Best Robin Houghton Podcasts (2025)

1
Old Men | Cavalrymen - with Peter Daniels 1:02:48

3h ago1:02:48

1:02:48

Send us a text Why should not old men be mad? Hear Peter Daniels, a pioneer of gay men's writing in the UK, brood on the emptiness of boxes, speculate on what those Cavalrymen are up to behind the locked doors, cope with Quixotic characters and, finally, bathe in the pure light of silent contemplation. All this from Old Men published by Salt in 202…

1
Interview with Bethany Crandell, Co-Founder, Neighbors4Natives.org (Episode 117)

5d ago

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It really does matter what you have growing in your yard! If you choose to grow native plants, trees and shrubs, you will be making a positive contribution to the ecology of our urban living space. Native plants make an attractive home for birds, pollinators and other wildlife. Neighbors for Natives is a non profit in Nashville which has as its pur…

1
Crystal | Clarity - with Ellen Cranitch 54:24

20d ago54:24

54:24

Send us a text A gleam of love in hard times. Our guest Ellen Cranitch shares poems from her Bloodaxe collection Crystal, a subtle, multifaceted work arising from the discovery that her partner was addicted to crystal meth. Expect beauty, flashes of resilience and the deft capture of moments that sustain a relationship through this extreme challeng…

1
Interview with April Johnson, Assistant Director, Recreation Services, TN Dept Environment and Conservation (Episode 116)

12d ago

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Since the early 1950s, the State of Tennessee has had an interest in assisting Tennessee cities and counties in building strong communities through strong Parks and Recreation programs. Recreation consultancy services by the State to local governments continue today, and our guest April Johnson is at the forefront of that effort. April’s effort has…

1
Girls | Snakes - with Ruth Padel 1:01:17

26d ago1:01:17

1:01:17

Send us a text Psssssssssst! We've invited Ruth Padel to share work from her recent Chatto Poetry collection Girl. She talks about the power of girls, the mythologies woven around them and the responsibilities they must accept. She'll take us from Mary at the Annunciation (wearing a Primark T-shirt) to glimpsing a Serpent Queen from the 88 bus. Rob…

1
Oppression | Optimism - with Tishani Doshi 1:02:54

2M ago1:02:54

1:02:54

Send us a text What's that knocking? It's the multi-talented Tishani Doshi, sharing her Bloodaxe collection A God at the Door. You'll hear supple, powerful poems fuelled by a controlled rage at the continuing oppression of women, blended with a playful optimism and dazzling ability to weave history, contemporary politics, and vivid imagery. Plus Pe…

1
From the Archive: Caleb Parkin 35:37

2M ago35:37

35:37

Send us a text A revisit of Robin's interview with Caleb Parkin back in May 2022. Read a description and listen to the full episode here. Support the show Planet Poetry is a labour of love! If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support and Buy us a Coffee!By Caleb Parkin, Robin Houghton & Peter Kenny

1
Interview With Michael Robertson, 2024 TRPA Fellow, Director of Field Operations, TN State Parks (retired) Episode 115

3M ago

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Our guest today is Michael Robertson the recent recipient of the TRPA Fellow Award. This award is given each year in recognition of significant and sustained contributions to the field of Parks and Recreation. Mike has recently retired as head of Tennessee State Parks operations. Tennessee State Parks are recognized as among the best in the nation.…

1
Ponder | Poetry - with Dai George 58:07

3M ago58:07

58:07

Send us a text Ah-hem. Stop thinking like that. Think like a poet! Dwell in negative capability and write in a way that reflects the sheer messiness of human cognition! That's better isn't it? We meet Dai George and talk about his book How to Think Like a Poet (Bloomsbury Continuum 2024) - where Dai creates a new and generous canon of 24 poets from…

1
Interview With Author and Naturalist Joanna Brichetto, This Is How A Robin Drinks. Essays on Urban Nature (Episode 114)

4M ago

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For her second appearance on the Mark Fraley Podcast, we interview Joanna Brichetto about her new book, This Is How A Robin Drinks, Essays on Urban Nature. Joanna is a Certified Tennessee Naturalist and the producer of the well known blog/Instagram called Sidewalk Nature. The book consists of 52 essays, arranged by seasons (Summer, Winter, Spring F…

1
Seasons | Filsket Seas - with Martin Malone 56:26

4M ago56:26

56:26

Send us a text Strap on your best boots, and follow Martin Malone as he shoulders through the seasons on the rugged granite of Aberdeenshire's north sea coast, pondering nature, ecology, human resilience and frailty in his collection Gardenstown, from Broken Sleep Books , a beautiful collaboration with artist Bryan Angus. And we'll loiter in an Eng…

1
Interview with Michael Officer, Executive Officer Cuan Beo (Bay Life) organization, Galway Ireland (Episode 113) 50:48

5M ago50:48

50:48

Today I talk with Michael Officer of the Cuan Beo organization in Galway, Republic of Ireland. Michael and his organization are involved with the restoration of the oyster fishery in the Galway Bay. There have a multifaceted approach to their work. Priority is given to managing the quality and volume of the fresh water entering the bay from the wat…

1
Cuteness | Weirdness - with Isabel Galleymore 1:00:29

4M ago1:00:29

1:00:29

Send us a text Aw! You’re squishably cute! Yes you, dear listener. In this episode we meet Isabel Galleymore and hear from her highly original collection Baby Schema, published by Carcanet. Tempted into a big-eyed world of Disneyfied cuteness you’ll find things getting increasingly weird as Isabel examines its distorting relationship with nature, b…

1
Afropessimism | Affirmation - with Danez Smith 1:06:36

5M ago1:06:36

1:06:36

Send us a text Kerpow! The poetry fireworks are back. We spark our fifth season into life with Danez Smith – who shares poems from their astonishing collection Bluff (published by Vintage Penguin 2024), destined to be one of the books of the decade. Danez discusses everything from Afropessimism to the power of water as a metaphor. Plus we hear poem…

1
Vigils | Confabulations - with Robin Houghton & Peter Kenny 47:13

8M ago47:13

47:13

Send us a text Rrrrrrrip! Yikes! That’s the sound of the Planet Poetry rulebook being wantonly torn in half for our Season 4 finale. For one episode only Robin and Peter abandon their solemn vow and share some of their own poetry from forthcoming Pindrop and Mariscat publications. Then, under the chalky Sussex cliffs, we bask in recollections of an…

1
Historic Overton Park in Memphis Tennessee, Melissa McMasters and Eric Bridges of the Overton Park Conservancy (Episode 112) 51:55

9M ago51:55

51:55

Located in Mid Town Memphis, Overton park is a 342 acre gem. Established in 1902, this park is one of the rare local parks which predates the establishment of the State Park System and even predates the general enabling authority for Tennessee cities to have parks. Designed by George Kessler, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places…

1
Lost trades | Lost songs - with Jane Commane 1:05:40

9M ago1:05:40

1:05:40

Send us a text Grip the square steering wheel of your Austin Allegro and let Jane Commane navigate you through the haunted places of the post-industrial Midlands. She treats us to poems from Assembly Lines published by Bloodaxe including UnWeather, quite possibly the best Brexit response we've heard. We upload this episode on the day of the UK's Ge…

1
The Tennessee Smart Yard Program, with Amy Dunlap, Agricultural Extension Agent, University of Tennessee (Episode 111) 36:05

9M ago36:05

36:05

It is long past time that we reexamine the traditional notion of the American Yard. The highly manicured weed free turf grass lawn with associated ornamental shrubs can be highly wasteful in terms of the use of energy and water consumption. The widespread use of herbicides, fertilizers and pesticides by homeowners can be detrimental to the environm…

1
Fathers | Frontiers - with Rory Waterman 59:10

10M ago59:10

59:10

Send us a text Hear Rory Waterman describe his experience of being stuck in quarantine in Korea, where (as well as doing press ups) he used his time to begin his fourth collection Come Here to This Gate, from Carcanet Poetry. He tells us about Korea's DMZ, hilarious Lincolnshire folk tales, and we explore an exceptionally moving sequence about the …

1
Bold Lines | Black Pages - with Seni Seneviratne 48:29

10M ago48:29

48:29

Send us a text Silent faces and displaced lives. Seni Seneviratne gives voice to overshadowed Black children, exotic pages and servants in the portraits of nobility and the mercantile class in 18th Century paintings. Other of her poised and beautiful poems, from The Go-Away Bird from Peepal Tree Press, are infused with bird imagery, and the migrati…

1
Interview With Dr Angela Sutton, Fort Negley Descendants Project (Episode 110) 43:52

11M ago43:52

43:52

Fort Negley is a historical park in Nashville, Tennessee. Operated under the auspices of the Metro Nashville Board of Parks and Recreation, the park contains the remnants of a Civil War era Union Army fortress. The fort was mainly constructed by black laborers, many were escaped slaves, who had settled in an encampment surrounding the fort area. Ou…

1
Absence | Accidents - with Ali Lewis 1:02:35

11M ago1:02:35

1:02:35

Send us a text Staring at the mark on the wall where that painting once hung? Wondering why the moon, seen by others, has been hidden from you? You've entered the world of Absence (Cheerio Poetry 2024) by Ali Lewis. He guides us through this exceptional first collection, from the painful ache of lost love, to the possibilities unleashed by running …

1
Testaments | Troubles - with Roy McFarlane 1:06:57

12M ago1:06:57

1:06:57

Send us a text Hop aboard. No time to idle in green pastures here, instead let’s follow Roy Mc Farlane as he guides us through his collection Living by Troubled Waters from Nine Arches Press weaving the toxic legacy of slavery in the complexity and warmheartedness of his own personal history. Plus we glance at a gorgeous poem, Leaves, from Ursula K…

1
Rapture | Reality - with Seán Hewitt 1:03:50

1y ago1:03:50

1:03:50

Send us a text We’re back with global ambitions for World Poetry Day. First we skip over to Dublin to interview Seán Hewitt about his gorgeous second collection Rapture’s Road, published 2024 by Cape. Enriched by the traditions of Irish poetry, Seán’s work speaks unflinchingly to contemporary issues as well as conjuring moments of absolute beauty f…

1
Interview With Spring Duckett, CWEET organization, (Clean Water Expected in East Tennessee) Episode 109 41:01

1y ago41:01

41:01

One subject which continues to inspire grassroots community organization in Tennessee in water quality. Tennessee wants fishable and swimmable waterways. People in Tennessee recognize that clean water is imperative to our health, the environment and to our way of life. The CWEET organization in Cocke County has been working to protect the Pigeon Ri…

1
Archive - Inua Ellams from March 2021 33:32

1y ago33:32

33:32

Send us a text A classic interview from the archive: Inua Ellams talking about his extraordinary book The Actual (Penned in the Margins, 2020), a powerful, personal and often very funny collection that pokes a sharp stick at the legacy of British Empire, foolish machismo, hero culture, relationships and much more. Support the show Planet Poetry is …

1
Interview With Mekayle Houghton, Executive Director, Cumberland River Compact (Episode 108) 52:10

1y ago52:10

52:10

The Cumberland River Basin is an area which extends from the mountains of Eastern Kentucky down through Middle Tennessee and finally into Western Kentucky. This is an area of about 1800 square miles. The river provides life supporting water for the citizens who make this place home and supports some of the most ecologically diverse places in North …

1
Sorrow | Stored - with Paul Stephenson 57:10

1y ago57:10

57:10

Send us a text Go on. Press the button. Paul Stephenson guides us through a choice of his varied, formally diverse and moving elegies in his Carcanet collection Hard Drive -- written in the years following his partner's sudden death -- and find a curiously life-affirming exploration of grief and its aftermath. Robin and Peter also make their way ac…

1
Darkness | Discovered - with Tamar Yoseloff 1:01:45

1y ago1:01:45

1:01:45

Send us a text We are back and delighted to bring you more wonderful poetry in 2024. So let's illuminate the new year with Tamar Yoseloff, whose long engagement with visual art has created a poetry that blazes out against a black backdrop. We’ll hear poems from two Seren collections A Formula for Night her New and Selected poems and The Black Place…

1
Archive | Kim Moore from October 2022 30:29

1y ago30:29

30:29

Send us a text Happy New Year! We're on our festive break, but wanted to share with you another classic interview from the archive. Here's Kim Moore talking about her Forward Prize-winning collection 'All the Men I Never Married' from Seren Books. Support the show Planet Poetry is a labour of love! If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support…

1
Crossings | Christmas - with Jane Clarke 1:01:53

1+ y ago1:01:53

1:01:53

Send us a text Psssst! Here's a moment of reprieve from the festive frenzy... Follow Jane Clarke wobbling on an oak log slick with frost, then she smooths us down a butter path to a place of poetry. Here we revel in the beauty and quiet authority of Jane's collection A Change in the Air shortlisted for the T.S.Eliot prize among others. Peter finds …

1
Bridges | Broken - with Martyn Crucefix 1:02:34

1+ y ago1:02:34

1:02:34

Send us a text Go on. We dare you to reach across the gulf to Planet Poetry. This time you'll find Martyn Crucefix, reading poems from his Salt collection Between A Drowning Man. This ambitious, timely work depicts the isolation and polarisation brought about by Brexit, Populism, social media and more. A deep and subtle work that reflects these tro…

1
Aloneness | Liberty - with Leontia Flynn 50:13

1+ y ago50:13

50:13

Send us a text All aboard! Planet Poetry is going to rattle you into a Belfast haunted by absence. Here you'll meet Leontia Flynn and discover how the upheavals of Brexit and the pandemic have been echoed by ruptures and aloneness in her own life. Her magnificent response is the spare and intensely-moving collection Taking Liberties from Cape. Mean…

1
Observation | Celebration - with Ian McMillan 1:05:12

1+ y ago1:05:12

1:05:12

Send us a text Hush your vuvuzela! Barnsley's own Ian McMillan lobs the keeper and helps Planet Poetry's fourth season start with a belting win. He treats us to selections from To Fold The Evening Star, New and Selected Poems from Carcanet as well as his smith|doorstop pamphlet, Yes But What Is This? What Exactly? Plus your podcast pals Robin Hough…

1
Archive | Kathryn Maris in March 2021 25:14

1+ y ago25:14

25:14

Send us a text We revisit the Spring of 2021 and Robin's interview with Kathryn Maris, principally about her collection The House with only and Attic and a Basement (Penguin, 2018). Support the show Planet Poetry is a labour of love! If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support and Buy us a Coffee!…

1
Archive | Charlotte Gann in January 2021 28:17

1+ y ago28:17

28:17

Send us a text Another absolute sparkler from our trove of first season interviews. Charlotte Gann talks about her exceptional Happenstance Press collections, Noir, and The Girl Who Cried. Back with season four on October 12 2023 Support the show Planet Poetry is a labour of love! If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support and Buy us a Coff…

1
Archive | Clare Shaw in November 2020 19:37

1+ y ago19:37

19:37

Send us a text Another gem from the archives to tide you over the long, hot (?) summer of 2023...the brilliant Clare Shaw was our second interviewee on the podcast back in 2020, and here she is talking to Robin about her 2018 Bloodaxe collection Flood. Support the show Planet Poetry is a labour of love! If you enjoy the podcast, please show your su…

1
Archive | Pascale Petit in Oct 2020 30:10

1+ y ago30:10

30:10

Send us a text Summertime. Ho, hum. But wait! What's this on your device. Planet Poetry? Robin and Peter have descended into The Vaults to present a conversation first broadcast in October 2020 with the fabulous Pascale Petit. Enjoy! Support the show Planet Poetry is a labour of love! If you enjoy the podcast, please show your support and Buy us a …

1
Culture | Cut-ups - with Richard Skinner 1:02:30

1+ y ago1:02:30

1:02:30

Send us a text Follow us as we slip into le Quartier asiatique through a noirish wordscape, when the flutes in the musique concrète are interrupted by David Bowie, Kate Bush and Genesis… Suddenly you realise you are hearing Richard Skinner sharing poems from his collections Dream Into Play (Poetry Salzburg 2022) and White Noise Machine (Salt 2023).…

1
Play | Wonder - with Rachel Piercey & Kate Wakeling 56:05

2y ago56:05

56:05

Send us a text Pens down, everybody! Now look at me... Today we meet poets Kate Wakeling and Rachel Piercey, editor of Tyger Tyger Magazine, who will share insights about writing poetry for children -- the language, considerations and freedoms. We'll hear Kate read from Cloud Soup and Moon Juice (from the Emma Press) and Rachel read her poems from …

1
Looking | Relooking - with Greta Stoddart 53:40

2y ago53:40

53:40

Send us a text Did you ever repeat a word so often that its meaning ebbed away? Or look so hard at an object -- say a glass of water -- that it began to hint at unknowable mysteries? No? Then you should join us as we meet Greta Stoddart and hear poetry from her new Bloodaxe collection Fool which will take you to an extraordinary place in your imagi…

1
Trust | Betrayal - with Clare Best 59:15

2y ago59:15

59:15

Send us a text If you have endured a childhood overshadowed by profound betrayal and abuse, how do you learn to trust again? What kind of bravery must this take? We feature Clare Best reading from her poetry collections, Excisions and Each Other and also discuss her memoir The Missing List - written during the last illness of the father who had abu…

1
Black Country | Lost Wum - with Liz Berry 59:35

2y ago59:35

59:35

Send us a text Keep the carriage curtains open as we chug into the post-industrial midlands of The Black Country. We're in the company of Liz Berry as she coins resonant new myths from her midland's dialect word hoard. But next stop is Liverpool, following orphaned Eliza The Home Child as she sets off for Nova Scotia in Berry's heartbreaking, just-…

1
Pacing | Preserving - with Robert Hamberger 58:43

2y ago58:43

58:43

Send us a text Strap on your toughest boots. Now dodge the speeding cars as we match strides with Robert Hamberger. We discuss two works: his exceptional poetry collection Blue Wallpaper and his memoir A Length of Road -- recalling a time when Robert (facing a life crisis) retraced the footsteps of the 'peasant poet' John Clare who had, in 1841, es…

1
Asterisks | Alternatives - with Mark Fiddes 54:05

2y ago54:05

54:05

Send us a text Stop polishing that halo for a moment and listen to this! It's Mark Fiddes reading from his Live Cannon collection *Other Saints Are Available - a series of vivid and memorable footnotes to an increasingly polarised world... All via men roaring into flame from the neck up, the haircuts of Burnley defenders, brash parakeets and much m…

1
Airborne | Afterwardness - with Mimi Khalvati 1:00:41

2y ago1:00:41

1:00:41

Send us a text Hop aboard! And join your Planet Poetry pals as we bravely embark on a new year. Strap in beside a child of six -- flying away from her family, culture and language -- to arrive, wordlessly, in a new country and a new life. Mimi Khalvati shares poems from her exquisite Carcanet collection Afterwardness and relives the journey that ut…

1
Foreign | Belonging - with Matthew Stewart 53:10

2+ y ago53:10

53:10

Send us a text What's that? The airy caper of Dasher, Dancer, Prancer and their mates? No it's Planet Poetry bringing you Matthew Stewart, who - by some uncanny podcast magic - is sheltering from the sweltering heat of the Spanish sun. His collection The Knives of Villalejo provides clues to what could have coaxed a poet from the cul-de-sacs of sub…

1
Thinking | Rethinking - with Sarah Barnsley 55:56

2+ y ago55:56

55:56

Send us a text What's that popping and blazing from your favourite podcast device? A plethora of lightbulb moments, that's what. This episode features an in depth conversation with Sarah Barnsley whose bravura first collection The Thoughts has been published by Smith | Doorstop. With immense originality she deals with the intrusive thoughts that ar…

1
Epic | Exploration - with Shane McCrae 52:08

2+ y ago52:08

52:08

Send us a text Here we go again, blazing through the vast firmaments... We go all starry and stripy this week as we meet Shane McCrae - one of the US's most celebrated new poets - to be awed by the Miltonic vastness of an imagination that electrifies his collections Cain Named The Animal and Sometimes I Never Suffered. Meanwhile Robin continues the…

1
Masculinity | Men - with Peter Raynard 53:55

2+ y ago53:55

53:55

Send us a text Forging manfully through cyberspace just to be with you... Robin and Peter are back with another cracking episode featuring Peter Raynard, who guides us through his elegiac, furious and moving book Manland from Nine Arches Press. We'll hear how Peter Raynard's experiences of growing up working class in Coventry has stimulated this br…

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Robin Houghton Podcasts

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