Michael Lee vs. Grief

After Franny’s episode talking with Cam Awkward-Rich, Danez goes one-on-one with their buddy Michael Lee, a Norwegian-American writer, youth worker, and organizer in Minneapolis. The dynamic duo talks about grief’s place in poems, Michael’s traumatic brain injury, obliterating whiteness, and some fond memories together. Pick up Michael’s book The Only Worlds We Know NOTE: Make sure you rate us on Apple Podcasts and write us a review!

Cameron Awkward-Rich vs. Ambivalence

EOn this very special one-on-one episode of VS, we get a peek inside the blanket fort that Franny has built and get to listen to her chat with poet and professor Cameron Awkward-Rich (who also happens to be her boo). They talk about the pros and cons of isolation, the forces and spaces that created Cam’s newest book Dispatch, and, most importantly, their illustrious cat Bean. NOTE: Make sure you rate us on Apple Podcasts and write us a review!

Statement from the VS Team

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Paige Lewis vs. Tiny Things

ERecorded back before COVID-19 sent the VS team home to different corners of the country, Franny and Danez sat down with poet Paige Lewis for a good ole fashioned in-person chat. Paige breaks down Beta Fish, the nonbinary epic they’re writing, the power of focusing on the micro, and more. NOTE: Make sure you rate us on Apple Podcasts and write us a review!

Chris Abani vs. Entanglement

EYou’ve just enrolled in one of the best classes anyone could ever take. This week’s guest, Chris Abani, is a master teacher, poet, screenwriter, and thinker who is ready to help you understand, even if the process kicks your butt a little. In this marathon episode recorded before the pandemic descended, Chris talks about the ways our languages shape our understanding of time and space, how the stories of his childhood in Nigeria inform his tongue, the dilemma of writing something important, and much more. Enjoy the lil bit of extra VS in this jumbo-sized episode! NOTE: Make sure you rate us on Apple Podcasts and write us a review!

You vs. the Prompts

EY’all are some good-ass writers! When we put out the call for poems in response to our prompts, we didn’t know we were going to get such a wonderful collection of pieces from you beautiful listeners. We couldn’t include them all in Episode 6, so we put together a special listener-only episode full of your work. Enjoy what your podpeople have created! Listener poems in this episode: “Untitled poem for the apocalypse” by Angelina Mazza “What we need right now” by Anneka Hooft “Independence Song” by Belinda Munyeza “Hell’s Kitchen” by Bobby Larson “Taxidermied Peacock” by Bri Marino “Dispensed With” by Ciel “A Reminder From This World” by Haru Matsuura “Untitled” by Irene Vazquez “The Gathering” by Isobel Rutherford “A poem by a half-finished painting in my living room” by Jake Pruitt “Girl in Isolation” by Jireh Deng “How many different shades of blue” by Latifa Akay “The Coffee Table Speaks During Quarantine” by Mehrnoosh Torbatnejad “april, 2020” by M...

Franny and Danez vs. the Mailbag

EOn this #VSfromHome episode, Danez and Franny dip into a chock-full mailbag full of your wonderful questions! Plus, we hear seven poems that listeners wrote and submitted in response to the prompts that Danez and Franny shared two episodes ago. Want more poems? Then check out the special episode released alongside this one, which features a cornucopia of listener-submitted poems that Franny and Danez selected. Listener poems in this episode: “On the Street Marked ‘Dead End’” by Christopher Crowder “Hold Me by the Stem” by Dante Clark “The Duvet Whispers to the Sex Swing” by Nova Cyprus Black “Things I Didn’t Know I Loved” by Fatima Malik “Untitled” by Simon Crow “What my dresser misses” by Lindsay Stewart NOTE: Make sure you rate us on Apple Podcasts and write us a review!

Tara Betts vs. the Mask

ETara Betts is on a mission to be herself. The poet, editor, and professor comes through to talk about celebrating your people, her relationship with wearing the mask of respectability, the economic challenges of working as a poet, and much more. NOTE: Make sure you rate us on Apple Podcasts and write us a review!

Franny and Danez vs. the Couch

EWell, turns out the world can turn upside down. In the midst of social isolation and self-isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Franny and Danez tapped in from their homes in Massachusetts and Minneapolis, respectively, to talk about how they’re processing the absurd and unsettling time, what isolation has taught them, and the role of artistry in this crisis. Plus, they each read a new poem, send out a call for mailbag questions, and share some WRITING PROMPTS FOR Y’ALL! PLEASE share your questions for the hosts and the poems that you write to the prompts with us by emailing a voice memo recording of you reading your poem to vsthepodcast@gmail.com, so we can include them in next month’s VS episode! NOTE: Make sure you rate us on Apple Podcasts and write us a review!

Aricka Foreman vs. the Depths

EAricka Foreman is going deep. The formerly aspiring marine biologist and current excellent poet talks about her love of the ocean, her new collection Salt Body Shimmer, how she digs into the emotional depths and then pulls herself back out, and much more. NOTE: Make sure you rate us on Apple Podcasts and write us a review