Detail of December 2015 cover, "All the Small Things" by David M. Cook

Note: Poetry has an occasional series of playlists for recent issues. This month, the Poetry Foundation’s very own Patrick Samuel curated a selection of music for the December 2015 issue. He explains his selection process below. Click the play button to listen or click here to open in Spotify.

In creating a playlist for the December issue, I primarily focused on poems individually, pulling from each an impulse that, I felt, helped propel the poem into motion. This process became evident when, during my first reading, I encountered Joanne Diaz’s “Equator Sky, Manila Bay” and was instantly reminded of themes of gluttonous irony in “Pirate Jet” by the Gorillaz. While a majority of the pairings strictly adheres to this methodology, others veer slightly to encompass the overall impression of a single poet, as is the case with The White Stripes’s “Little Room” speaking to the whole of the Robert Lax portfolio. Overall, in my attempt to make clear the connections between song and poem, I did allow, from time to time, room for nuance and abstraction to inform my selections (Helen Mort’s “Scale” and Die Antwoord’s “Cookie Thumper”). I hope you enjoy!

You can find previous installments of this playlist series here and on Spotify.