Poetry Over Patriarchy Podcast

Unsurprisingly, we had a lot to say on this topic. Think less ‘symptoms’ and more what is going on underneath. The boredom, the longing for something ‘more’ but not being sure what ‘more’ even looks like, the lack of support and honest conversations. Nelly read a poem from her new book ‘Full of Herself’ which comes out on December 4th and is now available to pre-order HERE. It’s something she wrote RIGHT IN THE THICK OF IT. The sort of poem you decide might be ‘too much’ (which, btw, is a sure sign that it isn’t too much). We talk about collective female rage, the exhaustion, craving excitement but actually also just wanting to be in bed by 9pm. Plus, as normal, book recommendations and a fair few tangents. We had planned to read lots of peri-menopausal poetry but struggled to find as much as we’d hoped so after this episode we’d love you to send us yours. Send us the writers, the podcasts, the art that is setting you on fire (no pun intended) when it comes to this topic. If ever there was an episode we’re hoping you’ll reply to, it’s this one. Even if it is just to say, “yes, right there with you,” ha. You’ll find a list of the recommends below. Loads of love, Nelly and Steph xPoems:* Wild Yam Cream, Perimenopause, Does It Work, Reddit by Kate Baer * ‘The Poetry of Perimenopause’ by Nelly Bryce , from ‘Full of Herself’ * ‘Well Deserved’ by Stephanie Moore* ‘Both Ways’ by Kate Baer from the collection, ‘How about Now’* ‘This Perimenopausal Mother’ by Stephanie Moore* All About Power, from ‘She wrote her own eulogy’ by Shirley May* ‘Finding Confidence’ by Nelly Bryce , from ‘Full of Herself’Books and poetry collections* ‘The Poetry of Sex’ edited by Sophie Hannah* Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys* Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë* All Fours by Miranda July * Breakdown by Cathy Sweeney* She Wrote Her Own Eulogy by Shirley May* Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words by David Whyte* Consolations II: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words by David Whyte* The Housekeeper by Rose Tremain* Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier* Helm by Sarah Hall* Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall* How About Now: Poems by Kate Baer* Instructions for Traveling West: Poems by Joy Sullivan This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryoverpatriarchy.substack.com

This is one of those episodes which we want anyone who doesn’t think they like poetry to listen to. Jen was a truly brilliant guest; wow’ing us with her tales of writing poems on a typewriter, chucking SO many great recommendations our way (I think possibly the most we’ve had yet?) and reminding us how much poetry can be found in the everyday. We chatted oysters (randomly), girls weekends and ‘mournful wood pigeons’ - yeah, you’ll just have to listen so this makes sense. In amongst poem choices that might just stop you in your tracks. We’ve included a photograph of one of Jen’s poems in this post, mainly because we wanted you to enjoy it all over again in written format. This is ‘The Four of us in August’ from her collection, ‘A Dress With Deep Pockets’. We just LOVE it. How about you?You can follow Jen Feroze over on Instagram here. If you’re over there, please do. We all know how annoying the algorithm is, so this is one way to support your fellow female artists - with a follow or a save or a comment. Or you can find Jen over on her website (including for all enquiries relating to her typewriting services - which we personally were OBSESSED with on the podcast) - here. And below you’ll also find links to ALL the poetry books, poems, novels we discuss on this episode. Hope you enjoy it,Nelly and Steph xCollections, pamphlets and books* The Colour of Hope: Poems of Happiness in Uncertain Times by Jen Feroze* Tiny Bright Thorns by Jen Feroze* A Dress with Deep Pockets by Jen Feroze* Looking Through Letterboxes by Caroline Bird* Rookie: Selected Poems by Caroline Bird* The Republic of Motherhood by Liz Berry* Mules of Love by Ellen Bass* Only As the Day Is Long: New and Selected Poems by Dorianne Laux* Black Bag by Luke Kennard* Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy* The Names by Florence KnappAnthologies* You Can Do It With a Broken Heart edited by Ana Sampson* Poems of Hope and Courage edited by Ana Sampson* She Is Fierce: Brave, Bold and Beautiful Poems by Women edited by Ana Sampson* She Will Soar: Bright, Brave Poems of Freedom by Women edited by Ana Sampson* Cosy Poems chosen by Gaby Morgan* Poems That Make Grown Men Cry: 100 Men on the Words That Move Them edited by Anthony Holden and Ben Holden* Poetry Prescription series compiled by Deborah AlmaIndividual poems* Your Heartbreak by Caroline Bird* Horse Heart by Liz Berry* Stationery by Agha Shahid Ali* Can’t Get Over Her by Ellen Bass* Spa Day by Jen Feroze* I Invite My Grown-Up Daughter Round for Dinner by Jen Feroze* The Four of Us in August by Jen Feroze This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryoverpatriarchy.substack.com

Hello!Episode Five and in this episode we get honest about creativity; how often we allow ourselves to go completely unscripted (it’s such an interesting question), how phones crowd out our creative space and the stuff (and people) that keep us inspired. This is possibly our least planned episode yet, which feels appropriate given the topic. A list of the poets, poetry books and everything else we mention in this episode:June Jordan - The Essential June Jordon (and other books)Amie McNee - Books and artwork and podcastSuleika Jaouad - The Alchemy Journal and Substack Elizabeth Gilbert - Big Magic book and Substack Julia Cameron - The Artists Way Rick Rubin - The Creative Act - A Way of Being Katy Hessel - How to Live a Creative Life Natalie Goldberg - Writing down the bones (books)Anne Lamott - Bird by Bird (book)As always, we’d love to know your thoughts. Whether that be about the episode in general or adding your thoughts to ours. Do you think creative work becomes complete when someone else has seen it? Do you find it easy to create without knowing what’s going to happen next? Do you ever feel like creativity is something “coming through you” as opposed to something you are consciously doing? We’d love to know,Nelly and Steph x This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryoverpatriarchy.substack.com

Hello! We’re back with another episode and another guest. This week we are joined by poetry anthology Queen, Ana Sampson. There’s very little about poetry anthologies that Ana doesn’t know. In the introduction to this episode I say that Ana has edited 16 anthologies, apparently it is more like 19. Yep, 19. These include the two neon-covered beauties, "‘She Is Fierce’ and ‘She Will Rise’ (both books that I have gifted to friends in the past), ‘Night Feeds & Mornings Songs’ and her latest, ‘You Can Do It With a Broken Heart’. She has also had an impressive 25-year career in book publishing and publicity. As you can imagine we had a long list of questions and struggled to condense our conversation down to under an hour. But condense it down we did. In this episode Ana and Steph talk Nunlit (seriously, who knew, not me), there are TONS of great book recommendations and of course, poetry choices by someone who knows the poetry world VERY well. Ana’s gorgeous newest anthology, ‘You Can Do It With a Broken Heart’, is out now, and we can confirm, it’s another beauty. Not just for anyone currently broken-hearted (though it will work it’s magic if you are), there are poems by both older and more contemporary poets and it finishes with a perfect section titled, ‘A New Dawn’. Steph and I both LOVE an anthology - they are like the gateway drug into poetry. The perfect option when you’re not exactly sure what you like or what you need. My book shelf is full of them. Tell us, are you the same? Do you have any favourite anthologies that we might need? And do let us know how you find this episode. Hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did…Nelly and Steph x This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryoverpatriarchy.substack.com

Ok, this is a vulnerable one. It’s Episode Three and I think this is the one where we find our flow; in terms of the depth of conversation we are hoping to have when it’s just us two. In this episode we talk about how parenting teenagers is way harder than we expected (and reflect on the early days of motherhood when you’re writing poems in the middle of the night), how sharing your art does feel pretty daunting (especially at first) and why we should all make time to go back and celebrate the projects we completed years ago (why not?!)Along the way we share poems (yes, one made us both cry), talk about publishing our first collections and discuss how writing your truths (even if uncomfortable) does lead to some magical places. Oh and Steph makes me laugh so hard in the first five minutes that it’s a wonder I carried on. As always, we’d love to know how you found this episode. Send us a message, say hello over on Instagram or leave us a review why don’t you. THANK YOU.Loads of loveNelly and Steph x This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryoverpatriarchy.substack.com

Join us for our very first guest on the podcast. Jillian Stacia shares a selection of her poems with us, plus tells us about her new poetry collection, ‘Set the Bone’. In this conversation we talk about poetry as a way to tell difficult truths and remain fully alive in an unstable world. We absolutely love how Jillian writes so candidly about marriage, motherhood, anxiety and the pressures placed on women - even though that honesty might make people feel uncomfortable. Both Steph and I had numerous page folds and post-it notes on our copies of the book! It’s a great read and hopefully, a great listen.The poems we read on the podcast today are:* ‘I remember’ by Anne Sexton, ‘The Complete Poems: Anne Sexton’* ‘I worried’ by Mary Oliver, ‘Devotions’ , published by Little brown book group* ‘Small Kindnesses’ by Danusha Laméris, ‘Bonfire Opera’ published by University of Pittsburgh Press* ‘The Conditional’ by Ada Limón, ‘Bright dead things’ published by Milkweed Editions* ‘You Can Fight Fascism in a Feather Boa’ - Jillian Stacia, ‘Set the Bone’ published by Arcana Poetry Press. Jillian Stacia Do let us know how you found this episode. Also any shares, likes, reviews would be SO very welcome. Nelly and Steph x This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryoverpatriarchy.substack.com

Happy National Poetry Day!Presumably you’ve had a beautiful poem read to you over breakfast this morning? Oh, you haven’t? Fear not, we’ve got you covered, because today is also the launch day for the Poetry Over Patriarchy podcast and we have our very first official episode of Season One for you. In this episode we pick our own favourite poems by way of introducing ourselves as hosts. Listen out for a particularly magical moment towards the end when we can only apologise for the pitch of our joint giddiness. The theme for this years National Poetry Day was ‘wonder’ and we had BIG plans to write something about our personal experiences with a Wonderbra. Turns out that editing a podcast series takes a little longer than we expected! So, we’re just going to throw that out into the Universe and see what you got? It’s all yours. Write what you will - and come back and share with us please. Also, do let us know which (if any) of the poems we share in this episode are your favourite. Or any other thoughts / comments / ideas after listening. REALLY hope you like it, Nelly and Steph x This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryoverpatriarchy.substack.com

Hello!!!It’s been a crazy busy few weeks for us. We’ve recorded the first two episodes of the podcast, spoken to our first ever guest (it even more fun than we imagined, we cannot wait to share it with you), and we’ve figured out how to make a trailer (see above). There’s been the steep learning curve on how to use editing software, looking for jingles (is that the right word, we’ve not chosen one yet) and A LOT of pre-reading for future guests (a lot of fun). At least every third sentence we say is, “OH, we should talk about THAT on the podcast” - whether THAT is the friendships that keep us sane, the ‘interesting’ relationships we have certain other women in our lives, or whether we’re having good sex (deep breath for when we tackle that subject, haha). And ALL the poetry that is guiding us into these conversations - conversations that we hope you might want to join us in having. Anyway, if you’ve already subscribed THANK YOU. And if you haven’t, COME ON, come play. Subscribing is the way we’ll tell you when the first episode goes live on THURSDAY 1st OCTOBER and when all other episodes land. Plus we’re writers first and foremost, so we do plan to share more via the written ‘page’ - poems that we didn’t have time for during the podcast episodes, other behind the scenes chat etc. This week in particular (after an IG post we did was flagged as entirely AI content- ermmmmm???) we’ve been musing on what poems make us feel most ALIVE during this crazy new era we’ve entered. An era where artists have their art stolen by Ai, then have to try and prove that the art they are creating ISN’T Ai, by using Ai. Is your head hurting? Ours are. Anyway, if you have any poems to share with us, please do in the comments. We’ll take all we can get….Hope you like the trailer. Nelly and Steph x This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryoverpatriarchy.substack.com

🎙️Episode One: Summer, unscripted. ☀️After over a year of conversations, shared poems, voice notes and ideas, we decided to dive in and press record.In this first episode, we chat a little about the inspiration for the PoP Pod, the glorious (and chaotic) summer holiday juggle, and how we’re hoping to stay creative while the days become less structured and a little more sun-soaked.We share some of our own summer words and musings, a few summer poems we’ve been loving, book recommendations to add to your list, podcasts and cultural gems, and a handful of creative prompts if you’re craving a little inspiration of your own.✨It’s beautifully messy. Deliberately imperfect.We wanted to show up before everything was polished. To lean into our anti-patriarchy values and begin anyway, rather than waiting until it was flawless.So yes… the sound quality isn’t perfect, some of the edits are a little choppy and we’re still discovering our PoP formula. Not to mention the need for intros/endings and maybe a theme tune!BUT…we’d much rather invite you into the first chapter than wait until we’d ironed out every crease. We’d much rather show up as we are, than pretend we are some slick operation (less AI, more human!) Are we nervous about that? Yeah, a little. Do we imagine we’ll look back at this episode and laugh at how rubbish it is - hopefully. Because if we don’t, then we didn’t start. And our message will always be…just start the thing. We’d love to know:✨ What did you enjoy?📚 Which books or summer poems are YOU loving right now? What is on your summer reading list, please do tell us…🎙️ What Poetry over Patriarchy themes would you like us to explore in future episodes?☀️ How are you carving out space for your own creativity this summer?Thank you for embracing our first-draft energy. We’ve already upgraded the software for September… 😉If this episode made you smile, think, laugh, pause or pick up a book or pen, we’d be so grateful if you’d share it with someone who might enjoy choosing Poetry over Patriarchy too.We can’t wait to hear what you think. 💛 Nelly and Steph xP.s If you press subscribe then we will update you when our next episode is ready, alongside ALL the other stuff we have in the pipeline. Here for the ride?? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit poetryoverpatriarchy.substack.com