Marilyn McEntyre invites us into a regular practice of poesis.

“I do not believe we steward language well without some regular practice of poesis — reading poetry, learning some by heart, and writing, if not verse as such, at least sentences crafted with close attention to cadence and music and the poetic devices that offer nonrational, evocative, intuitive, associative modes of understanding.”

“If There Were No Computers,” by Callie Feyen

• Winter Morning Walks, by Ted Kooser
• Under the Terebinth, by Anna Friedrich
• 30 Poems to Memorize Before It’s Too Late, ed. David Kern
• Pilgrim, You Find the Path by Walking, by Jeanne Murray Walker
• Long After Lauds, by Jeanine Hathaway
• The Joy of Poetry, by Megan Willome
• But what is the Cure for Laundry? two paintings by Nan Henke with Megan’s poem “The cure for writer’s block”
• How to Read a Poem, by Tania Runyan
• The Poet X, by Elizabeth Acevedo (P.S. Megan wrote the one&only newspaper editorial she has ever written in defense of this book, which appeared on a no-no list)
• Make Lemonade and True Believer, by Virginia Euwer Wolf
• The Crossover, by Kwame Alexander
• Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson

• Megan: A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller
• Callie:
• Tresta: The Gift of a Quiet Life, by Anna Gallant

Marilyn McEntyre says long sentences demand more of us. They slow us down and open us up.

“It prevents us from leaping to conclusions, though it invites us to consider possibilities. it schools us in the very patience it demands.”

“The Trees of Eleanor,” by Megan Willome

• Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, by Marilyn McIntyre
• Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes
• Middlemarch, by George Eliot
• Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
• always Flannery

• Megan: Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
• Callie:
• Tresta: Uprooted, by Grace Olmstead

Visit us at https://necessarytroublepodcast.substack.com/ to read the revised essays from each episode, find links to each of our websites, and more.

Today, Megan and Callie are interviewing Tresta to discuss the journey of writing her debut book More Beautiful Than Necessary: Finding God's Goodness in a Life Beyond My Control. We are exploring themes of grief, beauty, and trust in God's goodness even in the middle of life's uncertainties, as well as discussing the process of crafting a memoir that embraces mystery and the messiness of life.

Join us on Substack at https://necessarytroublepodcast.substack.com/ to watch the video version of this episode, and to find links to our work.

Tresta's book is available here: