In the second episode of Mood Curriculum, I speak with poet Ariana Reines about her book Wave of Blood (Divided, 2024), in which the native properties of poetry are harnessed to reckon with an acute real life crisis during the first months of the war in Gaza. In Wave of Blood there is real grief and anger; it is a challenging and very personal work. It opens with a quote from the poet and painter Etel Adnan that reads: "Science must not replace pain, because when that kind of catastrophe happens, it has no mercy."

Music by bitsy Knox and Roger 3000. Cover art by Tolia Astakhishvili.