Poetry, Passion, & Pleasure With Dale Biron
123 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 days ago - ★★★★ - 5 ratingsCan a poem help us see the world fresh, ease our worry, heal loss? Can it earn a living out here in the real world? Most important, are we moved, inspired and informed?
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Episodes
In Defense of Unsuccessful Art
April 19, 2024 07:00 - 16 minutes - 11.3 MBThe simple, basic, foundational fact we must understand to be successful in any creative (especially artistic) endeavor...
Our Beautiful, Battered, Broken World
April 12, 2024 13:00 - 19 minutes - 13.4 MBWhen we create stories about human nature, based upon observing traumatized humans, we get a picture that is both predictable and wrong. –Musings of a Poet
The More Than Human World
April 05, 2024 13:00 - 11 minutes - 7.83 MBA Post-Humanist world would be one that fully embraced a "more than human world..." This week's episode continues to explore this theme, and features a powerful and poetic quote by David Abram, who coined the phrase used in the title. Plus one of the most famous poems written by the brilliant poet, Robinson Jeffers.
A New PostHumanist Manifesto
March 29, 2024 20:00 - 14 minutes - 9.9 MB"...We must un-humanize our view of the world just a little, make being of service, as needed and as sacred as sunlight. Invite both head and heart, home, to a welcomed wholeness. Declare joy and having "enough" the newest kind of envy..." –Dale Biron
Arranging For Our Own Disappearance
March 22, 2024 13:00 - 17 minutes - 12.2 MBWhat if we are up to our collective axels in mud? What if our political and ecological ideas, beliefs, and actions are getting us nowhere? What if we've got to get lost (on purpose) to actually move forward. What if a condition for sane progress is to first arrange for our own disappearance? What if philosopher-poet, Bayo Akomolafe is right when he says, "The way we respond to the crisis is part of the crisis..."
Solving Your 37th Problem
March 15, 2024 13:00 - 14 minutes - 10.2 MBIn these times of political, social, and ecological challenge and disruption, to what should we pay attention? Well certainly the ability to come back to our "center" is critical. In other words, having the ability to make our personal "optimal zone" a place where we spend more and more of our time. Solving your 37th problem is at the core of it all... PS: If you're interested in the work of the Context Institute, in particular their Bright Future Now Program, that I mentioned in this podca...
What If We Have Hope All Wrong?
March 08, 2024 14:00 - 14 minutes - 9.84 MBLet's reimagine both hope and despair. Truth is, hope and despair make uneasy friends. Our categorical, binary culture, insists on our choosing one or the other. But what if both despair and hope live deep in our hearts and minds at this time? What if to be skillful and resilient in our lives, we must acknowledge and embrace both?
Burn This Poem – A Primer on Forgiveness
March 01, 2024 14:00 - 11 minutes - 8.28 MBForgiveness? It can become your super power. Start with others. Slowly. Pace yourself. It’s no cakewalk, but forgiving others can often be a tad easier. A way to get started. Eventually, as your powers increase you can do the really heavy lifting of forgiving yourself.
The Meta Crisis... It's Too Late For Anything But Art
February 23, 2024 14:00 - 21 minutes - 14.9 MBReal hope, meaning decent odds for passing through the coming political, social, and ecological bottlenecks we face throughout the world, will require a deep partnership between our minds and hearts. That is to say, our many civilization-threatening meta-crisis predicaments are too big, too mature, too complex for anything short of "artful" responses. Here's how...
3 Simple Reasons To Love A Poem
February 16, 2024 14:00 - 24 minutes - 16.8 MBOf course, there's no algorithm or "set of rules" for writing (or for that matter, discovering) beautiful, stunning, memorable poems. But after working with thousands of people and the poems they fell in love with, I've discovered a simple set of characteristics that can help. Three essential qualities that can point us toward the poetry we are much more likely to appreciate and yes, love.
To The Other 99.9% of Earthlings
February 09, 2024 14:00 - 16 minutes - 11.5 MBWANTED: HUMANS TO CREATE AND SPREAD NEW, HELPFUL STORIES... When it comes to the META-CRISIS we face, we not only have an old story, it's a bad story. The kind that's leading us off a very high cliff. Replacing our own story is the first step, and is more critical than ever.
Extreme Wealth Inequality is Dangerous... Just Ask AI
February 02, 2024 14:00 - 20 minutes - 14.1 MB"You can have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, or you can have democracy. But you cannot have both." –U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis (See what happens when artificial intelligence meets artful intelligence.)
Small Stories of Utter Happiness
January 26, 2024 14:00 - 21 minutes - 14.5 MBPerhaps there's never been a time on this earth, when tiny moments of restful joy, and small islands of utter happiness were more needed. The recipe for moments of utter happiness is no mystery. It's one part Attention, one part Gratitude, mixed with a generous portion of "Let it Be-ism."
When A Poem Removes The Top of Our Head
January 19, 2024 14:00 - 11 minutes - 8.26 MBListen, you can’t just read a poem. Not a good one. Not a poem that moves you. Not one that stops you in your tracks, has you look closely, walk inside it, have your own experience. Without you, the reader, the listener, the poem is nothing...
The New Year Begs Our Pardon
January 12, 2024 14:00 - 9 minutes - 6.58 MBWhat if a New Year could talk? What would it say? Maybe it feels like we lean on "it" a little too hard, for the things we want, but constantly choose not to do for ourselves...
Why Do We Bother With Poetry?
January 05, 2024 14:00 - 9 minutes - 6.46 MB"Because poetry, if it takes fire, cracks people’s masks, and assaults arrogance, and sucks you beneath the surface of words towards why we use them...." –Brian Doyle
Leveling Up Your Gratefulness Practice
December 29, 2023 14:00 - 18 minutes - 12.6 MBStay A Cheap Date… To up your gratefulness game, stay amazed by a cool glass of water, a summer tomato, a hug, a curious question asked by a loving friend, a simple walk in the forest, the sound of a guitar, a new poet you never heard before, (or many times before) that rocks your world.
Why We Post On Social Media
December 22, 2023 14:00 - 13 minutes - 9.26 MBOf course, social media includes a daily diet of vitriol and shrillness. And there are perverse structural algorithms that reinforce the fomenting of anger, division, and fear as a way to capture human attention and ultimately make money. And yes, I also know there are deep human intentions to help and serve, evident on every social media platform I've examined.
Costing Not Less Than Everything
December 15, 2023 14:00 - 14 minutes - 9.91 MBWho could blame us for wanting to place the tray table of our fears, concerns, and at times despair, in its full upright and locked position? That is to say, we need a break from having our hearts continually shocked, upended, and broken...
Cash Crop Poetry
December 08, 2023 14:00 - 10 minutes - 7.1 MBA cash crop poem is one that helps and inspires us in so many ways. We go back to them time and time again. But why and how do they work?
The Language of Your Broken, Joyful Heart
December 01, 2023 14:00 - 19 minutes - 13.6 MBYour heart seeks its own reflected images. After reading and speaking at least a million lines of poetry, here are some of my favorite ones, and the poets who wrote them. I think you'll discover that when your heart finds those just right few written lines that speak your feelings, better than you’ve been able to speak them, you'll be smitten. Of course, each one of us has a heart that seeks its own reflected images. Images of joy, grieving, wonder, and awe.
A Radical Experiment in Words...
November 24, 2023 19:00 - 10 minutes - 7.29 MBCould recognizing more fully our relationships and context change everything, particularly when it comes to our ecological meta-crisis? And might an absence of this awareness keep us stuck for a very long while? Stay tuned for the poem-story,
What if The Pagans Are Right?
November 17, 2023 14:00 - 10 minutes - 7.49 MBHow deeply ironic that the perspectives, beliefs and stories we now most need to help us heal the earth and avert an even greater catastrophe, were once scorned as bad, primitive, naive and yes... pagan. I beg to differ!
Trickster Poet Speaks Out (Disruptively)
November 10, 2023 14:00 - 33 minutes - 22.7 MBMaybe a better strategic plan is not what we need right now. Maybe we need to get lost on purpose, to break away from the ironclad certainty of "doom" on one end and the "business as usual" denial on the other. Einstein said we couldn't solve problems at the same level of thinking that created them. And because we know it's true but won't admit it, our modern political, social, and ecological predicaments are growing. They've skidded beyond our grasp and beyond our traditional corrective p...
Reclaiming Our Heart In Troubled Times
November 03, 2023 13:00 - 41 minutes - 28.5 MBOur modern culture can no longer resolve the predicaments it's creating. The difficulties and tensions are playing out socially, economically, politically, and especially ecologically. And yet, there are sources of wisdom available to us. One source is the poetic tradition, which implores us to slow down, honor our intellects, yes, but also honor and reclaim our hearts. Reclaim our ability to feel more fully, integrating both head and heart. And to imagine new ways of being in the world, d...
Radical Acceptance
October 27, 2023 13:00 - 28 minutes - 19.7 MBThere are many things we want to change, make different, make better. From personal changes, to massive political and ecological transformations. The first skillful and effective step is ending our battle with reality.
Being A Little More Human
October 20, 2023 13:00 - 20 minutes - 14.1 MBSo here is the thing about being human. We are story-based animals. We become ourselves through stories. It’s the narrative pickle juice in which we marinate. We might not have direct effect on the juice of our big old social pickling project. But we can control our own little pickle jar. It’s juice. And if we practice, we can get a little more calm, when triggered. We can grow a little more quiet and wise within, with Others, and with the great Other. We can become more helpful and kind. Wa...
Faith... (Not The Supernatural Kind)
October 13, 2023 13:00 - 27 minutes - 18.7 MBLet's talk about about a different kind of faith. The faith needed for the challenges and predicaments ahead, both personal and collective. A faith not requiring supernatural beliefs. Let's also talk about a kindred type of grounded hope as well.
Being Irreverent, Humble, & Unpretentious
October 06, 2023 13:00 - 25 minutes - 17.7 MBAn amazing poet, who through her art, provides a master class on the traits we need to skillfully face the predicaments and challenges of our wild and fierce modern lives. And one more trait I'll add to the list for Wislawa Szymborską... stunningly wise.
Light Switch – Guided Poetry Meditation For All
September 29, 2023 13:00 - 13 minutes - 9.33 MBOK, just get comfortable wherever you’re seated. It will help if your back is straight. If you can and it’s comfortable, close your eyes and take a few deep, cleansing breaths to center yourself. Allow your body and mind to relax, releasing as best you can, any tension or stress. Let’s start by simply hearing this brief poem in full. Then we'll pass back through a few selected lines from the poem with some gentle instructions and invitations.
You Will Never Be Alone...
September 22, 2023 14:00 - 8 minutes - 5.59 MBYou will never be alone, you hear so deep / a sound when autumn comes... (One of the most uplifting poems ever.)
The Unfathomable Simplicity of Poetry
September 15, 2023 13:00 - 10 minutes - 6.97 MBHow can a poem be both simple and unfathomable at the same time? Truth is, really good poems lift off the page, taking us to those new frontier places in ourselves. Places where words and language perform a kind of magic.
Being A Real Person In The Anthropocene
September 08, 2023 13:00 - 7 minutes - 5.35 MBOur current economy is at war with the earth. Here's a story and vision, disguised as a poem to help us stay real, centered, and effective in these opportunity-laden, tragic, and yes, beautiful times. An era when our human agency is deeply required. (This episode is dedicated to the work of Lisi Krall, Professor of Economics at SUNY Cortland.)
Please Don't Sabotage Your Relationships
September 01, 2023 13:00 - 10 minutes - 7.03 MBENJOY THIS QUICK POETIC TAKE... Here's a poem describing the greatest challenge most of us will ever face in our closest relationships. Using simple images and delicious metaphors, this poem is hard to forget and cuts right to the heart of the matter.
Honoring Our Beloved Critter Companions
August 25, 2023 13:00 - 29 minutes - 20.2 MBIf you have ever shared your home and life with a critter you loved, this episode is for you. What words might we choose to honor the animal beings that have given us so much happiness and joy? And, of course, grief at their passing. The cat, dog, horse, goat, cow, or creature of your choice that has become kindred spirits with those of us lucky enough to walk this path alongside them.
Art As A Sacred Subversion
August 18, 2023 13:00 - 28 minutes - 19.7 MBWhat if an established norm in society, a hidebound institution, a way of thinking, or a whole economic system is simply wrong? (For example, the vastly ineffective way we are dealing with our climate and earth overshoot predicament.) Can Art (and poetry in particular) help set it right? Even "nudge" it a little bit forward and toward wholeness.....
A Hack For Our Happiness
August 11, 2023 13:00 - 19 minutes - 13.6 MBIn a world where we are besieged by exaggeration, hype, and nearly nonstop puffery, might there be a legitimate, simple and realistic way to tap into greater skillfulness, satisfaction, and yes, happiness?
The Courage We Need In Difficult (Eco) Conversations
August 04, 2023 13:00 - 22 minutes - 15.4 MBForget the flashy courage of heroes. The poet calls courage an act of knowing, speaking, and following the deeper directions of the heart. It is the wisdom of enough. It is the wisdom of no separation. A simple and honest courage, that even we, the flawed, vulnerable, and ordinary ones, may actually be able to render, in this, our rocky, grieving, and beautiful world...
How To Find "Your" Perfect Poem?
July 28, 2023 13:00 - 21 minutes - 14.7 MBWhen does a poem become "your" perfect poem? Most importantly, the poem must be relatable. It must not be closed-off and insultingly clear. The poem can make points, but not tip over into propaganda. It must tell a meaningful story using images, metaphors, big language. Perfect poems help us integrate head and heart, re-center, re-member who we are when at our best.
The Abnormal Is Not Courage
July 21, 2023 13:00 - 17 minutes - 11.7 MBCourage is needed to skillfully face our ecological meta-crisis. But the question is, what kind of courage? The wrong kind will not work, and may actually make things worse. In this episode we feature a poem that provides some wise counsel regarding this issue of courage...
Break Glass In Case of Emergence
July 14, 2023 13:00 - 35 minutes - 24.1 MBWe know what to do in traditional emergencies. But what of the confusion, fear, and often excruciating pain that defines the necessary emergence into a new ecological and planetary era? What moves will you make and what stories will you tell to help yourself and others stay calm and centered? What relationship and facility will you have with despair? What kinds of truth and fire-tempered hope will even be possible? What will you load into your “emergent” fire extinguisher?
Notice How Our Activism Is Not Working
July 07, 2023 14:00 - 32 minutes - 22.5 MBIn this episode we consider a world where activism has ceased to work, or work in the ways we wish and imagine. So what then? Are we ready? Of course not. Strategic plans may be contraindicated... Poet, Philosopher, Bayo Akomolafe (featured in this episode) describes Postactivism this way. "Postactivism, the concept that informs my notion of making sanctuary, is a matter of irruptions and eruptions, breakthroughs, cracks, flashes, fissures, fault lines, discontinuities, blasts, splits, rift...
When Our Words Turn On Us?
June 30, 2023 14:00 - 23 minutes - 15.9 MBThe words we use can be our best friend (or) worst enemy. What happens when the enemy in our language shows up, but we urgently need an ally and friend? Here's a way forward, a way to befriend our words again...
Thinking Small In Big Ways
June 23, 2023 14:00 - 16 minutes - 11.7 MBCould it be that doing and feeling better in the world, requires us to think smaller not bigger? Might this is the way forward, tip-toeing toward small but significant acts of redemption?
To Act In Wiser Ways
June 16, 2023 14:00 - 21 minutes - 14.6 MBAs a poet-story teller, I'm keenly interested in the role of each of us that hears and tells stories (and poems) in a time of ecological crisis? This, of course includes you and me and everyone living on this earth...
Don't Save The World, Love It...
June 09, 2023 14:00 - 22 minutes - 15.2 MBIf we love the world fully, we can't help but do the right things. Conversely, without a deep love and reverence for the world, nothing we do will work. In this episode we will protest our current ecological predicaments and praise the world with equal fervor.
From Heartbreak To Healing
June 02, 2023 14:00 - 22 minutes - 15.2 MBCan the same poem trade in both heartbreak and healing? Can the story of the poem help us witness a difficult and sometimes terrifying reality while also laying down footsteps, even faint ones to follow on a path toward healing?
The Tangle That Is Our Lives
May 26, 2023 14:00 - 26 minutes - 18.4 MBHow do you handle not knowing? Is it disorienting? Do you rush to a resolution? A rush to feel, anything other than uncertainty? What if we could allow a little more "not knowing" in our lives? So when we do get a glimpse of insight, it's even more impactful and yes, pleasurable?
Don't Hold Your Happiness Hostage
May 19, 2023 11:00 - 24 minutes - 17.2 MBMostly, we don't even realize it. That we're perpetually waiting for some other "thing" to happen or "condition" to be true, before we allow ourselves to be happy. What do we want? A perfect world, that lines up with our desires. We want better thoughts and emotions. We want the goal to be accomplished, the dream achieved, and to have the just-right job or relationship. Certain poems can help us make better friends with "reality," help us shift the whole way we think and feel about happine...
Don't You Just Love Rilke
May 12, 2023 14:00 - 30 minutes - 21 MBWhy do so many of us love the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke? It's simple. He helps us see, understand, and experience the world through fresh, creative, more imaginative eyes. Rilke's poetry is accessible, sensual, and rich with meaning. Enjoy...