcast is an absolute must listen if you were lucky enough to be at the Oasis concert last weekend at Croke Park. Leon was there, and spends a lot of this podcast gushing over Liam and Noel Gallagher, which we should all be here for. We look then to the Glastonbury of Ireland, Electric…
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David Balfe, Nikita Gill And Sneaky Cats
On today's pod, we celebrate the release of the second album from For Those I Love, as well as hearing Olivia Rodgrido’s advice about poetry being the foundation for all songwriting, which we’d be on board with. We also dive into the work of Nikita Gill the hidden-in-Instagram-captions genius...
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Sylvia Plath, The Fleadh & Changing Jobs Too Quickly
Difficult third series? F*** that! We missed you guys and are delighted to return to your moistened ears as you go on your jog around the park that you hate to help you through another 5k. Or whatever you're up to listening to us, we're very bloody grateful. We have had a lovely few months off…
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Talking Gargoyles, Partying In World War 2 Berlin And Being Inspired By Young Poets
Our last podcast was our 50th show lads. 50! Mad. On Monday, we have a load of poems and stories for, starting with some info about our live podcast at Swords Castle next Saturday with Wavin Words where there’s also a young poets slam for anyone between 14-18 years of age. If you know of a future...
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Poetry Slamming At The International Literature Festival Dublin!
We’re back not with a bang lads, but a SLAM! We were at the International Literature Festival Dublin this week as Leon hosted this year’s Slamovision with @rising.tide.events The place was packed, and the performances on the night were insane. A night where artists stepped up one-after-another to...
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Tristram Fane Saunders, Poetry in Liverpool And The Hillsborough Disaster
Tristram Fane Saunders, Poetry In Liverpool And The Hillsborough Disaster This week, we look back on our incredible weekend in Liverpool hosted by Rachel and Hayley at Giz A Word (Instagram @gizaword.collective) where we met some of the city’s creatives and got a taste of what Liverpool is all...
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Understanding Masculinity Through Poetry
Understanding Masculinity Through Poetry Well, we give it a go anyway and thank the fecking lord we have poetry to help us. We’re share a piece from ourselves as well as work from Simon Armitage, Ursula Walshe and Hayley Gordon Want to say a massive thank you to everyone we met in Liverpool this...
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Albert Camus, Trans Rights And Looking Back At Repeal The 8th
We have pretty much everything covered this week. We read a note from Albert Camus, a poem written by Easter Rising leader Padraig Pearse about his mother and we have issues pronouncing Hercule Poirot Lots of beautiful poems are snuck between those bits, but a special highlight is hearing from...
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LUAINA - A New Collection Showcasing Ireland's Best Spoken Word Artists and Poets
A very special podcast this week as we invite Luain Press's Lee Sheridan to discuss his brand new anthology collection Luaina! We were delighted ourselves to be involved in the collection, not just because being published is good craic, but we are alongside some of Ireland's most talented spoken...
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Achieving Contentment, Dublin Is Tallaght and Lazy Actors
We go missing a week and we give you over an hours worth of bleeding poetry! We did go on a bit today, but crammed into the corners of our nonsense waffle are poems that will bring us all down to earth a little and focus on what is bloody important in our lives! Thank f*** for poetry! Kate...
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Andrew Garfield, Disney's Moana And A Love Story In A Dublin Pub
Bloody hell do we have jam packed podcast for you this week guys. We have a love story to kick things off that happened at Mulligans pub on Poolbeg Street that ended at The Cobblestone where a woman from Peru had lost a poem gifted to her by a Welsh traveller. Just when you thought Ireland…
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Songwriting Poets feat Jim Morrison, Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan
Inspired by our conversation with Mike Garry about musicians writing poetry, we wanted to dedicate this episode to our favourite artists who also enjoy a poem or too. Leon owns a copy of 'The Lords And The New Creatures' by The Door's frontman Jim Morrison, his only poetry collection so we had to...
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Special Guest Interview With Poet Mike Garry - A Conversation Of Wonderment
We have the honour and privelege to bring you to a very special conversation. Mike Garry is a Manchester poet who's stories and perspectives on life will give you the inspiration you didn't know you needed to live your days to the fullest. We chat to Mike about his upcoming tour around Ireland…
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A Tribute To The Great Pat Ingoldsby
A special episode from Poetry's Dead HQ this week as we celebrate the life and work of Dublin's poetic voice, Pat Ingoldsby We sit and listen to our beautiful community of poetry heads who share their favourite poems of Pat with us so we can share them with you. We hope this podcast does him...
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Paula Meehan, Brendan Behan And Wanting To Work From Home
We're feeling the spring in our step lads as the days are getting a little longer, and the poems just keep bleedin' coming! After Brendan Behan's book Confessions Of An Irish Rebel kept Ryan company on a solo trip to Belfast this week, we share a few stories and a tear-jerker poem from a man that...
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Special Guest Episode with Emmet O'Brien At Dublin Central Library
As we vacate Ryan's apartment, we christen our first podcast at Dublin Central Library with Dublin spoken word artist Emmet O'Brien. We go all around the houses with this podcast, getting into the weeds of childhood, the battles of being a creative from a working class area how it feels to…
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Pamela Anderson, John Cummins and Being Guided By Al Capone
We always knew deep down that Pamela Anderson was a poet, sure why did you think we had her on our walls? OK worth a try, and we're as surprised as you are that we are kicking the show off this week with not one but TWO poems from Pamela, which if we didn't know, could easily be the work of…
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Michael Longley, Anne Waldman and 'Why'D You Only Call Me When You're High?'
Jesus wept its been way too long lads, but we're back at you with poems, craic, probably lies about Irish history and loads of other bits and pieces to help you start the week off poetically. The community lost one its most powerful voices in January with the loss of Belfast poet Michael Longley....
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Welcome to Series 2 of The Poetry's Dead Podcast With Ryan Duggins And Leon Dunne!
Spring is returning after a brutal winter and so are the poems! Whilst the storms and dry January pushed most the population to hide indoors and wait for a bit of sunshine to come after 5pm, we were training hard on bringing back the show with a little glow-up. We have the full show coming back…
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Donna Ashworth, James Mooney and The Victims Of The Stardust Nightclub Fire
Our last episode of the year is busier than the traffic getting to Dublin Airport at Christmas After Daragh Fleming welcomes us in with a vibe-setting poem about longing and love, we step in to a whopper episode that leaves no Christmas cracker unopened, at a time of year where poetry can help us...
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Nikita Hand, Ada Limón and Footballers Writing Poetry
We don't usually say this, but for this week, stay until the end. This week, inspired by the news that Wayne Rooney writes poetry, we have a dig around to see who else that plays sport has penned a piece or two. We bring to you Alan Shearer with his poem Ambition. On a meander around Baldoyle…
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Rumi, Christine Anne Foley and Getting Over A Crush
We're prowling the catwalk this week with poems to have you struttin' After we take sympathy on Keanu Reaves having his poem butchered by a simpleton, we take you into the world of fashion with Molly May O'Leary, the designated poet of the Dublin Independent Fashion Week, as she paints her words...
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Cillian Murphy, Small Things Like These And The History Of The Irish Church
Mass is in session this week on the podcast with banger poems replacing hymns. Now we've both watched and essentially been shook by the movie Small Things Like These, we get into why that movie hits so hard and wind poetry around the experience of the film to help us understand how to navigate…
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Paul Muldoon, Movember and Being Addicted To Cheese
If you're here for the cheese addict, stay 'til the end ;) And if you do, your heart and soul will be filled with a myriad of hopeful poems to bring you through the change in weather as you sniffle your way through the start of winter. We shine a light on men's mental health on the show this…
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About this show
Ryan and Leon are delighted to bring you your NEW favourite poetry podcast, exploring the work of poets old and new, with a little bit of craic mixed in.
We'll share our love of poetry every week, taking you on a journey through work from poets you'll have heard of, as well as poets you may not have heard of and even people you had no idea wrote poetry.!
We'll also help with our Agony Poet part of the show where we'll accept any challenge of solving a problem with a poem. Nothing is too trivial or too serious.
Ryan Duggins is a published English poet based in Dublin, with work found in journals Dreich, Flare and his first collection 'You're Never Too Old To Know Better' was published in April '23. He's also performed at Electric Picnic and is a regular on the open mic scene in Dublin
Leon Dunne is a spoken word artist and cornerstone of the poetry scene in Ireland. He is the 2022 All Ireland Poetry Slam Champion and co-founder of Rising Tide, an events co
Hosted by
Ryan Duggins and Leon Dunne
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