Beetroot, Lists with Wendy Cope and Claes Oldenburg

Welcome back to the Beetroot podcast. Come on in, make yourself at home. On this weeks episode Marta and Lottie take the time to ruminate over what home means to them. Both in new spaces, they navigate what it means to move on, to build and be grateful for a place to call home. Lottie brought with her the work of John Clare, ‘The Flitting’ explores the feeling of leaving home, of gaining an independence with weight of your homeland in your pocket. Marta brought along 'What is the most American thing about you?' by Hala Alyan. A personal and painful exploration of displacement and loss of a home, a homeland in the face of destruction. After listening to this episode we ask you to take a moment to contribute to any of the three charitable organisations linked below. Right now, Over 90% of homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, leaving nearly 1.9 million Palestinians without a permanent and safe place to live. An estimated one in 51 Londoners are homeless and live in temporary accommodation. We love doing this podcast and never ask for anything from our listeners. Anything you can give makes an impact, no matter how big or small. Thankyou.Resilience Gaza https://www.resiliencegaza.org/?fbclid=PAZnRzaAN9N0VleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAacDsvWALEdS2sihXcvZ52P5-PisaL4-NXsz0on0PoTBVF_RVG7Vei-UiqS1hQ_aem_t0ZxNQ1aatbaH1VZgCOl1wMothers Against Genocide https://localgiving.org/fundraising/wwwtrademarkbelfastcom?fbclid=PAZnRzaAN9NqZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp96It2l0Frk2yI2LBYOWsxaPQ4mPcIE2thF5ydioaDawErP5kxzICFAlw5Cx_aem_s34N5BA_XBVF96KkPb44zwShelter - The housing and homelessness charityhttps://www.shelter.org.uk

Happy New Year seedlings! Beetroot Podcast is heading into 2025 with a bobby dazzler of an episode. Spotify for podcasters is calling it a ‘triumph’ and we’re inclined to agree. This week Marta and Lottie are taking you all to the movies. Lottie brought along Frank O’Hara’s ‘Ave Maria’ a poetic intervention from a disciple of the big screen that encourages young souls everywhere to take themselves to movies. Marta brought along Diana Marie Delgado’s ‘Who Makes Love to us After we Die?’ A cinematic explosion of love and tragedy which converses with the women of cinema and their daughters. To brighten up your January, here’s a bit of Beetroot. 

Can you pickle a poem? This week Marta and Lottie have reunited to discuss all things preservation. Museums, archives, cheeses and sauerkrauts. We're diving into what it means to keep something alive just a little longer whether thats in our minds, on our shelves or in our tummies. Marta brought along Museum by Doireann Ní Ghríofa, a beautiful meditation on the history of political turmoil in Northern Island which curates a museum of everyday likeness. Lottie brought along Natalie Rose Richardson's Cure and Curry, a perfect bite of a moment in which we experience music, legacy and car rides with our parents. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

We've come a long way to this day. Lottie and Marta will be welcoming Dolly Parton with open arms to today's epsiode. A country queen and literary philanthropist, we decided to place her upon the beetroot pedestal as a songstress and poet whom we're inspired by. Marta kicks off with not one, but two poems. Bringing Dolly's 'Jolene' alongside Fiona Apple's 'Ladies' we talk about sisterhood, the communion of women in the face of heart break and Queering the space our ex's occupy. Lottie takes Parton's 'Coat of Many Colours', detangling every thread and finding the complexities of wealth, youth - and of course, needlework. In the words of Dolly, "I've had heartaches, headaches, toothaches, earaches, and I've had a few pains in the ass, but I've survived to tell about it."

Today we’re going to talk about what’s on our lists and what’s in our poems. When we make lists, we export our universes onto the page – ticking off the tasks as we go, as we live. Lists for love, lists for art, and lists for getting through the day. Lottie brought along Wendy Cope’s ‘My Lover’ written in the style of Christopher Smart’s ‘For I Will Consider my Cat Geoffrey’ more than two hundred years later. Cope writes of love, the everyday kind and the sweep you off your feet kind – but always in tandem. Marta brought along Claes Oldenburg’s ‘I am for an Art’, a stirring manifesto for artists everywhere and a new way to think on what our art deserves and what deserves our art. Put this episode at the top of your to do list. 

It’s our anniversary dinner – and you’re all invited! We’re 4 years old? My time flies when you’re just two friends chatting about poetry – whether it's face to face or computer screen to computer screen. We reminisced in our archive and giggled over the sounds of us at aged nineteen. However, to mark such an occasion, we thought it was fitting to bring poems that celebrate poetry, that celebrate reading and poems that really remind us of why we do what we do. We’re so grateful to the handful of listeners who have tuned in over the years and promise to continue sharing our love of poetry for years to come. In this episode, we talk about poetry. Plain and simple. 

Reunited and rejuvenated! A summer spent apart and now they’re back, Lottie and Marta are in the same postcode at the same table. In this episode they go off the grid, deciding to abandon a themed episode in favour of – ‘You’ve got to see this!’.  Lottie brought along Natalia Shapero’s Not Horses prompting questions of time, interspecies connectivity and our patron saint, Donna Haraway. Marta brings an extract from Homer’s The Odyssey and contributes a tender reading of a mothers last words to her son. Grief time travels and the everyday implications of the epic are conjured by the voices of past and present. In hindsight, perhaps we do have ourselves a theme, storytelling – whatever they might tell us.    Hello – us again: We encountered a couple of volcanic rumbles in our recording this week, we’d recommend putting away your headphones or enjoying the occasional audio bump. 

Till podcast do us part! Marta and Lottie are back, in this episode they'll be talking about heartbreak. Marta and Lottie (and their feelings) will dissect that funny sensation called heartache. Marta brought along Pablo Neruda's 'Tonight I Can Write' a poem renowned for its ability to hit the nail on the head of a broken heart. Lottie reads from Victoria Chang's collection 'Obit', a work of 70 obituaries that explore how and why we grieve through sense and madness. Take it easy this week, and if you're hurting - just know you're never alone.

Reunited at last! Marta and Lottie are in the same room, with the same zoom. In this episode it's all about the senses, Marta and Lottie dive head first into an ocean of taste, sound, sight, texture and smell. Lottie brought along 'My Body is a Forest' from Alycia Pirmohamed's collection Another Way to Split Water, a poem which holds the body in landscape allowing the speaker free movement through sensory recollection. Marta reads 'Orange Peels, Tectonic Shifts' from Erica Gillingham's pamphlet The Human Body is a Hive. A poem to align human bodily experience with shifting layers of the earth all tied up with a singular orange peel. This week you have a little piece of homework, so pay close attention. 

If anyone asks, we're a perfectly normal family. In this week's episode, Lottie and Marta ask; what does it mean to have difficult conversations with our loved ones, what lessons have we learnt so far from the people who've known us our entire lives. We don't get to choose our family, but what if we could? Lottie brought along 'Conversation with Fantasy Mother' by Mary Jean Chan, a poem that sets free the queer heart. Marta brought along 'Summer' by Robin Coste Lewis, a perfect poem for the rising temperatures and a reimagining of the mother and creation. Call your family, and tell them to give this one a listen.