In Volume Six: Chapter Eighteen we welcome Educator, Poet, Writer and Author David Martin.

He earned his BA in English from the University of Calgary and his MA in English from the University of Alberta. His work has been widely recognized across Canada’s literary landscape — including winning the CBC Poetry Prize, receiving the Silver Award for Poetry from the Alberta Magazine Awards, and being shortlisted for the W.O. Mitchell Book Prize, the Banff Mountain Book Competition, and FreeFall Magazine’s poetry contest.

He is the author of two chapbooks and four full-length poetry collections, including his recently released book Night Stead.

In addition to his poetry, he is the frontman and primary songwriter for the multi-genre band The Fragments, whose eight-album catalog spans indie-pop, alternative, jazz-inspired textures, and most recently, country.

In our conversation, we explore the intersection of music and poetry — whether songwriting and verse come from the same creative space, and how genre shifts function in his artistic evolution.

We trace his creative history back to a pivotal, life-changing poetry reading by multidisciplinary artist Kirk Miles — a moment that reframed how he understood poetry and ultimately led to his involvement with Calgary’s long-running Single Onion Poetry Series, where he now serves as an organizer.

We also talk about his obsession with sound, his process of recording and listening back to drafts, and how grief — particularly the loss of his brother — reshaped both his writing practice and the emotional architecture of his work.

Finally, we dive into Night Stead — a formally inventive and deeply personal collection that challenges conventional reading structures while exploring vulnerability, memory, and interior life.

This is a conversation about discipline and experimentation, silence and return, structure and sound — and what it means to build a creative life across multiple mediums.

Contact David:
Instagram: @david_jamesmartin Website: davidjamesmartyin.ca

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Alyssa Michelle – The Mis-Education of the Introvert
Instagram: @poetress_michelle TikTok: @poetress_michelle

Khalil Saadiq – Somebody's Watching Me
Instagram: @khalil_saadiq

Shawn William – Tired
Instagram: @iamshawnwilliam

Kelsey Bigelow: A Grandfathers Hands
Instagram: @kelkaypoetry Website: kelkaypoetry.com

Anna Maria Morris: A Love Poem for Myself
Instagram: @annamariamorris Website: annamariamorris.com

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Our guest this week is a Scotland, United Kingdom–based writer, poet, playwright, and author. Kestral Gaian, who is the author of four books, including their most recent poetry collection, Tubelines: The Poetry of Motion, available now via their website and wherever books are sold.

In our conversation, we trace Kestral’s parallel paths through creativity and technology — including a lengthy career in software and tech — and how those two worlds increasingly collide. That collision leads us into a thoughtful discussion of artificial intelligence, creative labor, and authorship, sparked by Kestral’s project justsayno.ai. We talk candidly about over-reliance on AI, creative disruption, and the growing concern that AI may help people produce writing without necessarily helping them become writers.

From there, we move into Kestral’s creative history: starting to write at the age of five, transitioning from storytelling into poetry, and grappling early on with questions of identity and representation. Growing up under the shadow of the UK’s Section 28 — legislation that erased queer stories from schools and libraries — profoundly shaped what felt possible to write. We talk about silence, visibility, and the long-term effects of being told certain stories shouldn’t exist.

The conversation then turns to Tubelines, a poetry collection written over five years and inspired by fifty encounters on the London Underground. We talk about people-watching, movement, routine, and the quiet humanity that reveals itself in shared spaces.

Contact Kestral:
Instagram: @kes.tr.al Website: kestr.al

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Toni Payne – Let the Headline Scream
Instagram: @tonipaynequotes Website: tonipayneonline.com

Meccamorphosis – Thrift Shop
Instagram: @meccamorphosis Website: meccamorphosis.com

Asia Samson – As I Am
Instagram: @theasiaproject Website: theasiaproject.com

Christopher Diaz: Again
Instagram: @lightbulbchris Website: christopherdiazcreates.com

Matthew Cuban: Shotgun
Instagram: @matthewcuban Website: matthewcuban.com

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In Volume Six: Chapter Sixteen of The Program, we welcome Poet, Actor, Producer, Playwright, and Author of the new book Hair Me, Leslie Saint Julien. Making her third appearance on the podcast, Leslie returns to discuss the evolution of her personal and powerful stage project Hair Me: A Journey Through the Rich Tapestry of Black Hair and the book of the same name.

In this wide-ranging and honest conversation, Leslie shares how 2025 became a transformative year after a period of burnout and creative exhaustion, and what she’s learned about rest, resilience, and intention. We explore her journey from writing an award-winning poem to developing it into a one-woman stage play, complete with a companion book, script, and educational study guide designed for classrooms.

She opens up about the pressures Black women face when it comes to hair — not just in terms of aesthetics, but as a matter of survival, self-expression, and social perception. We dig into the emotional and cultural weight of “code-switching” one’s hairstyle, the complexity of navigating critique, and the behind-the-scenes work required to bring a theatrical vision to life.

Leslie is also the author of Brooklyn Stew and three poetry collections. A graduate of the University of Maryland with a degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice, she later studied acting at the New York Film Academy.

Contact Leslie:
Instagram: @lesliesainjulien Website: lesliesaintjulien.com

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Destiny Birdsong – Killing White
Instagram: @bird_songoftheyear Website: destintbirdsong.com

Destiny Birdsong – Mythicona
Instagram: @bird_songoftheyear Website: destinybirdsong.com

Ray Jane – Spoils
Instagram: @itsrayjane Website: itsrayjane.com

Summer Durant: Same
Instagram: @summeraen

Ghetto Jedi the Poet: Strap Up

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