April is National Poetry Month, and to kick things off, this year we have a conversation from the 2025 Portland Book Festival between two of our most accomplished contemporary poets: Pádraig Ó Tuama and Patricia Smith.

Their conversation is moderated by Portland poet, musician, and Torah teacher, Alicia Jo Rabins. An Oregon Book Award finalist for her collection Fruit Geode, Alicia published her spiritual memoir earlier in 2026 with the wonderful title When We’re Born We Forget Everything.

Alicia leads the conversation with Patricia Smith and Padraig O Tuama. Patricia Smith’s latest book is her new and selected, The Intentions of Thunder; and in fact, shortly after this event took place, in November 2025, the book was awarded the National Book Award for Poetry. Pádraig Ó Tuama is an Irish poet and theologian, and the host of On Being’s Poetry Unbound podcast.

The event was titled “Testament,” and much of the conversation explores the poet as witness and bearing witness; both of one’s own life but also beyond that, including the form of the persona poem. Patricia talks about how coming up in the poetry slam community shaped her poetic voice and confidence, while Pádraig shares how a childhood in Ireland, where his poetic education was mostly focused on memorization, influenced his own trajectory.

Patricia Smith is an inductee of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the recipient of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for Lifetime Achievement. She is the author of nine acclaimed books of poetry, including Unshuttered and Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah. A Guggenheim Fellow, a National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient, and a four-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam, Smith is a creative writing professor in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University and a former distinguished professor at the City University of New York.

Pádraig Ó Tuama is an Irish poet who hosts On Being’s Poetry Unbound, and has written the accompanying (and forthcoming) volume to that podcast. With publications in the Kenyon Review, the New England Review, Poetry Ireland, Harvard Review and others, he’s also a seasoned broadcaster, having appeared on national radio stations in Ireland, the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand. His latest poetry collections are titled Kitchen Hymns and 44 Poems on Being with Each Other: A Poetry Unbound Collection.

Alicia Jo Rabins is a writer, musician, composer, performer and Torah teacher. She combines words, music, ritual and performance to create works of experimental beauty exploring the intersection of ancient wisdom texts, feminism, and everyday life. Rabins tours internationally as a musician and performer; she has performed and presented at Lincoln Center, Joe’s Pub, and in countries including Sweden, Guatemala and Estonia.

Particia Smith & Pádraig Ó Tuama in conversation