Stephen A. Allen joins Timothy Green on The Rattlecast for a conversation about poetry, music, formal verse, Tourette syndrome, and his debut collection, Difficult Music. A former Rattle Poetry Prize finalist and longtime Rattle contributor, Allen was born and raised in Vermont and now lives in Michigan. His poetry has also appeared in Modern Haiku, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Northern New England Review, and elsewhere.
In this episode, we discuss Difficult Music, a collection structured like a traditional orchestral concert, using poetic form as a way to give shape to a restless mind. We’ll talk about sonnets and formal poetry, sound and rhyme, writing about Tourette syndrome, and the ways poetry can approach faith, family history, nature, and illness. Stephen will read from his debut collection as well as other work, and we’ll explore how constraint can create freedom in a poem. As always, we’ll open the lines for this week’s prompt-based poetry reading.
Find more on his new book here:
https://finishinglinepress.com/product/difficult-music-by-stephen-a-allen/
This Week’s Prompt from Katie Dozier:
Write a persona poem from another time.
Next Week’s Prompt:
Write an informal formal sonnet.
Submit your poem through Submittable by midnight Sunday for a chance to be invited on the show:
https://rattle.submittable.com/submit/269309/rattlecast-prompt-poems-online
The Rattlecast livestreams every Monday on YouTube, Facebook, and X, then becomes available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen.
