Welcome back to Words That Burn, the poetry podcast where host Benjamin Collopy takes a closer look at the verse that shapes our world.
Whether you're here to deepen your poetry appreciation or are simply looking for accessible poetry for beginners, the goal is to make poetry education engaging for everyone.
In this episode, Ben sits down for an in-depth poem discussion with Mark Ward, an incredible voice in modern Irish poetry. They explore Mark's compelling poet biography; from his early days writing in Dublin to his work as a playwright, before jumping into a full poem deep dive of his brand-new collection, Real Estate ( from Salmon Poetry).
Listeners will get the mechanics of Mark's poetry explained by the poet himself. Through thoughtful poetry analysis, Ben and Mark unpack the evocative literary devices used to capture everything from the collapse of a relationship to the profound grief of losing a beloved pet.
Key Topics Discussed
- The Architecture of Verse: Why Mark considers every line of a poem to be "prime real estate" and the importance of leaning into subjects that scare you.
- Grief and the Physical World: A close look at the sequence Nine Lives, dedicated to Mark's cat, Carbon, which beautifully captures the tactile realities of caregiving and loss.
- Body Horror & Metaphor: Exploring the complex imagery and literary devices in the poem Hunger, where inner anxieties warp physical, domestic spaces.
- Documenting Queer History: How poetry serves as an alternative lineage, with a focus on 1992, a piece that memorializes Dublin's 1980s and 1990s gay culture.
- Subverting Expectations: A reading and analysis of Slow Evening, a joyful and tender poem that acts as a poignant rebuke to the tragic "Bury Your Gays" narrative trope.
About the Guest
Mark Ward is a poet, playwright, and short story writer based in Dublin. He is the author of two full-length collections with Salmon Poetry: Nightlight (2023) and his latest release, Real Estate. His diverse body of work also includes six chapbooks ranging from sonnets to queer ekphrastic verse, and his plays have been staged at the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival.
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Buy the book here
or here
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Time Stamps:
00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro
01:01 What Real Estate Means
03:04 Building Poem Sequences
05:00 Revisiting Old Work
06:29 Writing Breakup Darkness
11:05 Nine Lives and Pet Grief
13:16 Reading Carer Aloud
14:44 Desire and Physicality
17:41 Hunger Image Craft
20:43 Reading Hunger Aloud
22:35 Desire Versus Self
24:15 Writing From Observation
26:04 Finding Poetry Mentors
28:14 Ekphrasis And Queer Lineage
31:42 Poetry As Cultural Memory
36:18 Reading Poem 1992
38:24 Slow Evening And Gay Joy
42:47 Closing Thanks
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