Wake, Butterfly: Beyond (So What) with Edward Salem

The Poetry Magazine Podcast

In the second episode, Edward Salem invites listeners to find what’s beyond “so what.”

Note: After the episode was recorded, Salem offered a clarification/correction that his father was among the first from his village to come to Detroit during a Palestinian immigration wave in the sixties.

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Matsuo Bashō wrote:

Wake, butterfly—
it’s late, we’ve miles
to go together.

Poetry magazine presents Wake, Butterfly, a series of intimate portraits that invite listeners to keep creating. The series is produced by Rachel James with sound design by Axel Kacoutié.

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Here’s an edited version of Salem’s prompt:

Write a poem that responds to the question, “What is beyond so what?” You can replace “so what” with “eternity.” What is beyond the void? What is beyond the body? What is beyond your little human life? What is beyond the life cycle of the universe?

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The poem Salem reads in the episode, “The Palestinian Chair,” is from his book Monk Fruit (Nightboat Books, 2025).