The Brightly Human Podcast
By July Westhale
This podcast is an offshoot of the Brightly Human empire created by author + teacher July Westhale. Covering everything under the umbrella of writing, teaching, creativity, craft, and much, much more.
The Brightly Human PodcastJun 23, 2021
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19:11
S2 E4: Instructions on Not Giving Up
Today we look at Ada Limon’s poem “Instructions on Not Giving Up” and discuss the strange idea of continuous living.
Apr 28, 202213:50
Season 2, Episode 3: generation of feeling
Today we look at Marwa Helal’s poem “generation of feeling” and talk isolation, connection, and verse.
Mar 01, 202215:57
S2E2: break your heart, break mine
Texture, white space, lyricism via Carl Phillips’ “Radiance versus Ordinary Light.
Jan 18, 202219:40
Season Two, Episode One: We Can May Share
We read Bob Hicok’s “What the great apes call the philosophy of life”
Jan 04, 202215:29
Episode Fifteen: Is It a Burden
In this episode, we discuss Dorothea Lasky’s “Is it a Burden”, perfection, and taking oneself too seriously.
Dec 07, 202117:57
Episode Fourteen: Famous to the Fish
In this episode, we discuss Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Famous” and talk about relationship to self, interiority, and the outside world
Nov 02, 202120:56
Episode Thirteen: As a Child, You Worried You Would Be an Orphan
Today we look at “As a Child, You Worried You Would Be an Orphan” by Charlotte Pence and discuss mortality, origin story, and the grief of equinox.
Sep 22, 202116:33
Episode Twelve: Making Anew
Today we discuss Danes Smith’s “The 17-Year-Old & the Gay Bar”, + queerness, baptism, & the academic year.
Sep 14, 202116:48
Episode Eleven: On Self-Eros
In the last episode of our Hot Summer Nights Series, we explore Diane Seuss’s poem “I Have Lived My Whole Life in a Painting Called Paradise”.
Aug 30, 202117:37
Episode Ten: Praise the Rain
This week, we take a look at Joy Harjo’s “Praise the Rain”, and talk about insatiably, Eros, and the daily.
Aug 11, 202117:25
Episode Nine: “Dreaming at the Ballet”
We contribute the “Hot Summer Nights” series of poems of thirst and heat with two erotic and tender Jack Gilbert poems written for poet Linda Gregg.
Jul 18, 202118:05
Episode Eight: Lowering of the Gaze
In the July and August 2021 series “Poems of Thirst and Heat”, we discuss the embodied sense of the ecstatic, in a gamut of interpretations. We kick off the series with a poem by Mojha Kahf entitled “Lowering of the Gaze
Jul 04, 202120:14
Episode Seven: Summer
On this episode, we explore Robin Coste Lewis’s “Summer”, and wrap up the two-month “Breaking Into” series.
Jun 23, 202119:11
Episode Six: The Sound of the Bell
In this episode, we discuss Yosa Buson’s haiku “Winter”, in one of the last installments of the “Breaking Into” series.
Jun 23, 202117:25
Episode Five: Elegance, by Linda Gregg
This week, in our “Breaking Into” series, we explore the uncared for, the singing secret lives of the daily world.
Jun 11, 202119:48
Episode Four: Daily Voltas
Exploring delight, joy, and the mundane/marvelous. Featuring “Opera Singer” by Ross Gay
May 31, 202121:21
Episode Three: Meditations in an Emergency
This week, we look at urgency, pacing, direct addresses, and startling into knowing in order to understand how to incorporate them into our own writing about hard times.
May 25, 202122:05
Bird-Understander
Episodes with music are only available on Spotify.
On tenderness, and how it breaks us open (and informs our writing)
May 10, 202113:35
Episode One: Tackling Imposter Syndrome (like the champ you are)
Welcome to part two in the three-part series on imposter syndrome + writing!
Today’s topics involve taking up space, imposing, and being rude—as well as some actual logistics for how to navigate cold-emailing folks.
Apr 22, 202115:17
April 21, 2021
Apr 21, 202100:27