About Tarzana Joe

The talk-radio poet heard nationwide — turning headlines and heartfelt moments into verse since the early 2000s.

Joe Santi is one of the few poets in America — maybe the only — whose work is broadcast weekly on nationally syndicated talk-radio. As Tarzana Joe, he is a regular feature on the Hugh Hewitt Show, heard on stations across America for over a decade.

As a talk-radio poet, Tarzana Joe's weekly poems are commentaries on everything from recent elections to popular culture. Listener response kept them a part of commercial radio for over ten years. On the weekend before Valentine's Day, he offered to write love poems for the gift-challenged — and was overwhelmed with requests. A new career as poet-for-hire was born.

Joe attended Regis, an all-scholarship Jesuit high school in New York City, then won a Carswell Scholarship to Wake Forest University, graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in English and Theatre.

He has appeared as Shakespeare at the LA Unified School District Reseda Festival of Books, participated in the Sunland-Tujunga Shouting Coyote Poetry Festival, and his play "Blue Laws" was nominated for an L.A. Ovation Award as Best New Play. He co-wrote the screenplay for "The Pickets," accepted into the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival in 2003, and is Executive Producer of "Animals," a documentary on animal cruelty issues.

Joe is a (retired) ice hockey goalie. He lives in Tarzana in the San Fernando Valley.

"It Only Hurts When I Rhyme" and "The 2nd Best of Tarzana Joe" — available online now.

Tell him the story. He'll find the verse in it.