If you're here for the cheese addict, stay 'til the end ;)

And if you do, your heart and soul will be filled with a myriad of hopeful poems to bring you through the change in weather as you sniffle your way through the start of winter.

We shine a light on men's mental health on the show this week, starting with the Movember campaign that poet Daragh Fleming is an ambassador for. Every day this month he's been sharing poems to raise awareness on men's mental health, and he shares one of his favourites on the podcast.

Playright David Gilna gives us one of his belters about youthful friendship and bonds with his poem 'The Boys From The Jacko'. Yup Swords IYKYK.

Barry Currivan, a Dublin poetry scene favourite, gives us a poem from his upcoming collection 'If Not If, What' all about staying young at heart.

We share a piece from Belfast poet Paul Muldoon after our trusted source Suzanne Meehan recommended we have a read of his work before Ryan shares his poem about the unfortunate side effect of falling in love through his piece 'He Let Himself Go'.

Our agony aunt this week comes from someone who is suffering from a lack of restraint when it comes to Gouda. Not really a problem, just a supported hobby in our eyes

Poems from the show:

Stephen Downey - Man Of The House
Instagram - @stephendowney

David Gilna - The Boys From The Jacko
https://www.amazon.co.uk/24-Hours-Day-David-Gilna/dp/1915502918

Barry Currivan - We Make Things Old
Instagram - @barry_currivan

Paul Muldoon - The Loaf
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47992/the-loaf

Ryan Duggins - He Let Himself Go
Instagram - @ryanduggins

Agony Aunt - The Dairy Dilemna

Support the show

Original music by Matthew Keating
Artwork by Paddy Downey
Introduction and co-produced by Lisa Downey

The title is as wide ranging as show this week guys but stick with us!

Over 1 million people were on the streets of Dublin last weekend to support the runners taking on the city's marathon, and we think only 800,000 of them were there to perv over Colin Farrell! Leon ran it and has a poem for us.

The next day, Ryan went into The Secret Book Store for the first time, picked up a random poetry collection, opened it at a random page when enjoying a pint at Devitts on Camden Street in a journey that proves that poetry will see you before you see poetry. Enjoy this piece from the late Patricia Monaghan.

We get into the weeds of Irishness next with the work of James Clarence Mangan as Leon has been reading Finding Mangan by Bridget Hourican, a devil of a book going into the deeps of his life. On the flip-side, a man who got a lot of inspiration from Mangan was Shane MacGowan. Ryan is reading his pub-crawl book 'A Drink With Shane MacGowan' at the moment so we share poems from both, and spar over the history of Ireland and the ignorance of education in England about what happened.

We have a lovely end to the show through a short and sweet piece about love by Shiv Hickey. Beautiful work.

If you like the show and would like to join our monthly read-along or would just like to show your support, join our Patreon on the link below:

https://www.patreon.com/c/thepoetrysdeadpodcast

Stay sexy
Ryan and Leon

Poems from the show

Leon Dunne - What Are You Running From?
Instagram - @nomanticz

Patricia Monaghan - The Butterfly Tattoo Effect
https://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Chaos-Salmonpoetry-Patricia-Monaghan/dp/1903392276

James Clarence Mangan - Dark Rosaleen
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50353/dark-rosaleen

Shane MacGowan - The Dunes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5UH3Iik8Jg

Shiv Hickey - Loved Out Loud
Instagram - @whisperedwordsaftermidnight

Support the show

Original music by Matthew Keating
Artwork by Paddy Downey
Introduction and co-produced by Lisa Downey

For all the men over 30 who listen to the show, we apologise for the intro music.

It's Halloween though, so we had to scare you a little bit and what better way to start the show than with the scariest music ever recorded, the entrance music that wrestler Kane.

Poetry still to this day is hard to come by in popular culture, but The Simpsons in 1991 did something incredible. The creators took Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Raven' and trusted it to be the centrepiece of their Treehouse Of Horror episode. We wanted to share that this week, narrated by James Earl Jones.

We bounce between ghouls, skeletons, bonfires, murder and throw in a mention of 'THAT' jump scare video where the car drives around the lane. You know the one.

Leon has his own ghost story too that will keep you awake for sure.

If you're in Ireland you'll get this on a bank holiday, so go wash last night's fake blood off that face, go for a walk and take us with you.

(We do not own the rights of any content shared on the podcast)

Poems from the show:

The Raven - Edgar Allen Poe
Taken from The Simpsons, Treehouse of Horror 1991

Porphyria's Lover - Robert Browning
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46313/porphyrias-lover

The Visitor - Ian Serallier
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p011lgcd

Suzanne Meehan - The Gurrier's Rite
Instagram - @suzie433

Mary Karr - Field Of Skulls
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43134/field-of-skulls

Theresa McCormack - If I Was A Ghost
Instagram - @theworldaccordingtot

Leon Dunne - A Ghost Story
Instagram - @nomanticz

Support the show

Original music by Matthew Keating
Artwork by Paddy Downey
Introduction and co-produced by Lisa Downey