Happy New Year seedlings! Beetroot Podcast is heading into 2025 with a bobby dazzler of an episode. Spotify for podcasters is calling it a ‘triumph’ and we’re inclined to agree. This week Marta and Lottie are taking you all to the movies. Lottie brought along Frank O’Hara’s ‘Ave Maria’ a poetic intervention from a disciple of the big screen that encourages young souls everywhere to take themselves to movies. Marta brought along Diana Marie Delgado’s ‘Who Makes Love to us After we Die?’ A cinematic explosion of love and tragedy which converses with the women of cinema and their daughters. To brighten up your January, here’s a bit of Beetroot.
Can you pickle a poem? This week Marta and Lottie have reunited to discuss all things preservation. Museums, archives, cheeses and sauerkrauts. We're diving into what it means to keep something alive just a little longer whether thats in our minds, on our shelves or in our tummies. Marta brought along Museum by Doireann Ní Ghríofa, a beautiful meditation on the history of political turmoil in Northern Island which curates a museum of everyday likeness. Lottie brought along Natalie Rose Richardson's Cure and Curry, a perfect bite of a moment in which we experience music, legacy and car rides with our parents. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
We've come a long way to this day. Lottie and Marta will be welcoming Dolly Parton with open arms to today's epsiode. A country queen and literary philanthropist, we decided to place her upon the beetroot pedestal as a songstress and poet whom we're inspired by. Marta kicks off with not one, but two poems. Bringing Dolly's 'Jolene' alongside Fiona Apple's 'Ladies' we talk about sisterhood, the communion of women in the face of heart break and Queering the space our ex's occupy. Lottie takes Parton's 'Coat of Many Colours', detangling every thread and finding the complexities of wealth, youth - and of course, needlework. In the words of Dolly, "I've had heartaches, headaches, toothaches, earaches, and I've had a few pains in the ass, but I've survived to tell about it."
Today we’re going to talk about what’s on our lists and what’s in our poems. When we make lists, we export our universes onto the page – ticking off the tasks as we go, as we live. Lists for love, lists for art, and lists for getting through the day. Lottie brought along Wendy Cope’s ‘My Lover’ written in the style of Christopher Smart’s ‘For I Will Consider my Cat Geoffrey’ more than two hundred years later. Cope writes of love, the everyday kind and the sweep you off your feet kind – but always in tandem. Marta brought along Claes Oldenburg’s ‘I am for an Art’, a stirring manifesto for artists everywhere and a new way to think on what our art deserves and what deserves our art. Put this episode at the top of your to do list.
It’s our anniversary dinner – and you’re all invited! We’re 4 years old? My time flies when you’re just two friends chatting about poetry – whether it's face to face or computer screen to computer screen. We reminisced in our archive and giggled over the sounds of us at aged nineteen. However, to mark such an occasion, we thought it was fitting to bring poems that celebrate poetry, that celebrate reading and poems that really remind us of why we do what we do. We’re so grateful to the handful of listeners who have tuned in over the years and promise to continue sharing our love of poetry for years to come. In this episode, we talk about poetry. Plain and simple.
Reunited and rejuvenated! A summer spent apart and now they’re back, Lottie and Marta are in the same postcode at the same table. In this episode they go off the grid, deciding to abandon a themed episode in favour of – ‘You’ve got to see this!’. Lottie brought along Natalia Shapero’s Not Horses prompting questions of time, interspecies connectivity and our patron saint, Donna Haraway. Marta brings an extract from Homer’s The Odyssey and contributes a tender reading of a mothers last words to her son. Grief time travels and the everyday implications of the epic are conjured by the voices of past and present. In hindsight, perhaps we do have ourselves a theme, storytelling – whatever they might tell us.
Hello – us again: We encountered a couple of volcanic rumbles in our recording this week, we’d recommend putting away your headphones or enjoying the occasional audio bump.
Till podcast do us part! Marta and Lottie are back, in this episode they'll be talking about heartbreak. Marta and Lottie (and their feelings) will dissect that funny sensation called heartache. Marta brought along Pablo Neruda's 'Tonight I Can Write' a poem renowned for its ability to hit the nail on the head of a broken heart. Lottie reads from Victoria Chang's collection 'Obit', a work of 70 obituaries that explore how and why we grieve through sense and madness. Take it easy this week, and if you're hurting - just know you're never alone.
Reunited at last! Marta and Lottie are in the same room, with the same zoom. In this episode it's all about the senses, Marta and Lottie dive head first into an ocean of taste, sound, sight, texture and smell. Lottie brought along 'My Body is a Forest' from Alycia Pirmohamed's collection Another Way to Split Water, a poem which holds the body in landscape allowing the speaker free movement through sensory recollection. Marta reads 'Orange Peels, Tectonic Shifts' from Erica Gillingham's pamphlet The Human Body is a Hive. A poem to align human bodily experience with shifting layers of the earth all tied up with a singular orange peel. This week you have a little piece of homework, so pay close attention.
If anyone asks, we're a perfectly normal family. In this week's episode, Lottie and Marta ask; what does it mean to have difficult conversations with our loved ones, what lessons have we learnt so far from the people who've known us our entire lives. We don't get to choose our family, but what if we could? Lottie brought along 'Conversation with Fantasy Mother' by Mary Jean Chan, a poem that sets free the queer heart. Marta brought along 'Summer' by Robin Coste Lewis, a perfect poem for the rising temperatures and a reimagining of the mother and creation. Call your family, and tell them to give this one a listen.
In this Episode, Marta and Lottie sit back and relax. Exploring the idea of rest the pair come to Ocean Vuong's 'Someday I'll Love Ocean Vuong' a heartfelt appeal to the self when you're feeling a little low. Hannah Sullivan's 'When the Egg Meets the Whisk' portrays the new mother seeking familiarity and comfort in her newly aligned universe. World a little overwhelming right now? Take some time out with poetry.
In this Episode, Marta and Lottie look to the skies. Approaching the idea of Paradise the pair consult Roger Robinsons 'A Portable Paradise' an offering of pocket sized bliss and white sandy beaches amongst the hustle and bustle of London. John Donne's 'The Sun Rising' offers a portrait of lovers against a perfect landscape watching the sun awaken and sleep, but why would Derek Jarman embellish such a poem onto his own house? Walk with us through the Garden of Paradise to find out.
Poetry made headlines. Yes, it happened - rarely have we seen a poet on the cover of Vogue, shared widely around Instagram and Facebook or popping up on international TV stations. We of course had to dedicate an episode to Amanda Gorman, the youth national poet laureate of the United States and the Inaugural poet. Her poem 'The Hill We Climb' has since made its way around media outlets everywhere, has been translated into several languages and was published by Penguin Random House. In this episode we examine the inner workings of American democracy and culture through the only voice we should be listening to. What comes next?
The public has become precarious. In a post-pandemic world, those foundational moments of collective expression, collective joy, must be reformulated, alchemized into something new and sustainable.
Poetry is so often thought of as a solitary pursuit, one that highlights interiority, but in the face of our rapidly shifting culture, it is crucial to understand how poetry exists in the public sphere, its function, and its power.
Writer/director John Mcilduff has years of experience producing works for the public sphere and will be joining us at Perdu alongside Lottie and Marta of Beetroot Podcast. The three of them will explore poetry in public, helping us to understand how the written word creates a collective experience, and how it can continue to do so.
The public has become precarious. In a post-pandemic world, those foundational moments of collective expression, collective joy, must be reformulated, alchemized into something new and sustainable.
Poetry is so often thought of as a solitary pursuit, one that highlights interiority, but in the face of our rapidly shifting culture, it is crucial to understand how poetry exists in the public sphere, its function, and its power.
Writer/director John Mcilduff has years of experience producing works for the public sphere and will be joining us at Perdu alongside Lottie and Marta of Beetroot Podcast. The three of them will explore poetry in public, helping us to understand how the written word creates a collective experience, and how it can continue to do so.
The public has become precarious. In a post-pandemic world, those foundational moments of collective expression, collective joy, must be reformulated, alchemized into something new and sustainable.
Poetry is so often thought of as a solitary pursuit, one that highlights interiority, but in the face of our rapidly shifting culture, it is crucial to understand how poetry exists in the public sphere, its function, and its power.
Writer/director John Mcilduff has years of experience producing works for the public sphere and will be joining us at Perdu alongside Lottie and Marta of Beetroot Podcast. The three of them will explore poetry in public, helping us to understand how the written word creates a collective experience, and how it can continue to do so.
Lets talk about sex baby! This week Marta and Lottie delve deep into all things sensual. Yes, poetry can be sexy. Lottie brought along a fragment from the Ancient greek poet Sappho, an exploration into Queer sexuality and a beautiful expression of desire. Marta brought along a segment from Jenny Hval’s Paradise Rot, an invesitgation into companion species and a rewriting of Genesis through sharp sexual and political imagery. In this episode, we go deeper.
Breathe. It’s been a tough week. Lottie and Marta are taking the time to heal, to bring each other poems that restore the soul and move the heart to reconsider. This week Marta brought along Stuart Hensons ‘The Price’ from William Siegharts Poetry Pharmacy. Balm for the soul on a double decker bus. Lottie offered us Anne Sextons ‘Yellow’, A hopeful proclamation as we head into the dark winter months. Will they ever turn the sun back on again?
We hope you’re hungry. In this Episode Lottie and Marta prepare a poetic meal for you, with an appetiser of metaphors and side salad of groceries. Marta brought along Allen Ginsberg’s “A Supermarket in California”, a supermarket trip which questions consumerism and philosophises the nuclear family. Lottie offered us Li-Young Lee’s “Persimmons”, an exploration of identity and cultural assimilation through bright Chinese fruit and childlike innocence. Literally, food for thought.
This week, Lottie and Marta brace the subject of Goodbyes. Bittersweet and agonising, until we meet again or the final farewell. We explored what saying goodbye means through the poems that were there when we said it. Lottie brought along Natalie Diaz’s ‘Grief Work’, a heart wrenching wrestle with grief – a slow hug. Marta brought along Paul Éluard’s ‘Négation de la poésie’, an elegy to his late wife – a meditation on time overflowing. Don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere.
This week, two is loneliest number. It’s just Lottie and Marta in the studio this week, we took the time to celebrate our podcast homecoming and Beetroot’s new beginning. Marta brought along Baz Lurhmanns philosophical yet charming “Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen”, a manifesto for the graduating class of 1997 and for every graduate thereafter. Lottie brought William Carlos Williams’ “Spring and All”, New Jerseys answer to the second coming and a beautiful portrait of springtimes awakening.