A conversation with Marc Lauxtermann (University of Oxford) on how to read Byzantine poetry on its own terms and in its own context. We talk about how modern Romantic notions of poetry as well as the ancient meters of classical Greek have distorted the expectations that we place on Byzantine poetry, and then discuss the specific contexts that gave rise to poetry in Byzantine society. Who were the poets? How did poems accompany objects and events? The conversation is based on Marc's magisterial and highly recommended Byzantine Poetry from Pisides to Geometres: Texts and Contexts, 2 volumes (Vienna 2003 and 2019).