#030 - Why Every Writer Should Memorize Poetry — Matthew Stillman

Spoiler: it's not another memory palace.

In this episode of The Poetry Vessel Podcast, Malibu Poet Laureate '23-'25 sits down with Matthew Stillman of StillmanSays to discuss the art of memorization and how poetry can become apart of our everyday lives. Stillman has worked one-on-one with thousands of people, using deep listening and creative techniques to uncover unseen connections.

Through his one-of-a-kind workshop, Committed to Heart, Committed to Memory, Stillman guides students through the art of memorizing poetry.

Committed to Heart, Committed to Memory is a four-week, small-group poetry workshop focused on memorization as a living, embodied practice. Participants will learn how to carry poems within them—so beauty, language, and meaning are readily available in speech, thought, and daily life.

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00:00 – How Memorizing Poetry Rewires Your Mind

00:51 – Who Is Matthew Stillman?

03:45 – A Cassette Tape That Changed Everything: “Your Favorite Poems”

07:12 – Improv Comedy Powered by Poetry: Using Poems as Script11:58 – Poetic “Shards”: Why Lines of Poetry Haunt Our Everyday Speech

13:40 – Poetry as Ancient Technology & Ritual Maintenance

16:06 – Memory Palaces vs. Learning by Heart: Two Ways of Knowing

19:15 – Recitation as Live Theater: Bringing Poems Back to the Body

23:51 – Courting the Muses: Treating Memory Like a Living Being

27:32 – Usable Speech: Poems for Graveyards, Lagoons & Liminal Spaces

32:23 – How Metaphors Shape, Expand & Narrow What We Can Perceive

37:32 – Sex, Spirit & the King James Bible: An Initiation Through Language

40:35 – Poetry in Motion: What a Truly Poetic Response Looks Like

45:00 – Beyond Funerals: Bringing Poetry Back into Ordinary Life

58:20 – A 20‑Word Benediction: The Radical Hospitality of Language

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