Poking Around
Episodes
Hello We Have Returned
21 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: While in a Zoom Meeting Regarding the Work Stoppage Set to Begin Tomorrow at 5 a.m. by Ayokunle Falomo. Featured topics: annoyance, s...
Christmas Eve Eve
23 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Carol by Ishion HutchinsonPoem read with permission from the author. Theme song by Allegra RitchieSend us your poems inspired by our t...
The Summer House Vaseline Oasis at Bravo Con
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: A Jelly-Fish by Marianne Moore. Featured topics: immortality, trains, insurance, and the great wide world of reality television. Poem i...
No Chewing Allowed
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Mudlarking by Rebecca Faulkner. Featured topics: ghosts, sisters, childhood, nostalgia, yearning, holiday markets, righteousness, and c...
Thanksgiving Special
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Success by Bessie Anderson Stanley. Featured topics: living, laughing, loving, succeeding, being grateful, and of course, an egg's ...
Dollar Coin Wish
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: At the bar, C calls me lonely, like actually" by Loisa FenichellFeatured topics: childhood friends, spinsters, vending machines,...
The Papaya
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Braintree by Kristina Percy. Featured topics: motherhood, fig wasps, the wisdom of children, brains, fruits, and Hannah's 2020 conf...
Roaches Vote Twice
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Cockroach by Jenny Qi. Featured topics: ELECTION DAY!, Las Vegas, language bastardization, pigeon nests, voter fraud, and ice cream lin...
Doggy Dog World
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Incunabula, Mother Tongue by Max McDonough. Featured topics: insomnia, idioms, language, mothers, witches, shame, and the way that love...
Invasive Species
14 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: I Nominate the Linden to Continue Its Service As Tree of Longing & Aromatic Futility by Alina Stefanescu. Featured topics: trees, n...
Haunted AMC
07 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sorry this episode is echoey! Join us in the tunnel chamber of poem creation :) Featured poem: A Dream Within a Dream by Edgar Allan Poe. Featured top...
First Timers
30 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: The World Has Not Been Cruel to Him Yet by Allison Mei-Li. Featured topics: sweetie pie little boys, gender, camp, and drug experiences...
Compliment Sandwich
23 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: The Beautiful World by Noah Rafael Seltzer. Featured topics: New Mexico, Bushwick, birds and following them, theme parks, Irish pubs, F...
Blissed Off the Glyss
16 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Untitled 1975 — 86 by Jason B. Crawford. Featured topics: bobs, trains, safety, oysters, eczema, ads, and cannibalism. Poem read with...
What a Nice View
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: How to be Hopeful by Barbara Kingsolver Featured topics: mascara, nuclear fallout, objectification but it’s okay, thigh high boots, ...
Earth to Patricia
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: I’m Coming to Terms with my Body by Claire E. ScottFeatured topics: trains, planes, bodies, blame, women in STEM, and a longform cart...
Boyhood
26 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Eight Stair by Joshua Turek. Featured topics: bumblebees, skateboarding, boys, and construction. Poem read with permission from the aut...
Christmas in August
19 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Lie I’ve Told My 3-Year-Old Recently by Raul Gutierrez Featured topics: the heat, K Pop Demon Hunters, lies we tell to children, the...
The Precision of Language
12 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Anniversary by Max McDonoughFeatured topics: teen boys, birds, a perfect poem, the precision of language, and a funny DM from a strange...
Pistachio Girl Summer
05 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: My Mistakes Come from Not Paying Attention by Matthew Siegel Featured topics: creativity castles, bricks, things you can take on an ai...
Reinventing the Railroad
29 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: How the Jellyfish Prospered by Shira Erlichman. Featured topics: being 13, forgetting, jury duty, surrendering, rip tides, and trains. ...
Amateur Karaoke Mistakes
21 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: ICE by Sophie Cabot Black. Featured topics: sign language, France, the Fourth of July, the bravery of immigration, and our very differe...
The Aliens Are Here
15 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Murmuration by Nina Peláez. Featured topics: aliens, birds, instincts, safety, songs, and AI. Poem read with permission from the autho...
We Need to Have a Family Meeting
08 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: The Good News by Joseph Fasano. Featured topics: the NYC mayoral primary, mental health, resurrection, baptism cloths, sharpies, and va...
The Dovegon
01 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Oh My God I Miss You by Jeremy Radin. Featured topics: Materialists, age gap relationships, pigeon racing, yearning, Hannah’s Papa, O...
The Dress
24 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: When I Can't Sleep, I Google How the World Ends by Candace Kronen. Featured topics: the viral dress (2015), the end of so many worl...
Identical Boy Twins
17 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: What is a Country but a Borderless Sentence by Maya SalamehFeatured topics: the fiction of borders, the refusal of direct interpretatio...
Cow is Inappropriate
10 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Colorado lll by Peyton Fleming. Featured topics: edibles, camping, hometowns, claiming a space, and sexy yoga.Poem read with permission...
Green Card Marry Your Cousin
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: when faces called flowers float out of the ground by e.e. cummings Featured topics: springtime, caged birds vs birds (uncaged), the co...
Future Tripping ft. Allie Lawrence
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: My Sentimental Afternoon by Leila Chatti. Featured topics: college, dirty talk, subway platform as dating app, balloons, birthdays, and...
Mary and Joseph Are Running Out of Time (ft. Molly Hackett)
13 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Typewritten Excerpt by Molly Hackett. Featured topics: moths, imperfection, the distance between should and is, The Suite Life of Zach ...
B Health Rating
06 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: The Question by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. Featured topics: the path of love, mold, B health ratings, lazy advertising, being hangry, a...
Fully Cooked
29 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: I am now personally developed by Jordan Shea Page. Featured topics: Karl Marx, to-do lists, acts of becoming, and the haunting unknowab...
Deep in Duff Land
22 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Love Poem by Nick Martino Featured topics: birthdays, drugs, Disney World, Easter, and a really problematic thing that the Duff Sisters...
Siblings or Dating?
08 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: For arson by Fatema Alzari. Featured topics: little sisters, birthday party outfits, blonde adults, and Mandy Moore. Poem read with per...
There Once Was a Poet Named Boppa
01 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Episode re-air in remembrance of Zoe's Boppa, who passed away this year on the first day of spring. <3Featured poem: Two Limericks by Boppa (aka Zo...
Cruise O' Clock
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: City Lake by Chelsea DesAutels. Featured topics: cruise vibes, colonization, lakes, fishing, frogs, geese, mercy, and the way it's bett...
Fish Fight
18 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Cloudy with a Chance of Chapstick by Lancee Whetman Featured topics: how mermaids are made, dating apps, pucker fish, subway screens, ...
They Took Her Boots
11 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: To Revolt is to Insist on Joy by Nur Turkmani. Featured topics: International Women’s Day, voice notes, quitting, dads, M&M’...
I Saw Pink
04 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: For those who have been waiting Kelly Grace Thomas. Featured topics: the loud button of want, quitting, colors, sidekicks, time as a c...
Panning for Trash
25 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost.Featured topics: the family tree of poetry and comedy, the Gold Rush, how to invest your hard-ear...
Takeout Theft
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: This is Just to Say by William Carlos Williams. Featured topics: bus dynamics, suspension stories, selfish men, plums, ice boxes, lefto...
Types of Traps
11 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Acknowledgements by Franny Choi. Featured topics: minivans, sarcasm, big fish in small ponds, teeth, touch, and near death experiences...
Play-doh's Cave (ft. Molly Hackett)
04 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: This Too Shall Pass by Molly Hackett Featured topics: Graffiti, tunnel people, seasonal depression, curses, a bunch of religious and my...
Cousin Vibes
28 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Object Permanence by Nicole Sealey. Featured topics: travel, castles, cousins, love, tiers, and a crucial hard launch. Poem read with ...
Goochtown USA (ft. Patrick Zimmerman)
21 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Every Time I Change My Mind About Dying, I Have to Convince My Body by Hieu Minh Nguyen. Featured topics: headaches, high school swe...
A Sealant and a Smidge
14 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Evolution by Emily Jungmin Yoon Featured topics: New years, the French, the failures of language, deep sea creatures, and the unknowabl...
Girl Math
07 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: I hope this finds you by Raquel Franco Featured topics: Wicked the movie musical, hope and/or cautious optimism, manifestation, the cel...
Mommy Daddy + Me
10 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Everyone calls me their husband by Seamus Isaac Fey. Featured topics: bikes, phenomenons of all stripes, mommy issues, daddy issues, th...
Sadie Hawkins
03 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Laura I want you pulling your hair back by Natalie Dunn Featured topics: embarrassment, old friends, grinding at Sadie Hawkins, the Che...
Second Puberty (ft. Shea Vassar)
26 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured guest: Shea Vassar. Featured poem: The Ascetic by Hannah Bonner. Featured topics: IUDs, twisters, religious trauma, mommy issues, puberty, an...
Sew a Button on Your Underwear
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: The Thing Is by Ellen Bass Featured topics: Cryptocurrency, disgusting wine, the plain face of life, going commando, a wide variety of ...
Doll Scrubs
12 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: The Things We Leave Behind Elise M. Powers. Featured topics: fire, drought, matrilineal lines, legacy, wombs, diabetes, and American Gi...
The Perfect Combination of Art and Science
05 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: To be a person by Amy Kay. Featured topics: The New York City Marathon, Heinz ketchup, the moon, hot dogs, and the glorious city of Chi...
Elmo's World
29 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: A Poet's Poem by Brenda Shaughnessy Featured topics: eight definitions of the word fresh, Las Vegas slot machines, shitting your pan...
God is a Girl
22 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Dust by Dorianna Laux. Featured topics: childhood freedom, social norms, dream states, old friends, charging gems, and an original song...
Spinsters
15 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: I'm "wife" — I've finished that by Emily Dickinson. Featured topics: shots, wifedom, names, girlhood, heaven, snakes, and turf wars. ...
Pretend You're Them
08 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Reasons to Live by Ruth Awad. Featured topics: the afterlife, retirement, corporate gigs, fleeting crushes, stalking yourself on Instag...
Friends and Leaders for Life
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Value Form by Brendan Joyce Featured topics: a wasp attack, a poetry conference, capitalism, trains, mortgages, and the complicated and...
Dunkin' Donuts Gas Station
24 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Watching My Friend Pretend Her Heart Is Not Breaking by Rosemary Wahtola Trommer. Featured topics: outer space, grief, collecting all t...
Be Your Real ID Self
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Let's Get Married by José Oliverez. Featured topics: the joyful occasion of a rained upon wedding, the mystery of love, napkin bon...
Fishmanity (ft. Allegra Ritchie)
10 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Catch and Release by Allegra Ritchie. Featured topics: fly fishing, rod girl, New Zealand accents, the mysterious sorcery of hypnosis, ...
Dreamin' Juice
03 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Men Improve with the Years by William Butler Yeats. Featured topics: back to school, spookiness, confessions, the public domain, wine a...
Eat Your Heart Out
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: In the Desert by Stephen Crane. Featured topics: Gollum, assumptions, vague religious imagery, deserts, farts, and a point made threefo...
Phone Time Together
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: To write a good poem, sometimes I have to starve by Maria Giesbrecht. Featured topics: the importance of shame, tortured artists, voyeu...
Belly Up
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Not Horses by Natalie Shapero. Featured topics: German cockroaches, Colorado dispensaries, doing things afraid, the purpose of art maki...
Money Money Money
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Excerpt from The Teacher by Joseph Fasano. Featured topics: raising children, abandonment, the complicated nature of everything and eve...
American Girl Body Book
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Crepuscule by E.E. Cummings. Featured topics: playing in the sea, string bikinis, body neutrality, boys, brothers, wet bangs, and blue ...
The 28 Club (ft. Joel Haver)
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Love Poem for an Apocalypse by Dave Lucas. Featured guest: Joel Haver — your favorite prolific YouTuber and pasta-making friend. Feat...
Dear Diary (Pt. 2)
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: How to Live by Todd Dillard. Featured topics: Zoe's diaries, the art of hoarding via collage, caged birds, boys clubs, and the wis...
There Once Was a Poet Named Boppa
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Two Limericks by Boppa (aka Zoe's 93-year-old grandfather, aka Tom Branch). Featured topics: tit for tat, end of life arrangements...
Dear Diary (Pt. 1)
02 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Suggested Donation by Heather Christle. Featured topics: middle school diaries, human belongings, the impossibility of flight, high sc...
Megaphone Guys
25 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: This Poem Wants to Be a Lesbian Country Song So Bad by Erica Gillingham Featured topics: The Biggest Cutie Pie in New York, the America...
Kinsey 1.5
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Serendipity by Jeannine Hall Gailey. Featured topics: the Kinsey Scale, the female gaze, five dollar bills, the general concept of a gl...
States of Emergency
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Meditations in an Emergency by Cameron Awkward-Rich. Featured topics: blushing, the Titanic, the state of the world, our breaking heart...
Inventions: We've Gone Too Far
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured Poem: Dear Future Me (#12) by Lena Moses-Schmitt. Featured Topics: How to be a poet, 3D printing, the mind vs the body, and no-touch sinks. ...
I've Just Been to a Marvelous Party
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Short Distance Friendship Lyndsay Rush Featured topics: Dance Dance Revolution, a speakeasy dollar store, stuffed animal tea parties,...
The Zippo Begets
21 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: The Day Mary Oliver Died by James A. Pearson. Featured topics: the vibe of wishes, how to be immortal, dude friendship, em dashes. Sen...
Human vs Creature
14 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Giving Notice by Joy Sullivan. Featured topics: Mice, reformed finance bros, howling at the moon, and public transit. Poem read with p...
Birth Hyphen Day
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: Birth-day by Lucille Clifton. Featured topics: how to turn 21, getting dizzy, homework souls, and the tragic disappearance of woman pil...
Vitamin D Deficient
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: The Raincoat by Ada Limon. Featured topics: Forbes 30 Under 30, fairy smut, a rare and unnamed ailment, and manic pixie dream girls. An...
In Defense of Boyfriend
23 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Featured poem: This Year I Mean to be an Elephant by Wendy Xu. Featured topics: Blockbuster, shrooms, death by phone, & sexy babies. Poem read wi...
Bathroom Emergency
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's our first episode! Featured poem: Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye. Featured topics: Travel mishaps, past life murder, reverse nannying, and dati...