In “Smother” Poet Rachel Richardson Balances Parenting Amidst Upheaval

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Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

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Summary

How should we raise children in a world that is burning? This is the question that Berkeley poet Rachel Richardson contemplates in her new collection, “Smother.” As wildfires beset California, Richardson worried about the impact it would have on the land, communities and her own family. “The smoke is not cruel, only truthful,” she writes. And throughout the collection, fire, smoke and air flecked with ash become metaphors and characters as Richardson searches for resilience, defiance, and ultimately, hope. Guests: Rachel Richardson, poet, "Copperhead, Hundred-Year Wave," and, most recently, "Smother"; co-founder, Left Margin LIT in Berkeley; recipient of the Stegner and NEA Fellowships. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:02.2	How should we raise children in a world that's burning?
1:08.2	This is the question that Berkeley poet Rachel Richardson contemplates in her new collection, Smother.
1:11.2	This is a book about living in our real world, the one filled with smoke monitoring websites,
1:14.1	plastic gyres and friendship, desire, and fulfillment centers.
1:18.7	How do you make sense and make art in these times?
1:21.8	How do you know when you can enjoy a sunny day?
1:24.8	We're gonna talk motherhood and poetry,
	...

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