The Poetry's Dead Podcast
Ryan and Leon are delighted to bring you your NEW favourite poetry podcast, exploring the work of poets old and new, with a little bit of craic mixed in.
We'll share our love of poetry every week, taking you on a journey through work from poets you'll have heard of, as well as poets you may not have heard of and even people you had no idea wrote poetry.!
We'll also help with our Agony Poet part of the show where we'll accept any challenge of solving a problem with a poem. Nothing is too trivial or too serious.
Ryan Duggins is a published English poet based in Dublin, with work found in journals Dreich, Flare and his first collection 'You're Never Too Old To Know Better' was published in April '23. He's also performed at Electric Picnic and is a regular on the open mic scene in Dublin
Leon Dunne is a spoken word artist and cornerstone of the poetry scene in Ireland. He is the 2022 All Ireland Poetry Slam Champion and co-founder of Rising Tide, an events company hosting the best spoken word performers the country has to offer out of Pearse Street library
Both of them are more fun than these descriptions would have you believe
Give us a follow, leave us a review, send this to your Ma' and join us :)
Original music by Matthew Keating
Introduced and co-produced by Lisa Downey
Episodes
75 episodes
Michael Jackson, Road Dahl & Poetry From Jessie Buckley's Dad
In this week’s episode we look at the conflict and tension that comes natural when there is out you like from awful people. Sparked by the new Michael Jackson biopic, we discuss.We also share a poem from Tim Buckley, the father of actor ...
Baz Luhrmann, 'The Matchmaker' Willie Daly And Intrusive Thoughts
Poems from the show:Aisling Bonner - Dublin, Oh Dublin (Taken from RTE's 2FM Breakfast Show)Aisling Bonner (@aisling_bon) | TikTokRobert...
Seamus Heaney, John Keats And What Ever Happened To Timbaland?
This week's show we keep it a little lighter, but I think in doing so we accidentally got a bit macho. Nightmare really. Especially that chat we have about what dog should you aspire to be. That was definitely a toxic conversation lol.An...
James Plunkett, Banjo Paterson And CNN's Expose On Rape Academy
Trigger warning: This episode includes subjects that some listeners might find difficult to listen to, including sexual assault and rape.If you are a long-time listener, you'll know that we like to keep it light. However, we felt after r...
T.S Eliot, Morgan Freeman And Remembering Things That Didn't Happen
Did you ever think you did something awful as a child that didn't actually happen?Yeah, no, mad to think that's something common and not just you, don't you think? We talk about that today on the podcast after we share a poem that was Ne...
Andrea Gibson, Harry Baker And Putting Life On The Long Finger
The Times' newspaper lost a few subscribers this week after a ridiculous critique of Harry Baker's life show had caused a rightful stir in the poetry community. We talk about the snobbery elitism that hums in the background of the current movem...
Words That Changed Your Life - Grian Chatten, Derek Mahon, John O'Donoghue And More
Words That Changed Your LifeWe opened last week’s show with a clip from Hollywood actor Bill Murray talking about art. He shared a story about how, on his darkest day, he was saved by a painting in a Chicago gallery that gave him ...
John Steinbeck, Woody Harrelson And Finding The Antidote To The Manosphere
We both have been chewing the Louis Theroux 'Manosphere' documentary around in hour mouths for a few days so it was only natural we spend way too much time this week talking about it. Hopefully we add something to the conversation of the world ...
Swear Words, Leo Tolstoy and Charles Bukowski At A Pasadena Orgy
Not sure what was in the water this week, but f*** me do we have some awful language in the podcastWe celebrate the swearers on this week’s podcast, from Jan Brierton reciting her poem ‘Dear Body’ on The Tommy Tiernan show to ...
Hamnet, Donna Ashworth and Signs Preceding The End Of The World
There's not a podcast out there that will cover both Shakespeare and the bliss of receiving a free bowl of chips at an Irish pub, and that is something we will forever be proud of.Back with a banger where we rant about phone addiction, p...
We're Back With Season 3! - Teaser Episode
We are back just as the moon is arriving a little later and the garden is whispering to you saying - 'Remember me? - Get that lawn mower!'A little hello from us welcoming you to season 3 of The Poetry's Dead Podcast that returns on Monda...
End Of Year Special - Christmas, JRR Tolkien And Petty Crimes
Jesus. That year went by fecking quickly, but life tends to slip by when it’s greased up with so many bloody brilliant poems.In our final podcast of the year, we celebrate the winners of our Quillkeeper collaboration that all have won a ...
Robert Sheehan, Ireland Beating Hungary And Male Triggers
We couldn’t start the podcast any other way than with a poem from Sean Watmore of celebration for the Ireland Football Team getting the job done in Hungary. World Cup 2026? COYBIG!We are so thrilled with the amount of poems th...
Chris Eubank, Phone Addiction and Poems From Mountjoy Prison
Thanks to everyone who has submitted a poem for us for our 2nd volume of The Poetry's Dead Anthology. Submissions are now closed, and we have over 200 poems to read through to bring you a lovely book perfect for Christmas this year.Today...
Halloween! - Frankenstein, Vampires and Shirley Jackson
OK fair, we are a few days late, but keep the skeletons out for a bit longer as we bring you our Halloween special!Frankenstein, Dracula, the Rock DJ video where we strips his skin off, we leave no tombstone unturned as we take you to th...
Raising Men's Mental Health Awareness With Movember
Join us this week for a special men's mental health podcast in collaboration with Movember. It's not easy out there. Juggling responsibilities, craving rest where there is little time, keeping struggles to yourself. Life can be a ve...
Manchán Magan, Basic Income For Artists And Remembering Our Grannies
We are paying tribute this week to the late writer and researcher of all things Irish, Manchán Magan who has departed our current world for the next one. We talk about his influence on the recent fire under the belly of Irish culture and share ...
Matthew McConaughey, Brianna Parkins and A Lesbian Van
Alright, alright, alright...it was too tempting to type so leave us alone. How else do you expect us to start this podcast description when we're celebrating the poetry of Matthew McConaughey? Exactly. There are many poems we could ...
Live @ Culture Night Special
We have a chonky boy of an episode for you this week!Due to the magical powers of our sound man, the wonderful Finn O'Reilly (@finnreuben), we present to you our Culture Night episode recorded live at The LAB in Dublin. This ...
Philip Larkin, CMAT and Should We Stop Listening To Men?
We don't agree with CMAT, even though we love her. We think Larkin would have been her biggest fan.Not yet discussed on the podcast, we share Aubade one of Larkin's masterpieces.We then talk about that ability of turning the munda...
Claddagh Records, President Michael D Higgins And A Surprise Poem At Electric Picnic
The President of ireland has a spoken word albumLet us do that one more time for you.The President of Ireland has a spoken word album. What a sentence, and you know what, it’s a brilliant piece of work. We d...
Oasis In Dublin And Poetry At Electric Picnic
This podcast is an absolute must listen if you were lucky enough to be at the Oasis concert last weekend at Croke Park. Leon was there, and spends a lot of this podcast gushing over Liam and Noel Gallagher, which we should all be here for.<...
David Balfe, Nikita Gill And Sneaky Cats
On today's pod, we celebrate the release of the second album from For Those I Love, as well as hearing Olivia Rodgrido’s advice about poetry being the foundation for all songwriting, which we’d be on board with.We also dive into the wor...
Sylvia Plath, The Fleadh & Changing Jobs Too Quickly
Difficult third series? F*** that! We missed you guys and are delighted to return to your moistened ears as you go on your jog around the park that you hate to help you through another 5k.Or whatever you're up to listening to...
Talking Gargoyles, Partying In World War 2 Berlin And Being Inspired By Young Poets
Our last podcast was our 50th show lads. 50! Mad.On Monday, we have a load of poems and stories for, starting with some info about our live podcast at Swords Castle next Saturday with Wavin Words where there’s also a young poets slam fo...