In Parallel – Details, episodes & analysis

***Note: The podcast has been renamed In Parallel since the publication of this trailer***

Welcome to In Parallel, a podcast that explores biblical and contemporary poetry. This podcast is hosted by Brent Strawn of Duke Divinity School, and is produced by Keith Willis.

Check our other podcasts: OnScript and Biblical World

Check out the podcasts mentioned in the Trailer: Inverse podcast and Poetry Unbound

Logo design by Mim Ward

To help support In Parallel, consider giving HERE.

Episode: A poetic reflection on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 by poetaster Brent A. Strawn. In Parallel is a new podcast that explores biblical and contemporary poetry.

For more information about the podcast, see HERE and to learn more about Brent, see HERE.

Help Support In Parallel: Visit our Donate Page if you want to support the show.

Episode: A meditation on Song of Songs 8:6-7, a poem about love and death, written and narrated by Brent Strawn. Please subscribe wherever you listen (Apple Podcasts, Spotify). In Parallel is a new podcast that explores biblical and contemporary poetry.

For more information about the podcast, see HERE and to learn more about Brent, see HERE.

Poetry: This episode makes reference to Sharon Olds' poem "The Signs," from The Golden Cell, p. 78.

Help Support In Parallel: Visit our Donate Page if you want to support this new show.

Episode: Brent talks about the celebration of the body in Song of Songs and Sharon Olds' "Topography," in a series of what he calls "Whoohiya!" moments.

About: In Parallel is a new podcast that explores biblical and contemporary poetry. Please subscribe wherever you listen (Apple Podcasts, Spotify). For more information about the podcast, see HERE and to learn more about Brent, see HERE.

Poetry Attribution: The Sharon Olds poem referenced in the podcast is “Topography” ©Sharon Olds 2012 from The Gold Cell published by Alfred J Knopf by permission of the author.

Help Support In Parallel: Visit our Donate Page if you want to support this new show.

Episode: A reflection on Psalm 82, a somewhat confusing poem about God and justice, and poetic adventures in missing the point. The episode discusses Mitch Roberson's "Every Day We Are Dancers" and Billie Collins' "Introduction to Poetry."

About: In Parallel is a new podcast that explores biblical and contemporary poetry. Please subscribe wherever you listen (Apple Podcasts, Spotify). For more information about the podcast, see HERE and to learn more about Brent, see HERE.

Help Support In Parallel: Visit our Donate Page if you want to support this new show.

Episode: What are we to make of the brutal last line in Psalm 137? "A blessing on the one who seizes your children and smashes them against the rock!" This episode explores unspeakable events, justice, revenge, death, and ... blessing. This episode engages John Savoie's poem "Trimmed and Burning."

Attributions: John Savoie’s poem, "Trimmed and Burning," appeared in Poetry Magazine in July 2003 (p. 207). It is used here with permission of the author.

About: In Parallel is a new podcast that explores biblical and contemporary poetry. Please subscribe wherever you listen (Apple Podcasts, Spotify). For more information about the podcast, see HERE and to learn more about Brent, see HERE.

Help Support In Parallel: Visit our Donate Page if you want to support this new show.

Episode: A journey into the psalter's darkest poem (Psalm 88) to explore tone and emotional state in poetry. This episode engages Linda Pastan's poem "Why are Your Poems So Dark?" Thanks to Linda Pastan for permission to use her poem, which was first published in Poetry Magazine in 2003, and in her collection A Queen of a Rainy Country, published by W. W. Norton.

Attribution: ©2006 by Linda Pastan. Used by permission of Linda Pastan in care of the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Inc. (permissions@jvnla.com)

About: In Parallel is a new podcast that explores biblical and contemporary poetry. Please subscribe wherever you listen (Apple Podcasts, Spotify). For more information about the podcast, see HERE and to learn more about Brent, see HERE.

Help Support In Parallel: Visit our Donate Page if you want to support this new show.

Episode: With a biblical poem that shifts imagery (Ps 23), and another (Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays") that provides perspective, Brent Strawn takes us into an "uber-famous" biblical poem-this "nightingale of the Psalms" (Henry Ward Beecher)-that needs to be heard again. Themes of life, death, and asylum redound. Enjoy this last episode of Season 1 of our podcast In Parallel.

Poem Attribution: “Those Winter Sundays,” Copyright © 1966 by Robert Hayden. From COLLECTED POEMS OF ROBERT HAYDEN by Robert Hayden, edited by Frederick Glaysher. Used by permission of Liveright Publishing Company.

Strawn also discusses Sharon Olds' poem "The Preparing" from her 2002 collection Balladz.

About: In Parallel is a new podcast that explores biblical and contemporary poetry. Please subscribe wherever you listen (Apple Podcasts, Spotify). For more information about the podcast, see HERE and to learn more about Brent, see HERE.

Help Support In Parallel: Visit our Donate Page if you want to support this show.