Under The Covers | The Mosaic Project

Verse, Narcissism, and Macaroni: What the Hell Happened to Poetry?

Mosaic Press

Poetry used to shake the heavens. Now it sometimes comes glued with macaroni—or worse, dripping with self-pity. In this special Poetry Month edition of Under the Covers, Howard dives deep (and sometimes sideways) into the state of poetry today. From the poetic outpouring of pandemic isolation to Mosaic Press's half-century of publishing verses from prisons, war zones, and everywhere in between, this episode questions what counts as poetry now—and what’s just performative noise.

Can poetry still crack open the human condition, or has it been swallowed by narcissistic navel-gazing? Should we compare mythologies—or maybe just compare our COVID poems? Tune in for a conversation that’s part literary inquisition, part love letter to the power of words, and all heart. Plus: Leonard Cohen, Taylor Swift, Russian dissidents, and one unforgettable Latin radio experiment.


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