Melody or Witchcraft

About Melody or Witchcraft

Conversations with today's poets and writers about Emily Dickinson and about the scope and sources of creative influence and the relevance of the past. Guests choose a Dickinson poem and one of their own to read. kathrynpetruccelli.substack.com (https://kathrynpetruccelli.substack.com/s/melody-or-witchcraft?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Kathryn Petruccelli

Category

arts · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

27 Jan 2026

Latest episode

5 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

37 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   5 Oct 2026

   Audrey Molloy: the poem as a made thing

   Welcome to the first episode of Season 4! The Melody or Witchcraft podcast interviews begin with a love for poetry, its craft, and a major literary ancestor: Emily Dickinson. I’m your host, Kathryn Petruccelli, a poet, workshop leader, Substacker, & former guide for the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts. Listen in to hear about the concentric circles of the past and the present. Names or poetic references are fleshed out or linked to in the show notes if not in the moment. Thanks for being a listener! Rate us on Spotify HERE (https://open.spotify.com/show/2w5Q3LgscfEjFyOxSHNZ3u/), or Apple Podcasts HERE (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/melody-or-witchcraft-poets-on-emily-dickinson-todays/id1872453302). I met Audrey Molloy for the first time in May of 2026 when I was privileged to take a workshop with her at the Cork International Poetry Festival. I was impressed with how she conducted the workshop itself, the breadth of feedback she provided all of us, as well as how generous she was with her time and skills. In Episode 20, Audrey & I talk about the nuance of “Truth,” the cadence of Irish poets, what has & hasn’t changed for “fallen” women in the 21st century & more. (Recorded September 1, 2026) Audrey Molloy (http://audreymolloy.com) was born in Dublin and has lived in Sydney since 1998. She has an MA in Creative Writing (Poetry) from Manchester Metropolitan University. Her debut collection, The Important Things (2021), was shortlisted for the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize and won the Anne Elder Award. Her third collection, Fallen (2025), was long-listed for the Forward Prize. She has been shortlisted for major awards including the Montreal, Peter Porter, Bridport and Moth poetry prizes. She is co-founder and editor of The Marrow International Poetry (http://themarrowpoetry.com). The Dickinson poem Audrey chose: Tell all the truth but tell it slant -Success in Circuit liesToo bright for our infirm DelightThe Truth’s superb surprise As Lightning to the Children easedWith explanation kindThe Truth must dazzle graduallyOr every man be blind – Loose Poems, (Fr1263, J1129) c. 1872 FallenAudrey Molloy Wives are afraid of me now.They smile at me the way people smile at leopards through glass, or across a moat:how safe we are, over here, in our marriages. A woman can wake to her own wailing.How silly, they will say, this is the sound of guilt; think of the children, they’ll say, not hearing the planeat work on her heart, shaving it down to a leaf. Oh, I read the Russian novels(and you’re not sure now if I mean read or read – if this is happening or had already happened.With loss, both can be true at once.) If the books don’t lie I die at the end of the story,like Anna, or Emma – the fellow-fallen, how almost accidental it sounds! Fallen –as though I’d lost my footing, stumbled on the lip of the moat, or slipped like a child’s dollover the glass fence of the enclosure. What I know of leaving: men stride forthwith purpose, some fine new place in mind. A wife neither falls nor leaps – she ditchesinto the dark hands of the sea, not caring where she comes to ground,driven only by what she leaves behind. Other Dickinson poems mentioned: Wild Nights! – Wild Nights! (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44087/wild-nights-wild-nights-269) I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45706/i-felt-a-funeral-in-my-brain-340) People and concepts mentioned in the interview: What Audrey notes as “ModPo” at “Pennsylvania University” is University of Pennsylvania’s course in Modern American Poetry (https://modpo.org/2018/09/04/modpo-2018-enroll-here-now/). (Pro Tip: LOOK at this! The course is FREE!) Shelley (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/percy-bysshe-shelley) Keats (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-keats) Wordsworth (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-wordsworth) Hopkins (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/gerard-manley-hopkins) Austin Clarke (https://poetryarchive.org/poet/austin-clarke/) (and his poem, “The Planter’s Daughter (https://allpoetry.com/The-Planter's-Daughter)”) Hiberno-English (https://irishtopia.net/hiberno-english-when-english-gets-an-irish-accent-and-grammar/) (Note that the phrase Audrey uses in our conversation - “I’m after going to the shops,” translates as “I just went to the shops.”) Yeats (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-butler-yeats) Kavanaugh (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/patrick-kavanagh) (and his poem, “Advent (https://allpoetry.com/poem/8507389-Advent-by-Patrick-Kavanagh)”) Robert Frost (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/robert-frost) Sharon Olds (https://www.sharonolds.net/) (and her book, Stag’s Leap (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13330670-stag-s-leap)) Muriel Rukeyser (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/muriel-rukeyser) (and her poem “Waiting for Icarus (https://murielrukeyser.org/2020/10/12/waiting-for-icarus/)”) The journal Audrey co-founded, The Marrow (https://www.themarrowpoetry.com/) La Bohème (https://www.britannica.com/topic/La-Boheme-opera-by-Puccini) La Traviata (https://www.britannica.com/topic/La-traviata) Madame Butterfly (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Madama-Butterfly) Carmen (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Carmen-opera-by-Bizet) Dickens (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Dickens-British-novelist) Victor Hugo (https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/victor-hugo) Tamburlaine the Great (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tamburlaine-the-Great) Genghis Khan (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Genghis-Khan) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kathrynpetruccelli.substack.com/subscribe (https://kathrynpetruccelli.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

2. 

   14 Sept 2026

   Bonus for you from friends of the podcast

   Hello dear Melody or Witchcraft listeners! I’m interviewing and editing all over the place right now, getting ready for Season 4 of Melody or Witchcraft (http://melodyorwitchcraft.com) to start in October. In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy a little extra poetry. Today’s post is an exchange with my friend John Gillespie’s podcast, Poetry Medicine for the Soul (https://poetry-medicine-for-the-soul.simplecast.com/). He speaks with interdisciplinary artist and writer Summer J. Hart (http://summerjhart.com), a native of the state of Maine and an enrolled member of the Listuguj Mi’gmaq First Nation. She’ll read some of her work and some work by others who have inspired her. (That sound at all familiar? ;)) Quick warning that there is a curse word in this epsiode. Announcements of the new season of Melody or Witchcraft guests coming soon! Be well, ox, Kitty This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kathrynpetruccelli.substack.com/subscribe (https://kathrynpetruccelli.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

3. 

   24 Aug 2026

   Brenda Hillman: life loaded and unloaded

   The Melody or Witchcraft podcast interviews begin with a love for poetry, its craft, and a major literary ancestor: Emily Dickinson. I’m your host, Kathryn Petruccelli, a poet, workshop leader, Substacker, & former guide for the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts. I’m interested in things like the sources of creative inspiration, how the past influences the present, challenging cultural norms, social justice, and poetry as a tool for survival. I have yet to fail to fall further in love with each poet-guest after our conversations. I hope that will be true for you, too. Non-poets & poetry skeptics: you are very welcome here!! Names or poetic references are fleshed out or linked to in the show notes if not in the moment. * Things you are at risk of as a listener:Learning new ways to understand poetry.Filling up your “new writers/books to read” dance card.Finding healing and companionship around the stress of living. Thanks for being a listener! Rate us on Spotify HERE (https://open.spotify.com/show/2w5Q3LgscfEjFyOxSHNZ3u/), or Apple Podcasts HERE (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/melody-or-witchcraft-poets-on-emily-dickinson-todays/id1872453302). In Episode 19, Brenda & I unload ideas about our sister Emily’s influence, agree accessibility is the devil’s work, talk the long poem, the (short) chapbook, and much more! In addition to the following full-length interview, look for the Brenda Hillman “bonus bit” episode where Brenda talks about her partnership with poet Robert Haas. (NB: Brenda Hillman is our anchor episode for Season 3. We’ll be back in October with Season 4 and more amazing poet guests.) Brenda Hillman (https://www.brendahillman.net/index.html)was born in Tucson, Arizona and has been an active part of the Bay Area literary community since 1975. She has published chapbooks with Penumbra Press, a+bend press, EmPress, A Minus Press, and Albion Books. And has published twelve full-length collections with Wesleyan University Press, including her upcoming title, Still House in the Desert: An eco-contemplation (September 2026), and her recent collections, In A Few Minutes Before Later (2022); Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire (2013), which received the International Griffin Poetry Prize; and Extra Hidden Life, among the Days (2018), winner of the Northern California Book Award. Brenda’s choice of Dickinson poem: My Life had stood - a Loaded Gun -In Corners - till a DayThe Owner passed - identified -And carried Me away - And now We roam in Sovreign Woods -And now We hunt the Doe -And every time I speak for HimThe Mountains straight reply - And do I smile, such cordial lightOpon the Valley glow -It is as a Vesuvian faceHad let it’s pleasure through - And when at Night - Our good Day done -I guard My Master’s Head -’Tis better than the Eider Duck’sDeep Pillow - to have shared - To foe of His - I’m deadly foe -None stir the second time -On whom I lay a Yellow Eye -Or an emphatic Thumb - Though I than He - may longer liveHe longer must - than I -For I have but the power to kill,Without - the power to die – Fascicle 34, Sheet 4, c. late 1863 (Fr764; J754) The Family Sells the Family GunBrenda Hillman a prose ballad i only held it once but thought about it often as you think about those times when your life had stood both loaded & unloaded One brother knew of its existence having seen it where it languished in the famed green storage unit from which it had been transferred to the bank-box but we never quite knew when Information our father had & something he was squeamish about or proud of at the same time the way Protestants are about genitals We believed it was a Luger—maybe taken from a soldier—in the War our father trained for but didn’t ever get to because he was wounded in the knee—“sustained” is the word they use—sustained a wound—in infantry maneuvers before his men were mostly killed after D-Day— When his ashes in the desert grave were lying we took the weapon from the bank-box i put it quickly in my handbag to get it past the teller—the holster was the smoothest leather—brown & heavy —the yawning L-shape of the Luger Google says Georg Luger designed in 1898 —the holster smooth as the jackets of German soldiers in the movies & what had they done to make the cowhide smooth like that & what had they done to the cow We thought of burying it in the desert but if you Google burying a firearm it changes to a search for buying a firearm You can also look up how to load a semi-automatic weapon on YouTube where a white man with thick hands & a wedding band shows you how to check for rounds in what order & tells you how to handle it with your dominant hand We couldn’t take it to the cops even in my handbag though Arizona is open carry & you can take it anywhere in public but the cops can shoot you if you take your gun to their station One young Tucson cop named Matt agreed to come to us & checked the magazine & said it was unloaded— looked upon us with excruciatingly mild pity — said this relic might be worth some money & stroked it the way some boys do i couldn’t tell what the brothers were thinking— it felt like a tragedy but reversible—our father’s ghost stood like a tall working summer like Hamlet’s father’s ghost appearing only in the day & good naturedly telling people not do the killing but still trying to control the actions of the play You can think about ghostly word weapons nonstop Let’s just take a shot at it She was going great guns He loved her but couldn’t quite pull the trigger Better to just bite the bullet Kill an hour or two & for some reason maybe sorrow for our father’s power/lack of power i felt a twinge when my brother whisked the tiny heavy out of there —my life had stood a secret little hiddenly shameful semi-automatic firearm & When at night Our good day done i guard my Master’s head My younger brother sold it for $600 at a Tucson gun shop—one of those outfits where the master paces behind the counter offering advice on collecting & is so proud of his stash It was a Tuesday i think—a Tuesday inside history where America is lost—& what should we do with the cash Other Dickinson poems mentioned: A little Madness in the Spring (https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/a-little-madness-in-the-spring-1356/) People, books, and concepts mentioned in the conversation: Bob (Robert) Hass (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/robert-hass) (Edgar Allan) Poe (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/edgar-allan-poe) Lord Byron (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/lord-byron) The Pocket Emily Dickinson, ed. Brenda Hillman, 1995 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1645473082?lv=shuf&channelId=510&plpRedirect=mhFallback) (Walt) Whitman (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/walt-whitman) Wallace Stevens’ “Le Monocle de Mon Oncle” (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43428/le-monocle-de-mon-oncle) Tang Dynasty (https://www.worldhistory.org/Tang_Dynasty/) Barbara Mossberg episode of Melody or Witchcraft (https://kathrynpetruccelli.substack.com/p/barbara-mossberg-unknowing?r=1awdgm) John Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale” (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44479/ode-to-a-nightingale) Denise Levertov (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/denise-levertov) Elizabeth Bishop (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/elizabeth-bishop) Gertrude Stein (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/gertrude-stein) H.D. (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/h-d) Dale Going (https://dalegoing.com/) Dickinson’s Master Letters (https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/roomitem/master-letters/) Iambic (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/education/glossary/iamb) Anapestic (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/education/glossary/anapest) “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (https://poets.org/poem/paul-reveres-ride) Robinson Jeffers (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/robinson-jeffers) & his poem “The Purse-Seine” (https://www.poetry.com/poem/32886/the-purse-seine) Susannah Taminin AWP = Association of Writers & Writing Programs, a large annual writing conference that happens in different cities around the U.S. year to year. Ekphrasic (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/education/glossary/ekphrasis) (Thomas Wentworth) Higginson (https://www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org/thomas-wentworth-higginson-1823-1911-correspondent/) Dante (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/dante-alighieri) (William) Wordsworth’s (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-wordsworth) poems “Prelude” (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45542/the-prelude-book-1-childhood-and-school-time) & “A Slumber did my Spirit Seal” (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45553/a-slumber-did-my-spirit-seal) Brian Teare (https://www.brianteare.net/) & Albion Books (https://albionbooks.net/) (also mentioned in Dana Levin’s Melody or Witchcraft episode (https://kathrynpetruccelli.substack.com/p/dana-levin-poetry-as-an-endurance?r=1awdgm)) C.D. Wright (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/c-d-wright) The Firecage (https://d.docs.live.net/fbd9a6288ba8b308/Desktop/EDM/PODCAST/abendpress.com/product/the-firecage/), Brenda’s chapbook (https://d.docs.live.net/fbd9a6288ba8b308/Desktop/EDM/PODCAST/abendpress.com/product/the-firecage/) about menopause and hotflashes Recorded April 15, 2026 Make sure to check out the Brenda Hillman Bonus Bit episode as well. Otherwise, this completes Season 3 of Melody or Witchcraft. Best wishes for a poetic September and we’ll be back with a new season in October. Thank you for your support. ox NEW WORKSHOP OPPORTUNITIES: Join me for a revision techniques/revising in community stand-alone workshop Sunday, August 30! (Free for paid Substack subscribers.) Join up with one of the 8-week generative workshops beginning in September through SOBI (Small Observances, Big Ideas). Poetroar.com (http://poetroar.com) for more details. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kathrynpetruccelli.substack.com/subscribe (https://kathrynpetruccelli.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

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