Laeticia Keok on Poetry as Attention, Intimacy, and Collective Responsibility | Ma's House Podcast

Jeremy Dennis, lead artist of Ma's House, interviews January 2026 artist-in-residence Laeticia Keok, a Singaporean writer and editor based in New York City whose work considers grief care, borders, and collective responsibility. Keok shares how she moved from voracious reading and fiction to contemporary poetry, and how honesty on the page helps her process personal and political realities. She describes a COVID-era shift toward poetry as attention and witnessing, her practice of note-taking, and writing associatively from small moments like kelp farming and Shinnecock Bay "Hope Spots." They discuss intimacy, loneliness, vulnerability, confessional risk, and ethical citation and naming as community practice, as well as grief circles and her Ma's House workshop "You Are the One I Love." Keok reflects on distance, nation, and replicated systems across borders, previews a New York reading, and discusses finishing her poetry collection.

00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro
01:16 Becoming a Poet
02:51 Honesty on the Page
03:36 Poetry as Attention
06:17 Notes to Poems
08:01 Intimacy and Politics
10:34 Publishing and Readers
11:48 Grief and Distance
13:28 Two Homes and Freedom
16:08 Risk and Confession
19:07 Grief Circles in Community
20:58 Influence and Citation
24:42 Editing and Authorship
26:37 Residency at Ma's House
30:37 Workshop Reflections
32:29 Letters to the Departed
34:42 Whats Next in 2026
37:35 Follow and Closing

In this episode, we speak with July 2025 Resident Artist XY Zhou. XY Zhou (they/them) is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in New York City whose work spans writing, painting, ceramics, textiles, and design. Their practice investigates the transmission of cultural traditions across generations, geographies, and mediums. They currently contribute to Phoenix House NY|LI's Art of Advocacy program, facilitating art workshops and exhibitions. XY's work has been exhibited at various NYC venues and has been supported by institutions such as NYU Gallatin and the Bobby Anspach Memorial Foundation. Their past honors include fellowships from Jiggle n' Juice, Newington-Cropsey Foundation, FabNYC, and a current grant from the Asian American Arts Alliance. They are also a member of the publishing collective Active Chapter, which supports local artists through printed media. XY is driven by boundless curiosity and a desire for lasting impact.

In this Ma's House podcast, we hear from Ma's House alumni artist Ella Mahoney. Ella is a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), an artist, illustrator, and teacher. She received her BFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts and an MA in Art Education from Pratt Institute.

Her work has been featured in galleries and performances across the United States, including the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Southampton Arts Center, and Invisible Exports. She has also illustrated multiple children's books for the Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project.

Mahoney's painting techniques encompass the use of oil and acrylic mediums, as well as the art of silk painting. Her work is centered around storytelling and draws inspiration from creation stories, as well as from her personal experiences of indigeneity through the lens of love and nature.