Poets At War

About Poets At War

Art. Theology. Philosophy. Fun. Poets At War is a gathering place for Christian artists engaged in the culture war of worldviews. Hosted by Joshua David Ling, this podcast explores the intersection of creativity and faith through conversations that range from deeply philosophical to lightheartedly humorous. Drawing inspiration from Tolkien, Lewis, Calvin, Augustine, and Chesterton, Poets At War invites listeners into an authentic community of creators who are serious about their craft and convictions while maintaining a spirit of camaraderie and joy.

Publisher

Joshua David Ling

Category

arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

16 Sept 2021

Latest episode

16 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

400 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   16 Oct 2026

   Poets At War Ep. 278: AI, the Archivist, & The Lord of Ghosts

   Welcome to Poets at War, a podcast documenting The Brood of Writers, where art, theology, philosophy, and fun beckon your ears.Today on the program, General Joshua David Ling holds a long-form war council with Alex Robertson and Ian Wilson, recorded in early 2026 amid a Goodwill run, a fresh tobacco lounge, a van DVD player, and a little girl being sent off to bed. What starts as a casual check-in on gas money and a canceled conference quickly spirals into one of the most fruitful conversations on AI the show has ever had — free tiers vs. paid, "injections" and custom bots, Nano Banana Pro, local transcription pipelines, and whether the machines are tools or crutches. Along the way Alex reads his brand-new steampunk short story "The Lord of Ghosts," Ian updates Heart of the Stars and the hunt for Dr. Eustace Small's journal, the General unveils the Brood's new theme songs (including a Japanese anime version of "Mildly Toasted Beaver"), Alex records a vocal pass on "Sooner Sonata," and the crew tours a reader app for the Lyricanium — before a sharp and generous round of poetry critique about clean rhymes, slant rhymes, meter, and why Idiot's Guide to Illegal Tech Repair needs to stay dirty. Art, theology, philosophy, and fun — plus a seven-pointed star and a poem that didn't need to exist.Chapters: 00:00 — Intro: Entering the War Zone 00:52 — Goodwill, Tobacco & The Van DVD Player 09:48 — The Conference That Got Cancelled 13:45 — The Archivist, The DJ & The Question of AI 19:54 — Ian Joins: Eye Doctors & Defenestration 22:00 — AI as a Research Assistant 27:22 — A Hyper-Intelligent Seven-Year-Old 29:07 — Giant Blocks of Text & The Memory Problem 32:19 — Injections, Bots & The Poe Workaround 35:28 — Nano Banana & The Image Problem 42:30 — Did AI Just Kill Public Schools? 43:20 — Testing Nano Banana Pro: A Warrior & Two Dragons 45:00 — Local Transcription & The Writing Pipeline 49:51 — Heart of the Stars: Dr. Eustace Small's Journal 51:23 — Alex Reads "The Lord of Ghosts" 59:36 — The Brood's New Theme Songs 1:05:00 — Stressed Syllables & The Sooner Sonata 1:14:45 — Playing "Sooner Sonata" 1:20:26 — Suno, Stems & Logic Pro 1:23:42 — The Lyricanium Reader App 1:31:02 — Poetry Critique: Clean Rhymes vs. Slant Rhymes 1:49:21 — Jackie the Phoenix & The Vietnam Backstory 2:00:27 — Red Rover & "Finish What We Started" 2:10:28 — Sign-Off: Be Your Family's BardYou too can be a part of the brood of writers and Poets at War. Just visit https://JoshuaDavidLing.com/Discord to join. If you're a true poetry patriot, you can support us at https://patreon.com/poetsatwar. and get the recordings of all of our encouraging and strategic meetings, along with much more. Over and out.

2. 

   9 Oct 2026

   Poets At War Ep. 277: The Homeschool Stock Market, Vibe Coding, & Danhausen

   Welcome to Poets at War, a podcast documenting the brood of writers, where art, theology, philosophy, and fun beckon your ears.Today, General Joshua David Ling leads a Wednesday war council (recorded March 4th, 2026) with Alex, Brendan, Dante, and Debbie — covering Alex's homeschool stock market "Small Street," Joshua's terminal app vibe-coding a game through Claude Code, the AI-art wars, Brendan's miniatures war-game lore, and WWE's gloriously disappointing Danhausen debut — plus the June road trip, Peter's Super Mario 64 habit, and raising children in the future.Chapters:00:00 — Intro & Opening00:53 — The New Van02:03 — Introducing Debbie to Todd Friel05:39 — "Christian Bob Barker" & Over-Enunciation09:14 — Braves Disaster: Profar's Second PED Bust12:42 — The Candy Store & the Homeschool Stock Market14:57 — "Small Street": Playing Through the Great Depression19:04 — Taking Small Street Public20:28 — Dyslexia, Baseball Lore & Learning to Read22:02 — A Psalm, a Hymn & a Spiritual Song23:44 — Dancing Whole Hog & the Goal of 25025:25 — The June Road Trip34:47 — Hazel Says Goodnight37:00 — Gas Prices, Data Centers & Anti-HOA41:25 — Home Lab Upgrades & Peter's Retro Games44:35 — Apple's Drop Week47:08 — The Phone-That-Thinks-It's-a-Laptop50:54 — Soapbox Pivots into Modules54:33 — Alex's Spreadsheet Religion57:09 — Elgato's 36-Button Stream Deck59:34 — Elgato × Corsair & the Discord Volume Dream01:02:24 — Termyte, Claude Code & the Self-Vibe-Coded Game01:04:29 — "Why Bother Learning to Code?"01:07:35 — Using AI to Reverse-Engineer AI01:08:57 — Crucifix in Urine vs. AI Art01:11:36 — Camille Paglia's Glittering Images01:13:32 — "Kiss Christ Is Not Art"01:15:45 — Brendan's War Game & AI Lore Sessions01:21:46 — Ludo-Narrative Harmony & the Oath Blades01:23:17 — Danhausen vs. the Box01:29:08 — "Very Nice, Very Evil"01:30:22 — Selling Brendan on Small Street01:33:00 — Dust Bowl 2.0 & the Penny Shortage01:39:43 — Dante Drops In & "Narratively"01:40:51 — "Why Crash the Market on Purpose?"01:42:58 — Brendan Declines01:44:44 — Sign-Off & ClosingYou too can be a part of the brood of writers and Poets at War. Just visit https://JoshuaDavidLing.com/Discord to join. If you're a true poetry patriot, you can support us at https://patreon.com/poetsatwar. and get the recordings of all of our encouraging and strategic meetings, along with much more. Over and out.

3. 

   2 Oct 2026

   Poets At War Ep. 276: The Broodcast September 2026

   Welcome to Poets at War, a podcast documenting the brood of writers, where art, theology, philosophy, and fun beckon your ears.Today on the program, we gather the troops for the monthly Broodcast! The writers assemble in the barracks to share their latest dispatches from the creative front lines.First, General Joshua David Ling reads for an absent troop. Joel Stanley's "Hope Awakened," Chapter 44 — the tense aftermath of Fox's rescue of Hope, as the shaken Sergeant Mann confronts what his daughter survived. The Brood weighs in on Hope's harrowing confession, that bedpan reveal, the return of the blue alien Starlett, and exactly how many impossible things a man can stack before he faints dead away.Next, Joshua steps up with his own pages: two chapters of An Idiot's Guide to Illegal Tech Repair — "The Grand Tour" and "#6: Red Rover." Blaze and Pandora tour their new home, the Magnus Canis, before a Gryvian 320 Sphere forces Operation Red Rover into motion. The troops discuss pacing, the need for location detail, and Joshua's two-year mission to write settings, not just stages.Then Ian Wilson returns to Heart of the Stars with Chapter 9 and the start of Chapter 10, "The Bog World." Eddie blasts giant spiders from the ship's gunner seat, Azariah goes full spacewalk with nothing but magnetic boots and a sword, and the crew crash-lands on Thume — a Louisiana-flavored Dagobah of intelligent fungus, a disgruntled cat captain, and a frog engineer named Thrung. (Technical difficulties are suffered gallantly by all present.)Brendan brings a training scene from Book One of The Bard King, where the monster-hunting veteran Vos teaches the young soldier Tiernan to be strong, not stiff. The Brood debates whether a lesson needs a payoff, what "wax on, wax off" really means, and how much inner life a silent badass can carry.Finally, Ethan shares Chapter 2 of Working Through the Ashes. Griffin and his father Arnold build a shed, wage a paintbrush Star Wars duel, and claim the McGregor family hat — until smoke rises from the hill and everything changes. The troops praise the Midwestern charm, the implied backstory, and the gut-punch of an ending.Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro & Broodcast Roll Call 00:27 - Opening Banter: Baseball, Trips, & Writing Updates 20:34 - Joel Stanley's Story: Hope Awakened, Ch. 44 41:26 - Feedback on Joel's Story 46:08 - Joshua David Ling's Story: An Idiot's Guide to Illegal Tech Repair 55:18 - Feedback on Joshua's Story 58:13 - Ian Wilson's Story: Heart of the Stars, Ch. 9 & 10 1:31:28 - Feedback on Ian's Story 1:38:56 - Brendan's Story: The Bard King, Book One 1:44:51 - Feedback on Brendan's Story 2:06:41 - Ethan's Story: Working Through the Ashes, Ch. 2:22:26 - Feedback on Ethan's Story & OutroYou too can be a part of the brood of writers and Poets at War. Just visit https://JoshuaDavidLing.com/Discord to join. If you're a true poetry patriot, you can support us on and Patreon, which has been newly relaunched at https://patreon.com/poetsatwar/ and get the recordings of all of our encouraging and strategic meetings early and uncut! Over and out.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

756,752

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 81 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

94

Social presence

0

YouTube

93

Engagement

76

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