Poema Podcast

Poema S9 022 | Ali Smith on Autism, ADHD and Getting a Diagnosis

Today I'm joined by my friend Ali Smith, who shares their story of how they slowly discovered they were autistic, and ultimately had ADHD.
They share common patterns of behaviour they experienced which they realised can be giveaways for these diagnoses, and the process of them obtaining a diagnosis. 
Ali also talks about the challenges of coming to terms with their diagnoses and how they learned to acknowledge and accept who they are and thrive in their autistic and ADHD identities - and how we can too.

Poema S9 021 | Amber Kay on Epilepsy, Autism and Bisexuality

This week I'm joined by my friend Amber Kay to discuss living with epilepsy, how they discovered they were autistic and how this changed their life.
They also share the story of discovering their bisexuality and embracing their true identity, and how this tied in with their autistic discovery. This episode is Amber sharing their journey of acknowledging and living fully into who they really are, and how we can do the same. 

Poema S9 020 | Lyndsey Medford on Her Body & Other Crumbling Empires

This week I'm joined by author Lyndsey Medford, who tells us the story of when an autoimmune condition opened her eyes fully to the limitation of being in our bodies within the systems we live in. 
Lyndsey talks about how learning to be comfortable in her body with its limitations impacted how she sees and interacts with the world. She also shares how it showed her how to heal and be free from the limitations of the systems we live in, and find a healthy, sustainable life for herself.

Poema S9 019 | James’ Demisexual Story with Elle Rose

In this episode, my friend, ace advocate and writer Elle Rose, joins me to hear me tell my story of how I discovered I'm demisexual and on the asexual spectrum.
Firstly, I talk about how I discovered what demisexaulity is and began to resonate with this label.
I then discuss how once I acknowledged my demisexuality, and looked back at my life and my relationship to my sexuality, how it explained a lot of my experiences, lack of sexual attraction and why I was so different from my peers - and how what I thought was 'usual' wasn't the experience of others.
Then I move to explain how this discovery has changed my life, helped my relationships, plutonic and romantic, and helped me find peace with myself. 

Poema S9 018 | Marla Taviano is Jaded

I'm honoured to welcome back my friend, author Marla Taviano today. In this episode we talk about her recent book of poetry, 'Jaded'.
We talk about the messiness of deconstruction, the parts of the journey where we need to get things of our chest, release the grief, anger and trauma we carry, and learn to speak truth to ourselves and of ourselves. 
Marla shares her own journey and how this is reflected in the poems and how writing the book helped that process. She talks about her experience of the anger and grief of discovering oppressive systems we've been a part of and damage we could have done, coming to terms with that, and the healing process. 

Poema S9 017 | Amanda Held Opelt on Grief, The Two World Wars & Queen Victoria

This week my friend Amanda Held Opelt returns, and we discuss grief rituals, why they were popular in the reign of Queen Victoria, and the impact of the first world war on our cultural grief rituals and how we process grief & loss.
We also explore how the trauma and grief culturally felt and experienced in the first World War, had an impact on the allied nations initial response to Hitler's tyranny and how this could have inadvertently contributed to WWII. 
We then discuss how defeat and having to face up to their actions as a nation, and do the work of healing and transformation, impacted Germany and their culture, and how victory contributed indirectly too many of the problems we now see in the UK and Germany.

Poema S9 016 | The Grief of Obi Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker with Douglas Humphreys

This week my friend Douglas Humphreys returns to the show, and we discuss the show 'Obi Wan Kenobi', and the dynamic of the relationship between him and Anakin Skywalker (AKA Darth Vader) in the context of their respective journeys of grief and trauma.
We discuss their experiences of grief, including in their own relationship, and the circumstances which contributed to the stories and outcomes of their lives.
We talk about how unresolved grief and anger can consume and control us, and harm both ourselves and others - and how this story shows the contrast between this and healthy ways of processing grief, and how it transforms us.

Poema S9 015 | Loki, Wanda & Grief with Amanda Held Opelt

This week Amanda Held Opelt returns to continue our exploration of grief and transformation in pop culture.
Today we talk about the contrasting experiences of Loki, brother of Thor and Wanda Maximoff, and how we see this ultimately play out in their respective MCU shows. 
We explore how Loki's confrontation with his own trauma, grief, and his actions, ultimately transforms and heals him. In contrast we discuss how Wanda's unhealthy response to trauma and grief causes harm to others, and herself.
We then touch on what lessons we can learn from their respective journeys. 

Poema S9 014 | Tori Williams Douglass on Whiteness

I'm honoured to be joined today on my podcast by anti-racist activist, educator and speaker Tori Williams Douglass.  Tori runs 'White Homework', a resource educating people on anti-racism and whiteness.
Today Tori tells us a bit of her story and journey into activism. She then discusses the concept of whiteness, where it originated, where we see it, and the harm it does, individually and societally.
Tori also explores where we can see whiteness in ourselves and in the system we live in, and how we can begin to unlearn it and create a more equal, just world.

Poema S9 013 | Marshall Blount (Gentle Giant Ace) on Ace Equality & Activism

TW: Stories of acephobia
Today Marshall Blount (@AceGentle on twitter) joins me today to share his story of discovering his identity as an asexaul (ace) and his journey into ace & LGBTQI activism. 
We talk about the challenges he faced in discovering going public about his ace-ness and how others reacted, how it impacted his mental health, as well as his experiences of acephobia. 
We also talk in depth about the activism he's been involved in, including how he obtained a proclamation for Ace Week 2020 from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the difference his work is making to ace awareness and equality - as well as words of encouragement for those still exploring their aceness.