Poet Rachel McKibbens explores the role violence and has played in her life, her poetry and motherhood. She talks to host Camille Rankine about her poem "glutton" and the impact Brigit Pegeen Kelly's poem "Song" has had on her work.

Warning: This episode contains some descriptions of violence that listeners may find disturbing.

Poet Chen Chen talks about petitioning the universe on multiple levels, the personification of grief and finding inspiration in a ketchup packet.

Poet Hafizah Geter talks about the power of a good line break, her love of Carl Phillips and how memory can be affected by grief.

Poet Kaveh Akbar talks about his obsession with mortality, adding a second language to poetry and the continual impact of his “desert island poem.”

Poet Ama Codjoe talks to host Camille Rankine about her version of paradise, how dance influenced her writing, and why community can be crucial for poets.

In this episode Codjoe reads her poem "Heaven as Olympic Spa" [Koreatown, Los Angeles} from her book Bluest Nude and talks about the appearance of two other famous poets in the poem, Gwendolyn Brooks and Wanda Coleman.

In the second segment, Codjoe reads a favorite poem from Gwendolyn Brooks "my dreams, my works, must wait till after hell" and discusses what makes the poem feel so personal and relatable.

Poet John Murillo delves into reckoning, the definition of masculinity and how we fictionalize memory in his wide-ranging conversation with host Camille Rankine in the first episode of The Glimpse.

Poems featured in this episode include Murillo's poem "On Confessionalism” and Etheridge Knight's poem “Cop-Out Session.”

Welcome to The Glimpse, a new poetry podcast hosted by poet Camille Rankine. Our guest poets this season include John Murillo, Ama Codjoe, Kaveh Akbar, Hafizah Geter, Chen Chen, Solmaz Sharif, Rachel McKibbens, and Omotara James.