In this Short Fuse Podcast, Elizabeth Howard is in conversation with poets Diane Alters and Edward Hirsch. Both used poetry to work through the death of their sons, Armando Alters Montaño and Gabriel Landay Hirsch. Grief is an emotion we have all experienced, particularly over the last few years. We have grieved for children killed in school shootings, for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Trayvon Martin, among many others whose murders resulted from the systemic racism that threads through our society. As COVID swept across the globe we all had difficulty comprehending the enormity of this virus. Similarly, we are confronted daily with images and sounds of wars, famines, and the refugees who are left to languish in border disputes. Anger among American citizens has led to violence, leaving us to grieve for our democracy. How do we think about grief, publicly and privately?
Diane Alters
Diane Alters is a lecturer in journalism at Colorado College. She has worked as an editor or reporter for several publications, including the Boston Globe, the Sacramento Bee and the Denver Post and is co-author of Media, Home and Family (Routledge 2004). Her exquisite book of poetry, Breath, Suspended, (Finishing Line Press 2022.) was described by a critic as, “What it means to write at the aperture of grief.”
Edward Hirsch
Edward Hirsch is a beloved American poet. Gabriel: A Poem, published in 2014, is a book-length elegy for his son. He has written 10 volumes of poetry and is the author of five prose books. His most recent book is 100 Poems to Break Your Heart. Edward Hirsch has taught creative writing and is president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, a position he has held since 2002.
Sarah J. Purcell
Author, Spectacle of Grief, Public Funerals and Memory in the Civil War Era and L. F. Parker Professor of History at Grinnell College.
Alex is the technical producer, audio editor and engineer for the Short Fuse Podcast. He is a music producer and a student at Berklee College of Music. He has written and produced music and edited for podcasts including The Faith and Chai Podcast and Con Confianza. He writes, produces and records music for independent artists, including The Living. He lives in Brooklyn can can be reached at alexwatersmusic12@gmail.com with inquiries.