Episodes

  • Ep 208: Password to the Ghost World, Pt. 1
    Aug 13 2025
    SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems. NB: Oops, I said the wrong first name of Marilyn vos SavantMy book Midlife now exists. Buy it here, or leave it a rating here or hereFor more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW, join the group chat, and send me a poem for Listener Crit!Leave the show a rating here (actually, just do it on your phone, it’s easier). Thanks!Wear SLEERICKETS t-shirts and hoodies. They look good!SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:– Bronze Age Mindset by Bronze Age Pervert– The Cleveland Roundtable– Borat– Chapo Trap House– Jordan Peterson– ContraPoints on YouTube & Patreon– Yosha Iglesias– Vanessa Place’s Gone with the Wind project– Kenneth Goldsmith– Mark Leidner– Michael Shermer’s interview with Michael Egnor & Christof Koch– Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came by Robert Browning– On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin– There Are More Things by Jorge Luis Borges– Thomas Ligotti– Hasan Piker– Christopher Hitchens– Ta-Nehisi Coates– Dave Smith– J. D. Vance– Camille Paglia– Red Scare– The Monty Hall problem– Margaret Mead– The Brontosaurus– Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius by Jorge Luis Borges– Toni Morrison’s Nobel lecture– Michel Foucault– Sabrina Carpenter– Betty Boop– The Bud Light boycott– The Sydney Sweeney jeans ad– Plato’s CaveFrequently mentioned names:– Joshua Mehigan– Shane McCrae– A. E. Stallings– Ryan Wilson– Morri Creech– Austin Allen– Jonathan Farmer– Zara Raab– Amit Majmudar– Ethan McGuire– Coleman Glenn– Chris Childers– Alexis Sears– JP Gritton– Alex Pepple– Ernie Hilbert– Joanna Pearson– Matt WallOther Ratbag Poetry Pods:Poetry Says by Alice AllanI Hate Matt Wall by Matt WallVersecraft by Elijah BlumovRatbag Poetics By David Jalal MotamedAlice: In Future PostsBrian: @BPlatzerCameron: Minor TiresiasMatthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] comMusic by ETRNLArt by Daniel Alexander Smith
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    1 hr and 32 mins
  • Ep 207: Wild Ernestness, Pt. 1, ft. Jonathan Farmer
    Aug 6 2025
    NB: Alice also recommends this highly Mountainhead-esque footage of Peter Thiel.SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems. My book Midlife now exists. Buy it here, or leave it a rating here or hereFor more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW, join the group chat, and send me a poem for Listener Crit!Leave the show a rating here (actually, just do it on your phone, it’s easier). Thanks!Wear SLEERICKETS t-shirts and hoodies. They look good!SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:Carson McCullersNational Book Critics Circle: A Conversation on Poetry CriticismThe Case Against the Trauma Plot by Parul SehgalVIDA: Women in Literary ArtsPaul ValeryLinda GregersonStanley PlumlyEp 132: Intermittent Positive Reinforcement on Harry HarlowHow Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen? by Lillian RossAcross the River and into the Trees by Ernest HemingwayThe Profile Hemingway Could Never Live Down by Adam GopnikCurtis Yarvin's Plot Against America by Ava KofmanMountainhead (2025) Drake VS Kendrick Explained to White People by Josh JohnsonSecret show notesPacino's speech in Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) Tar (2023) Ep 166: Three Bird Mafia, ft. Jonathan Farmer on the Order of the Third BirdThe Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Ernest HemingwaySoldier’s Home by Ernest HemingwayIn Another Country by Ernest HemingwayFear and Trembling by Søren KierkegaardScrambled Eggs & Whiskey: Poems, 1991 to 1995 by Hayden CarruthFrequently mentioned names:– Joshua Mehigan– Shane McCrae– A. E. Stallings– Ryan Wilson– Morri Creech– Austin Allen– Jonathan Farmer– Zara Raab– Amit Majmudar– Ethan McGuire– Coleman Glenn– Chris Childers– Alexis Sears– JP Gritton– Alex Pepple– Ernie Hilbert– Joanna Pearson– Matt WallOther Ratbag Poetry Pods:Poetry Says by Alice AllanI Hate Matt Wall by Matt WallVersecraft by Elijah BlumovRatbag Poetics By David Jalal MotamedAlice: In Future PostsBrian: @BPlatzerCameron: Minor TiresiasMatthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] comMusic by ETRNLArt by Daniel Alexander Smith
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    59 mins
  • Ep 206: Feels Good While It’s Happening, ft. Matt Wall
    Aug 1 2025
    SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems. My book Midlife now exists. Buy it here, or leave it a rating here or hereFor more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW, join the group chat, and send me a poem for Listener Crit!Leave the show a rating here (actually, just do it on your phone, it’s easier). Thanks!Wear SLEERICKETS t-shirts and hoodies. They look good!SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:– Donate to Matt’s Seasons of the Muse Indiegogo fundraiser!– Bukowski Pod– Matt’s Art– Poetic Anarchy Press– Shaylynn Marks– When I Was a Poet by David Meltzer– Neeli Cherkovski– Charles Bukowski– Allen Ginsberg– Martin Esslin– The Meat Poets– The Beat Generation– The Theatre of the Absurd– Lawrence Ferlinghetti– Gregory Corso– The San Francisco Renaissance– Jack Kerouac– Ocean Vuong– Andrea Long Chu’s review of Ocean Vuong– Tom Crewe’s review of Ocean Vuong– The Black Mountain Poets– So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)– Ben Jonson– Robert Herrick– The Tribe of Ben– The Hatred of Poetry by Ben Lerner– Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner– Douglas Blazek– Weird Mask Magazine– Arthur Rimbaud– Holly Day– Adam Crawford– Francois Villon– The Creative Act by Rick Rubin– The Art Spirit by Robert Henri– Black Square by Kazimir Malevich– On the Beach by Nevil Schutes– Every Day Is Like Sunday by Morrissey– New and Collected Hell by Shane McCrae– I Am 25 by Gregory Corso– Pier Paolo Pasolini– The Portrait Gallery Called Existence by Neeli Cherkovski– Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong– Seventh Circle of Earth by Ocean Vuong– An Epistle Answering to One That Asked to Be Sealed of the Tribe of Ben by Ben Jonson– Without by Donald HallFrequently mentioned names:– Joshua Mehigan– Shane McCrae– A. E. Stallings– Ryan Wilson– Morri Creech– Austin Allen– Jonathan Farmer– Zara Raab– Amit Majmudar– Ethan McGuire– Coleman Glenn– Chris Childers– Alexis Sears– JP Gritton– Alex Pepple– Ernie Hilbert– Joanna Pearson– Matt WallOther Ratbag Poetry Pods:Poetry Says by Alice AllanI Hate Matt Wall by Matt WallVersecraft by Elijah BlumovRatbag Poetics By David Jalal MotamedAlice: In Future PostsBrian: @BPlatzerCameron: Minor TiresiasMatthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] comMusic by ETRNLArt by Daniel Alexander SmithSLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems. My book Midlife now exists. Buy it here, or leave it a rating here or hereFor more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW, join the group chat, and send me a poem for Listener Crit!Leave the show a rating here (actually, just do it on your phone, it’s easier). Thanks!Wear SLEERICKETS t-shirts and hoodies. They look good!SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:– Donate to Matt’s Seasons of the Muse Indiegogo fundraiser!– Bukowski Pod– Matt’s Art– Poetic Anarchy Press– Shaylynn Marks– When I Was a Poet by David Meltzer– Neeli Cherkovski– Charles Bukowski– Allen Ginsberg– Martin Esslin– The Meat Poets– The Beat Generation– The Theatre of the Absurd– Lawrence Ferlinghetti– Gregory Corso– The San Francisco Renaissance– Jack Kerouac– Ocean Vuong– Andrea Long Chu’s review of Ocean Vuong– Tom Crewe’s review of Ocean Vuong– The Black Mountain Poets– So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)– Ben Jonson– Robert Herrick– The Tribe of Ben– The Hatred of Poetry by Ben Lerner– Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner– Douglas Blazek– Weird Mask Magazine– Arthur Rimbaud– Holly Day– Adam Crawford– Francois Villon– The Creative Act by Rick Rubin– The Art Spirit by Robert Henri– Black Square by Kazimir Malevich– On the Beach by Nevil Schutes– Every Day Is Like Sunday by Morrissey– New and Collected Hell by Shane McCrae– I Am 25 by Gregory Corso– Pier Paolo Pasolini– The Portrait Gallery Called Existence by Neeli Cherkovski– Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong– Seventh Circle of Earth by Ocean Vuong– An Epistle Answering to One That Asked to Be Sealed of the Tribe of Ben by Ben Jonson– Without by Donald HallFrequently mentioned names:– Joshua Mehigan– Shane McCrae– A. E. Stallings– Ryan Wilson– Morri Creech– Austin Allen– Jonathan Farmer– Zara Raab– Amit Majmudar– Ethan McGuire– Coleman Glenn– Chris Childers– Alexis Sears– JP Gritton– Alex Pepple– Ernie Hilbert– Joanna Pearson– Matt WallOther Ratbag Poetry Pods:Poetry Says by Alice AllanI Hate Matt Wall by Matt ...
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    59 mins
  • Ep 205: Ascending Orders of Meaninglessness
    Jul 26 2025
    SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems. NB: I said pull quotes but they’re actually, like, source quotes or something.My book Midlife now exists. Buy it here, or leave it a rating here or hereFor more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW, join the group chat, and send me a poem for Listener Crit!Leave the show a rating here (actually, just do it on your phone, it’s easier). Thanks!Wear SLEERICKETS t-shirts and hoodies. They look good!SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:– I’ve got some poems in the terrific new issue of Poetry London!– Niall Campbell– Mark Leidner’s interview with Hilary Plum– ChatGPT Gave Instructions for Murder, Self-Mutilation, and Devil Worship by Lila Shroff– Brad Listi’s interview with Jessa Crispin– Ep 195: The White Guy Publishing Vortex, ft. Ethan McGuire, Pt. 1 & Pt. 2– Ep 204: Darkness Audible– Jay Caspian Kang– Freddie deBoer– Hell House (2001)– Roko’s BasiliskFrequently mentioned names:– Joshua Mehigan– Shane McCrae– A. E. Stallings– Ryan Wilson– Morri Creech– Austin Allen– Jonathan Farmer– Zara Raab– Amit Majmudar– Ethan McGuire– Coleman Glenn– Chris Childers– Alexis Sears– JP Gritton– Alex Pepple– Ernie Hilbert– Joanna PearsonOther Ratbag Poetry Pods:Poetry Says by Alice AllanI Hate Matt Wall by Matt WallVersecraft by Elijah BlumovRatbag Poetics By David Jalal MotamedAlice: In Future PostsBrian: @BPlatzerCameron: Minor TiresiasMatthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] comMusic by ETRNLArt by Daniel Alexander Smith
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    58 mins
  • Ep 204: Darkness Audible
    Jul 19 2025
    SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems. NB: Did I forget about Hitler? you ask. Did I forget about Stalin? On the one hand, yes, I temporarily did. On the other, there’s something about the notion that Gilles de Rais did all this personally in his own home for the explicit purpose of impressing the Devil with his evilness that really sickens the soul. But yes, good point, there’s always Hitler, who was, in his own way, the worst person who ever lived.My book Midlife now exists. Buy it here, or leave it a rating here or hereFor more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW, join the group chat, and send me a poem for Listener Crit!Leave the show a rating here (actually, just do it on your phone, it’s easier). Thanks!Wear SLEERICKETS t-shirts and hoodies. They look good!SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:– Paradise Lost by John Milton– Conspiracy by ContraPoints– Cameron’s travel notes– This Pleasing Anxious Being by Richard Wilbur– Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray– The Versecraft interview w/ James Matthew Wilson– The Death of Cicero by James Matthew Wilson (compare the first line to the first line of Leda and the Swan by W. B. Yeats)– The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov– How to Blow Up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm– How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022)– Bronze Age Mindset by Bronze Age Pervert– ContraPoints’ comment on Gaza– Ready or Not (2019) & The Babysitter (2017) (same concept, same cosmology, same leading lady, both pretty entertaining)– The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina– Evil– Rod Dreher– La-bas by J.-K. Huysmans– Toni Morrison’s 1993 Nobel Prize lecure– The Tower of Babel– Canceling by ContraPoints– We Lived Happily During the War by Ilya Kaminsky– Mitchell & Webb’s Lucentio sketchFrequently mentioned names:– Joshua Mehigan– Shane McCrae– A. E. Stallings– Ryan Wilson– Morri Creech– Austin Allen– Jonathan Farmer– Zara Raab– Amit Majmudar– Ethan McGuire– Coleman Glenn– Chris Childers– Alexis Sears– JP Gritton– Alex Pepple– Ernie Hilbert– Joanna PearsonOther Ratbag Poetry Pods:Poetry Says by Alice AllanI Hate Matt Wall by Matt WallVersecraft by Elijah BlumovRatbag Poetics By David Jalal MotamedAlice: In Future PostsBrian: @BPlatzerCameron: Minor TiresiasMatthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] comMusic by ETRNLArt by Daniel Alexander Smith
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    1 hr and 23 mins
  • Ep 203: Gateway Drugs, ft. Mark Leidner, Pt. 1
    Jul 12 2025
    NB: Oops, I meant 18th century. Also, Michael Haneke is Austrian after all.SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems. My book Midlife now exists. Buy it here, or leave it a rating here or hereFor more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW, join the group chat, and send me a poem for Listener Crit!Leave the show a rating here (actually, just do it on your phone, it’s easier). Thanks!Wear SLEERICKETS t-shirts and hoodies. They look good!SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:– Toni Morrison’s 1993 Nobel Prize lecure– Leopards in the Temple" by Franz Kafka (couldn’t find any good links, so here’s the text Mark copy-pasted to me: “Leopards break into the temple and drink to the dregs what is in the sacrificial pitchers; this is repeated over and over again; finally it can be calculated in advance, and it becomes a part of the ceremony.“)– Returning the Sword to the Stone by Mark Leidner– Mark’s Substack: Opaque Hourglass– Recitatif by Tony Morrison– Funny Games (1997 & 2007)– Hamlet– Julius Caesar– Jack Handey– Andy Kaufman– Plato– The Gettysburg Address– Amleth– The Tower of Babel– The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil– Harold Pinter’s 2005 Nobel Prize lecture– Chelsey Minnis– Juvenilia by Hera Lindsay Bird– A Field of Telephones by Zach Savich– Dogs of War by Mark LeidnerFrequently mentioned names:– Joshua Mehigan– Shane McCrae– A. E. Stallings– Ryan Wilson– Morri Creech– Austin Allen– Jonathan Farmer– Zara Raab– Amit Majmudar– Ethan McGuire– Coleman Glenn– Chris Childers– Alexis Sears– JP Gritton– Alex Pepple– Ernie Hilbert– Joanna PearsonOther Ratbag Poetry Pods:Poetry Says by Alice AllanI Hate Matt Wall by Matt WallVersecraft by Elijah BlumovRatbag Poetics By David Jalal MotamedAlice: In Future PostsBrian: @BPlatzerCameron: Minor TiresiasMatthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] comMusic by ETRNLArt by Daniel Alexander Smith
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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Ep 202: Listener Crit #3
    Jul 3 2025
    SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems. My book Midlife now exists. Buy it here, or leave it a rating here or hereFor more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW, join the group chat, and send me a poem for Listener Crit!Leave the show a rating here (actually, just do it on your phone, it’s easier). Thanks!Wear SLEERICKETS t-shirts and hoodies. They look good!SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:Pretty Woman (1990)Pretty Woman cut scenesInsomnia by Elizabeth BishopLove Poem by John ForbesA Gift by Don Paterson90 North by Randall JarrellIn Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markievicz by W. B. YeatsHeorot by Ryan WIlson James McAuleyEp 198: Shark WeekDan SavageFootloose (1984)Secret show notesBodies by Drowning PoolNew Year’s: A Short Pantoum by Greg WilliamsonCold Turkey by Joshua MehiganDropping a Han Dynasty Urn by Ai WeiweiHills Like White Elephants by Ernest HemingwayAmy HempelTired by Fenton JohnstonSonnet 130PriamelPresto Manifesto! by A. E. StallingsIn Memoriam A. H. H. by Alfred, Lord TennysonNietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist by Walter KaufmannSonnet 19: When I consider how my light is spent by John MiltonOgden NashThe Brand New Catastrophe by Mike Scalise EncomiumFlorida by Lauren GroffTravelling through the Dark by William StaffordAfter Filing for Divorce by Chelsea Rathburn The Soft Black Stars by Matthew Buckley SmithAubade by Philip LarkinOmnibus Review of Terrance Hayes, Charles Martin, Natasha Trethewey by Matthew Buckley SmithFrequently mentioned names:– Joshua Mehigan– Shane McCrae– A. E. Stallings– Ryan Wilson– Morri Creech– Austin Allen– Jonathan Farmer– Zara Raab– Amit Majmudar– Ethan McGuire– Coleman Glenn– Chris Childers– Alexis Sears– JP Gritton– Alex Pepple– Ernie Hilbert– Joanna PearsonOther Ratbag Poetry Pods:Poetry Says by Alice AllanI Hate Matt Wall by Matt WallVersecraft by Elijah BlumovRatbag Poetics By David Jalal MotamedAlice: In Future PostsBrian: @BPlatzerCameron: Minor TiresiasMatthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] comMusic by ETRNLArt by Daniel Alexander Smith
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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • Ep 201: I Am My Shelf of Books, ft. Brad Leithauser, Pt. 1
    Jun 29 2025
    SLEERICKETS is a podcast about poetry and other intractable problems. My book Midlife now exists. Buy it here, or leave it a rating here or hereFor more SLEERICKETS, subscribe to SECRET SHOW, join the group chat, and send me a poem for Listener Crit!Leave the show a rating here (actually, just do it on your phone, it’s easier). Thanks!Wear SLEERICKETS t-shirts and hoodies. They look good!SLEERICKETS is now on YouTube!For a frank, anonymous critique on SLEERICKETS, subscribe to the SECRET SHOW and send a poem of no more 25 lines to sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] com Some of the topics mentioned in this episode:– The Old Current by Brad Leithauser– Rhyme’s Rooms by Brad Leithauser– Forty-Five Years On by Brad Leithauser– Anthony Hecht– A. E. Housman– Charlotte Mew– Marianne Moore– Katsushika Hokusai– John Crowe Ransom– Robert Frost– John Milton– Iron John: A Book about Men by Robert Bly– Elizabeth Bishop– Chidiock Tichborne– Richard KenneyFrequently mentioned names:– Joshua Mehigan– Shane McCrae– A. E. Stallings– Ryan Wilson– Morri Creech– Austin Allen– Jonathan Farmer– Zara Raab– Amit Majmudar– Ethan McGuire– Coleman Glenn– Chris Childers– Alexis Sears– JP Gritton– Alex Pepple– Ernie Hilbert– Joanna PearsonOther Ratbag Poetry Pods:Poetry Says by Alice AllanI Hate Matt Wall by Matt WallVersecraft by Elijah BlumovRatbag Poetics By David Jalal MotamedAlice: In Future PostsBrian: @BPlatzerCameron: Minor TiresiasMatthew: sleerickets [at] gmail [dot] comMusic by ETRNLArt by Daniel Alexander Smith
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    1 hr and 11 mins