GOOD FOLK
Good Folk Podcast
EP 34: Ruben Quesada
0:00
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -56:17
-56:17

EP 34: Ruben Quesada

Discussed: Texas and the American South, decay of both the body and planet, the tensions of distance, responsibility to the places we inhabit, and the poet as witness bearer

Hello folks,

It feels like it has been a while since I have spoken to you all here, and I apologize for that. With a combination of work travel, various due dates, and the general state of the world, we’ve fallen behind.

But I’m excited to be back here with you, and to bring you a conversation that touches on some particularly relevant themes: how to find hope at the end of the world, how to build community through difficult times, the importance of looking to one another and rooting in our relationships. It is also a conversation about the power of poetry to grasp some of these difficult topics, and the way that leaning in to art offers us new ways of seeing the world. I—as I imagine many of you are—have found myself especially needing those new ways of seeing the last few months.

Please welcome to Good Folk poet and translator Ruben Quesada. Ruben is the editor of the award-winning anthology Latinx Poetics: Essays on the Art of Poetry. His poetry and criticism appear in The New York Times Magazine, Best American Poetry, The Believer, Harvard Review and elsewhere. His recent collection of poetry, Brutal Companion, which released just last month and which we at Good Folk highly recommend, won the Barrow Street Editors Prize.

Thank you to Ruben for joining us and for such a meaningful conversation. I hope you enjoy.


GOOD FOLK is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Discussion about this podcast

GOOD FOLK
Good Folk Podcast
Good Folk is a newsletter, podcast, and community project exploring artistry, empathy, community, and storytelling through conversations with individuals in, around, and from rural America and the American South.
Listen on
Substack App
RSS Feed
Appears in episode
Spencer George