The Poet’s Dilemma

The dilemma: what does it mean to be a wounded healer? What if the very thing that hurts us is what heals us? In this episode, we step into the complexity of paradoxes: to be healed is to be wounded. Through the Ancient Greek myth of Chiron and the teachings of Carl Jung, we explore the idea that healing is not a destination, but rather a relationship we foster. A relationship to our scars, to our past, and to the parts of ourselves that were silenced. Because the truth is, we all carry the weight of our personal wounds and collective ones. This episode invites you to sit with your shadow self and uncover the medicine they have to teach you. In doing so, we affirm the path of healing ourselves and the collective. Featured Works & References:Spotlight Text: The myth of ChironSpotlight Text: The Undiscovered Self by Carl JungSpotlight Text: Bread of Angels by Patti Smith Spotlight Poet: Where the Light Enters You by Omid Safi Original Poem: Invocation for the Unnamed by Jacquelynn King  🎙️The Poet’s Dilemma podcast, we don’t aim to solve the dilemma, we learn how to live inside of it.

The dilemma: should I have sex on the first date? What implications will it have? What happens when desire meets timing? When pleasure collides with perception? When curiosity overrides caution? In this episode of The Poet’s Dilemma, we trade in restraint for exploration and step into a conversation that is as ancient as it is immediate: sex, desire, and the stories we attach to them. Is there ever really a “right” moment? Or is that just another narrative we’ve inherited from societal pressures. We unpack the psychology and physiology behind attraction, the intoxicating pull of validation and novelty, and the risks we take when we choose pleasure in the present moment. From hormonal impulse to emotional consequence, this episode invites you to examine not just when we have sex, but why. Because here’s the truth: there is no formula. No equation. No guaranteed outcome. Only choice, awareness, and the willingness to own what comes next. Analyzed through the lens of thinkers like Esther Perel and the poetic legacy of Sappho, we explore desire as both liberation and mirror, revealing what we crave, what we fear, and what we’re still learning about ourselves. So here’s your invitation, Poets.  Tune into your body. Honor your desire. Because freedom without awareness, well that isn’t freedom at all.Featured Works: Spotlight Poet: 31 by Sappho Spotlight Poet: Telemachus by Ocean VuongOriginal Poem: A Series of Sex Notes by Jacquelynn King 🎙️ The Poet’s Dilemma podcast where we don’t aim to solve the dilemma, we learn how to live inside it.

The dilemma: how can we achieve societal harmony? What if harmony isn’t some distant utopia, but a choice we can collectively make. In this episode, we meet at the doorway of rebellion, revolt, and expansiveness. Together, we unravel the forces that shape our world: fear, power, capitalism, and the unrelenting ways it pulls us away from something deeper, something softer, something more harmonious. But here’s the plot twist: harmony isn’t the absence of chaos. It’s the courage to move with it. This episode dives into Karl Marx’s dialectical materialism and aims to make sense of collective transcendence. It is a call to action to intentionally strive towards harmony, equality, and freedom. Let’s put these teachings to work. It’s not just something to listen to, it's something to practice. So here’s your invitation, Poets. Pause, breathe, notice where harmony already exists in your life, and then go create more of it.Featured Works: Spotlight Poem: The Book of the Dead  by Muriel Rukeyser Original Poem: Tragic Optimism 🎙️ The Poet’s Dilemma podcast, where we don’t aim to solve the dilemma, we learn how to live inside it.

The dilemma: what is the duty of the bard? Who does history belong to? What narratives do we choose to amplify? Who is remembered? And who are the forgotten? In a world shaped by capitalism, consumption, and instant gratification, what obligation do artists hold to preserve humanity’s collective voice? In this episode of The Poet’s Dilemma, we journey through time to explore the sacred duty of the storyteller—the poet, historian, and keeper of collective memory. From the ancient Celtic bards of the Bronze Age to modern-day artists navigating the Information Age, Jacquelynn King reflects on the enduring power of language to shape culture, preserve truth, and inspire progress. Through philosophical inquiry, historical reflection, and poetic expression, this episode examines the moral and creative responsibility of those who dare to challenge the current state of things and our societal potential of harmony. Featuring excerpts from The Song of Amergin and The Epic of Gilgamesh, alongside original works, including Jacquelynn’s stirring poem “Belonging,” this episode invites listeners to consider our place within history and the legacy we are writing with our own lives. Provocative, lyrical, and deeply reflective, this episode is a love letter to storytelling and a call to reclaim the power of the poet in shaping the world.Featured Works:The Song of Amergin (translated by Lady Gregory)The Epic of Gilgamesh Original poem: Belonging by Jacquelynn King 

The dilemma: how do I access community in the face of disaster? What happens when everything falls apart? Recorded in the wake of the Los Angeles fires of 2025, we step into the question of how we survive, not just individually, but together. When homes are lost, when systems fail, when the world feels like it’s burning, where do we turn? Drawing from "A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster" by Rebecca Solnit, we explore the quiet truth that often goes untold: in moments of devastation, people don’t descend into chaos, they rise into community. Strangers become neighbors. Grief becomes a bridge. Survival becomes collective. This episode unpacks trauma, the nervous system, and the overwhelming nature of living in a world that can change in an instant.It asks: how do we steady ourselves enough to show up for others? What does it mean to be part of something larger when everything feels uncertain?Spotlight poem: Camp Fire by Sarah Kruse Original poem: Eyes on the Fire by Jacquelynn King 

The dilemma: am I an artist? What makes an artist, an artist? Is it what we create or in how we exist? In this episode, we pull apart the fragile boundary between life and art. From childhood definitions of creativity to the quiet, persistent voice of imposter syndrome, we ask: is artistry something earned or embodied? Along the way, we wander through the philosophies of Oscar Wilde and Aristotle, questioning whether life imitates art, or if art imitates life. We explore the necessity of an audience, the vulnerability of self-expression, and the radical idea that simply being alive might be the most honest form of art. This is an episode about identity, about permission, about the quiet rebellion of claiming yourself.Because maybe the real dilemma isn’t becoming an artist, it’s realizing we already are one. Spotlight poem: There is Only One Question by Mary Oliver Original poem: Tempted by the Morning Sun by Jacquelynn King

The dilemma: do I have free-willed choices? If destiny exists, what does it mean to choose? Do our choices belong to us or are they made before we’re even aware of them? In this episode, we explore the tension between choice and accountability through the lens of existentialism, Sam Harris’ Free Will, the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and the contingencies that shape our lives. Spotlight Poem: Maya Angelou, Still I RiseOriginal Poem: Some Days by Jacquelynn King

Welcome, poets.This is The Poet’s Dilemma, where each week, we tackle a dilemma and how we reckon with it, unpacking it through the lens of poetry, philosophy, current events, spiritualism, science, play, and more.A space for discovery. For curiosity.We aren’t here to solve our dilemmas, only to understand them.With a simple goal:to become more reflective, more empathetic.