VS

Franny and Danez kick it with Derrick Harriell, poet and Director of the MFA program at the University of Mississippi, where this episode was recorded. They talk remaking masculinity, flipping timelines through quantum theory, the anxiety of millennial writers, and much more. Plus, some good strip club recommendations from the good folks at VS. NOTE: Make sure you rate us on Apple Podcasts and write us a review!

The VS Podcast squad pops down south to Oxford, MS for a handful of episodes featuring students and professors in the MFA program at the University of Mississippi. First up is hero Joshua Nguyen, who talks about bringing his hometown of Houston to the page, stickiness in his poems, connecting with his dad over poetic form, and the most comprehensive sports analysis this here podcast has ever included. Franny was flummoxed. Enjoy! NOTE: Make sure you rate us on Apple Podcasts and write us a review!

Daniel Borzutzky isn’t afraid of the fire–he’s determined to call it what it is. The poet, professor, and translator talks about the links between Chicago and Chile, the desert as a site of incarceration, how translating shapes his poetry, and facing the violence of our moment head-on.

If you don’t fall head over heels with Tasha by the time you finish this episode, run this pod back and give it another shot because she is to die for. The singer, guitarist, songwriter, poet, and organizer stops by to talk nest-building, badass moms, and more with our fearless, kvelling hosts. Plus TWO in-studio musical performances from Tasha! Make sure you get cozy with her album Alone At Last! NOTE: Make sure you rate us on Apple Podcasts and write us a review!

Camonghne Felix is our president, a damn good poet, and a wonderful human. She sits down with Franny and Danez to talk about romance, heartbreak, flowers and phalanges, and her BRAND NEW collection Build Yourself a Boat, which is in stores now! NOTE: Make sure you rate us on Apple Podcasts and write us a review!

Pat Frazier is the National Youth Poet Laureate of these here United States, and alone. Franny and Danez talk with Pat about the fertile soil of solitude, falling in love with horror movies, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and more. Plus, a poem about titties! NOTE: Make sure you rate us on Apple Podcasts and write us a review!

Don Share is the editor of Poetry Magazine, a poet and translator, and a gem of a human. He chats with Danez and Franny about the mechanics and ethos of his job, Allen Ginsberg editing his first poem, what to do when reading a poem harms someone, and much more. Plus, he reads a poem by Spanish poet Miguel Hernández that is so damn beautiful! NOTE: Make sure you rate us on Apple Podcasts and write us a review!

We back and we back and we back with Season 3! We start off a whole new season of the same ole shindig with the brilliant poet Paul Tran. They talk about learning history to ask the questions they had about their family, creating new a new poetic form, and the gawd Toni Morrison. NOTE: Make sure you rate us on Apple Podcasts and write us a review!

Happy new year y’all! VS returns with a special bonus episode to tide you over until Season 3 drops in February. In the meantime, savor and enjoy this live episode with the squad Fatimah Asghar, José Olivarez, and Paul Tran, recorded as part of the Chicago Podcast Festival. Season 3, on the way!!!

Can we fanperson out for a goshdarn second? We have the one and only Jamila Woods in the building! She talks about her family’s penchant for healing, sampling loopholes, lactose tolerance, bad interviews, and more.

This episode’s guest Kara Jackson is a poet, and she’s got the honorary prefix to prove it. She talks with Danez and Franny about being Chicago’s third Youth Poet Laureate, family nicknames in the South, introversion, and JONI MITCHELL. OH YES, JONI MITCHELL!

Hop in the wayback machine with us for our very first ReVS episode, in which we return to an already-released VS conversation and catch up with the ideas and themes that were discussed. On this ReVS, we jump back to our first episode ever, with the brilliant Eve Ewing–Franny and Danez discuss how we’ve survived and thrived through the last two years of apocalypse, what’s staying in their apocalypse knapsacks, and much more!

Jonathan Mendoza is a poet, performer, and organizer who’s just getting his feet under him here in Chicago. He previously did his organizing thang in Boston and San Antonio, and now works as a housing rights organizer with Pilsen Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy organization based in the primarily Mexican and Mexican-American neighborhood. He’s also a real smartie and a real cutie.

Kimiko Hahn joins Danez and Franny as they go down some rabbit holes, and maybe even through a few portals. They talk her tenth book, poetic auntie status, Japanese poetry as inspiration, and closure. Follow VS on twitter: http://twitter.com/vsthepodcast!

VS hits the block with Jacob Saenz, whose APR/Honickman Prize-winning collection Throwing the Crown just dropped on Copper Canyon Press. He chats with Franny and Danez about writing back to his childhood street in Cicero, IL, the fantasy series he wrote as a kid, care as craft, and more. Make sure to cop Throwing the Crown from your local bookseller!