About this episode

Ali Trotta discusses her debut poetry collection and the influence of mythology and tarot on her work.

Virtual Memories Show 684: Ali Trotta “I think mythology and fairy tales provide a good baseline, because almost everyone has read a subset of those stories, and the symbolism is something most people can reach for and relate to.” With her debut poetry collection, OFFERINGS FOR ORDINARY GODS (Clash Books), Ali Trotta brings myth, magick, tarot, and ritual to bear on the eternal & primal struggle of women. We talk about those roots and how tarot and ancient myth inspired her work, where tarot began for her — ’90s, The Craft — and how past guest Katelan Foisy resparked her interest and showed her new depths in the cards, and her focus on revising ancient myths to retell the stories of wronged women like Persephone, Medusa, and Dido. We get into how she feels at seeing her work collected and how to look at her development as a poet without cringing at her younger selves, how everything is fair game and poetry can serve as exorcism, and how confession can be deeply coded in a poem. We also discuss the teacher who gave her the tools to read poetry deeply, her Very Online-ness and how she’s built relationships and writer communities online (and how…

People in this episode

Host: Gil Roth

Guest: Ali Trotta

Topics covered

• mythology
• poetry
• tarot
• women's stories
• creative process

Keywords

• myth
• poetry
• tarot
• women
• OFFERINGS FOR ORDINARY GODS
• Katelan Foisy
• creative writing

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: OFFERINGS FOR ORDINARY GODS

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• Episode 680 – Kate Maruyama and Me · June 24, 2026 · 1h 31m
• Episode 679 – Heather Cass White · June 14, 2026 · 1h 32m

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