“For me, if a poem doesn't swing, it's really not much of a poem,” says Adrian Matejka, author of the collection <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/be-easy-new-and-selected-poems-adrian-matejka/04e9243050e80620?ean=9781324097501&listref=featured-on-the-poetry-unbound-podcast&aid=10066&bkshp-astro=t" rel="noopener noreferrer">Be Easy: New and Selected Poems</a>. His work hums with music, from its references to David Bowie, Miles Davis, and others to its infectious rhythms, repetitions, and rhymes. In this lively conversation recorded in 2024 at the Wick Poetry Center in Ohio, he reads several poems, and he and Pádraig Ó Tuama talk about “the imaginary discotheque” that takes place in Adrian’s head when he writes, how metaphor and simile offer a third space for his ideas to reach people, and his intense interest in exploring “masculinities” in all their expressions and emotions.   
We invite you to subscribe to <a href="https://poetryunbound.substack.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">Pádraig’s weekly Poetry Unbound Substack</a>, read the <a href="https://bookshop.org/lists/books-by-padraig-o-tuama" rel="noopener noreferrer">Poetry Unbound books</a> and his newest work, <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/kitchen-hymns-p-draig-tuama/4f2a036b5d746205?aid=10066&ean=9781556597107&listref=books-by-padraig-o-tuama&next=t" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kitchen Hymns</a>, or <a href="http://onbeing.org/series/poetry-unbound/" rel="noopener noreferrer">listen to all our Poetry Unbound episodes</a>.  
Adrian Matejka is the author of many books of poetry, including most recently <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/be-easy-new-and-selected-poems-adrian-matejka/04e9243050e80620?ean=9781324097501&listref=featured-on-the-poetry-unbound-podcast&aid=10066&bkshp-astro=t" rel="noopener noreferrer">Be Easy: New and Selected Poems</a>, which was published by W.W. Norton in 2026. He also serves as the editor of Poetry magazine, and he was poet laureate of the state of Indiana from 2018 to 2019. 
Find the transcript for this show at <a href="https://onbeing.org/series/poetry-unbound/" rel="noopener noreferrer">onbeing.org</a>. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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