For our June 2019 playlist, we asked contributor Wayne Holloway-Smith, whose poem “‘I want you to leave your body now’ he tells me” appears in the issue, to curate a selection of music for us. You can read about his approach to creating the playlist below. Click here to open the playlist in your Spotify app.

As always, June’s issue of Poetry has been emotionally exciting, surprising, a privilege to read. Something I personally felt most powerfully, this month, was the sense of memory and of resistance, and perhaps a sense of how a type of resistance can take place through memory. Instead of attempting to create a playlist to reflect this on my own, I wanted to try for a collaborative experience. I therefore asked some poets I admire for a song that they felt in some way made sense in relation to the above. It’s been fun to see what each has chosen. Below is a list of the tracks and the poets who suggested them. I hope everyone finds something they enjoy here.

“Vitamin C” by CAN—Wayne Holloway-Smith
“Wash It Down” by K’NAAN—Inua Ellams
“Fantasy” by Mariah Carey, featuring Ol’ Dirty Bastard—Sophie Collins
“Mississippi Goddam” by Nina Simone—Daljit Nagra
“You or Your Memory” by the Mountain Goats—Joe Dunthorne
“Timelessness” by Wynton Marsalis—Raymond Antrobus
“Something’s Got a Hold on Me” by Etta James—Jack Underwood
“History of Touches” by Björk—Helen Charman
“Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak—Emily Berry
“In My Secret Life” by Leonard Cohen—Caroline Bird
“Winter” by Tori Amos—Sandeep Parmar
“The Trapeze Swinger” by Iron & Wine—Fiona Benson
“Abide with Me” by Thelonious Monk Septet—Will Harris
“The Words That Maketh Murder” by PJ Harvey—Rebecca Tamás
“Cedar Lane” by First Aid Kit—Andrew McMillan
“Knee-Deep in the North Sea” by Portico Quartet—Anthony Anaxagorou
“These Days” by Nico—Katharine Kilalea
“Why Did You Separate Me from the Earth” by ANOHNI—Rebecca Perry
“Remember” by Seinabo Sey ft. Jacob Banks—Ruth Sutoyé
“Shanzhai (for Shanzhai Biennial)” by Fatima Al Qadiri—Crispin Best
“Attica” by Frederic Rzewski—Alex MacDonald
“Juicy” by the Notorious B.I.G.—Rachel Long
“Hot Topic” by Le Tigre—Liz Berry
“Addictions” by Lucy Dacus—Luke Kennard
“Django Jane” by Janelle Monáe—Mary Jean Chan
“Character” by Van Hunt—Theresa Lola
“Solid Air” by John Martyn—Martha Sprackland
“Skeletons” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs—Amy Key