Wacky Poem Life

Episode 129: Poetry in the Wild

Episode 129: Poetry in the Wild begins in a gas station where we ponder the Little Debbie Red Velvet Creme Filled Cakes that we aren't supposed to eat though the alliteration of "Little Debbie can destroy your diet" is very appealing to us, and it ends with a note about tomatoes to Billy that is poetry of the best wild kind. Bunch of other stuff in between, too. LISTEN!

Episode 128: Poetry at the Post Office & Vet Clinic

Episode 128: Poetry at the Post Office & Vet Clinic includes post-Independence Day thoughts that have us traveling to both a post office and a veterinary clinic. Go figure! Enjoy another 30 minutes of wacky right here!

Episode 127: Prediction Machines, Bigfoot & a Hip Campus

Episode 127: Prediction Machines, Bigfoot & a Hip Campus discusses the brain, the mind, memory and perception and a bunch of things that have to do with our noggins. Oh, and some Emily Dickinson in there, of course. Bill and Shaun are joined by Bill's great-nephew Evan, who is very good at cutting through the nonsense. Brain jokes and sketchy knowledge of a variety of things ensue. NOTE: JW Ocker is the author of The United States of Cryptids, mentioned in the podcast.

Episode 126: Down the Dirt Roads

Episode 126: Down the Dirt Roads is a different WPL episode, as Bill is out of town, and Shaun welcomes Faith Phillips, author of a book that will be the first one in the poetry museum's fall CRIME, SHE SAID book club. We discuss growing up and walking down the dirt roads in Oklahoma and a true crime case here that she wrote the book Now I Lay Me Down about. The book will soon be a multi-episode true crime documentary. 

Swept Away in a Sweeping Sweep

Episode 125: Swept Away in a Sweeping Sweep takes you on a journey through three poems recently left in the museum. Discussions about the muses, the sport of curling, line graphs, and more ensure.

Episode 124: The Cryptids are Coming!

Episode 124: The Cryptids are Coming! Rot-ro! It’s true, Scooby Doo, the 2025 exhibit at the Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry will be about cryptids, the hidden creatures of our imagination, folklore . . . and occasionally, real life! Shaun and Bill discuss Bigfoot, Chuck Norris (not a cryptid . . . or . . . hmm) and more in this episode.

Episode 123: On Not Vegetating in an Earth Corner

Episode 123: On Not Vegetating in an Earth Corner takes Mark Twain's advice about travel and applies it to . . . traveling! and poetry! and pigs on the beach! and . . . well, just give it a listen!

Episode 122: Closets I Have Known

Episode 122: Closets I Have Known is certainly about closets. Would we steer you wrong? Sweep you away? Lock you in? It's also about brooms and witches. And brooms. Sweep. Sweep. Sweep. Poetry and bad jokes, of course, abound.

Episode 121: Responding to Advice with Horse

Shaun & Bill are joined by Gallery America's Robert Reid on a journey through couplets, spells, curses, advice, empty truck beds, limericks, and lots of stuff about barns. Also, we offer you tips on how to handle advice from 3-year-old Kate and her tent sign.

Episode 120: Magical Petri Dish

Episode 120: Magical Petri Dish steers you headlong into a discussion of community message boards and the poetry and tragedy therein. Get ready to laugh or suffer or both.