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 page in our second anthology that will be out next week! Well done again to DK, Brenna and Katy for bringing absolute fire to us.

We have a lovely Christmas poem by JRR Tolkein, a piece about lovers from different worlds by Seán Óg Ó Murchú, a tribute to those we won’t be spending time with this Christmas from Ryan and our agony aunt is back helping someone who needs a hand finding their tribe.

As is standard, we share what little we know about all the bloody things those poems bring up including border crimes, how to maintain a relationship with your parents and what problems we think AI will actually solve that isn’t just writing better emails.

We’ll be getting the book details locked down this week and hopefully have it available in time for Santa 🎅🏻

As we’ve been saying a lot recently, every person who listens to the show means the absolute world to us. It’s been such a fulfilling year for us, and a lot of that is down to the connections we’ve found through the show so to each and every one of you, a huge thank you and a Merry Christmas.

Thanks guys

Ryan and Leon

Poems from the show

Support the show

Original music by Matthew Keating
Artwork by Paddy Downey
Introduction by Lisa Downey

Produced by Ryan Duggins

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 that were submitted for the book, especially the many amazing submissions we got as part of the competition with Quilkeeper Press. Nicole Zwolinski didn’t get into the top 3 to win, but we wanted to give a special mention to her and read out her poem Stolen Wishes.

We talk about the aggressive attacks poet Aoife Dunne has been receiving and discuss what exactly is it that triggers so many men online, and why.

A first play too on the podcast for Jamaican dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson as we have a lot of fun with his words and swag. Thanks to Allie Asiri and her book A Poet For Every Day Of The Year for giving us a nudge in his direction.

Leon announces a very special guest joining his Rising Tide show at Pearce Street Library with the actor Robert Sheehan taking the stage. We share his short story Funeral on the podcast.

Our next show will be the final episode of the year. The podcast has given us so much joy in 2025. We’ve travelled to the UK to perform, we’ve hosted our first culture night event and we even interview a rock star!

We have no idea what 2026 will bring us, but we know it’s going to be fucking poetic.

Poems from the podcast

Sean Watmore - Daring To Dream

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRKVyc5iAsO/

A Singing Lesson - Jean Ingelow

https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/singing-lesson-1

Nicole Zwolinski - Stolen Wishes

https://www.nicolezwolinski.com/aboutRobert Sheehan - Funeral

Robert Sheehan - Funeral

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/funeral-a-new-short-story-by-robert-sheehan-1.4704886

If I Woz A Tap-Natch Poet - Linton Kwesi Johnson https://poetryarchive.org/poem/if-i-woz-tap-natch-poet/

Music from DC Dolls - Countess

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-5Hz1v-ZX8

Support the show

Original music by Matthew Keating
Artwork by Paddy Downey
Introduction by Lisa Downey

Produced by Ryan Duggins

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's show we have a lot of beautiful poems for you, along with conversations about poetry really can help turn a life around. We talk about phone addiction, how easy it is to slip into crime and how stories can save you.

We would really appreciate it if you do like the podcast to do your bit to get the word out. We love hearing from you too so don't be a stranger and get in touch with your poetry stories to thepoetrysdeadpodcast@gmail.com

Poetry from the show

T.S Elliot - The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Read by Sir Anthony Hopkins with Stephen Colbert

https://www.tiktok.com/@colbertlateshow/video/7567195063692954894

Chris Eubank Sr recites Adi Shankara - Song Of The Soul

https://www.amritapuri.org/40614/shankaracharya.aum

Costa Del Joy (Without The Costa) - Leon Dunne and prisoners of Mountjoy Prison, Dublin

https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ4pcj5gCI8/

Heather Peteroy - On My Relationship With The Internet

https://www.instagram.com/bettydogood/?hl=en

Robert Cullen - Untitled Poem

https://www.instagram.com/rc1991/?hl=en

William Wordsworth - I Wander Lonely As A Cloud

Jane Lightbourne - The Bridge

https://www.janelightbourne.co.uk/

Music by Left Iris - Escitalopram

https://leftirisband.com/

Support the show

Original music by Matthew Keating
Artwork by Paddy Downey
Introduction by Lisa Downey

Produced by Ryan Duggins