What Makes a Poem Magic with Lisa Marie Basile
What happens when you drench a poem in magic?
And how can you use language to cast spells, explore the occult, and write into the liminal, esoteric parts of yourself?
In a mesmerizing guest episode of The Poetry Vessel Podcast, I sit down with Lisa Marie Basile—the luminous mind behind Luna Luna Magazine, and author of The Magical Writing Grimore, Light Magic for Dark Times, and the poetry collection Saint Of (published by White Stag Publishing). Lisa joined us to discuss the art of bibliomancy, Italian folk magic, and the expansive power of maximalist, "baroque" lyricism.
SAINT OF by Lisa Marie Basile
"SAINT OF is a gilded exploration of hunger—the hunger for the erotic, the ancestral, the forbidden, divinity, and hope. With themes of grief, illness, and generational trauma woven alongside sensuality and beauty, this collection is both sacrament and defiance. It traces the contours of longing, ruin, and transformation, blurring the boundaries between the carnal and the celestial. These poems are not only an invocation of saints—they are a declaration of self."
ORDER on Amazon →To learn more about Lisa and her work, click below to watch the full YouTube video below.
Writing from the Threshold: Self as Saint, Darkness as Light
A striking feature of Saint Of is that every single poem begins with the phrase "Saint of..." (e.g., Saint of Grief, Saint of Ecstasy). This creates an incantatory, trance-like rhythm for the reader.
Drawing from her Catholic upbringing, Lisa repurposes the archetype of the saint—traditionally a go-between for the earthly and the divine—to navigate her own history of surviving foster care. In this collection, the saint is not an external deity; it is a manifestation of the self used to survive and move through trauma.
For centuries, poets have danced with the occult—from W.B. Yeats and the Golden Dawn to Sylvia Plath’s use of the Tarot. Lisa continues this lineage by incorporating divination directly into her creative practice. In this episode, we explore bibliomancy, Italian folk magic, and how you can cast your own written spells.
You can discover more of Lisa’s work, explore her books, and read her bibliomancy series on Substack by visiting lisamariebasile.com. If you are a poet looking to share your own liminal poetry, check out the submission guidelines for Luna Luna Magazine.
Lisa’s work continues to enthrall and inspire us; you won't want to miss this episode.
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