Pádraig Ó Tuama: My name is Pádraig Ó Tuama, and one of the things I love about reading poetry and writing poetry is that poetry opens up doors into what’s happening — not to say, here’s the perfect analysis, here’s the complete explanation, here’s how to understand and apply this experience in your life. It just opens up a door and says, “Look.” It invites me into an encounter with the everyday: maybe a recipe that I remember, or a risk I took, or a time when I felt lonely, or a time when I felt absolutely overfilled with joy. Poetry invites me into encounter with myself, and to celebrate encounters with others, and to mark encounters where I felt isolated. Poetry invites me to look through what’s happening, and to encounter my own self, somebody near me, somebody I love, a complete stranger. All of these things can happen through looking at the world through a poem, and looking at the world that’s around me that’s so different to my own.

Poetry Unbound is back. Season 7 starts on the 22nd of May. There’ll be new episodes every Monday and Friday for 10 weeks. Follow us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or wherever you podcast your podcasts, the usual places or the unusual places. Accompany your life with poetry — join us for Season 7 of Poetry Unbound, made for you, with love, from all of us at On Being.