Episode 176 with Raegen Pietrucha: Skillful Wordsmith, Image Painter, Ardent Activist for Survivors of Sexual Violence and Writer of The Powerful Head of a Gorgon Poetry Collection

Episode 176 Notes and Links to Raegen Pietrucha’s Work

 

    On Episode 176 of The Chills at Will Podcast, Pete welcomes Raegen Pietrucha, and the two discuss, among other things, her early voracious reading, her pivot to poetry and being amazed and inspired by writers like Louise Gluck and Mona Simpson, her interest in particular myths around Medusa, her collection’s genesis, and attendant themes and motifs in the book around sexual violence, misogyny, grief, trauma, and resilience and reinvention; additionally, she discusses her important fundraisers that combine Sexual Assault Awareness Month and National Poetry Month in raising money for and awareness of victims of sexual violence.

 

  Raegen Pietrucha writes, edits, and consults creatively and professionally. Her chapbook, An Animal I Can’t Name, won the 2015 Two of Cups Press competition; her debut poetry collection, Head of a Gorgon, was published by Vegetarian Alcoholic Press in May, 2022; and she has a memoir in progress. She received her MFA from Bowling Green State University, where she was an assistant editor for Mid-American Review. Her work has been published in Cimarron Review, Puerto del Sol, and other journals. Connect with her at raegenmp.wordpress.com and on Twitter @freeradicalrp.

 

Get Involved in Raising Money for and Awareness of Victims of Sexual Violence through Raegen’s Fun and Unique Fundraisers through Resilience

 

Buy Head of a Gorgon from Vegetarian Alcoholic Press

 

Buy Head of a Gorgon from Amazon

 

Raegen Pietrucha's Website

 

2022 Interview with FourWay Review

 

At about 7:35, Raegan talks about her early reading prowess and early creations of creative work, including the reading contests that she and Pete remember so well  

 

At about 11:20, Raegen talks about memorable reads as she developed as a reader and writer  and an ever-growing TBR pile due to her wide reading

 

At about 13:00, Shout outs to the quiiiiite eccentric Shel Sílverstein

 

At about 15:10, Raegen sings the praise of Louise Gluck, especially her poem “Mock Orange,” and Mona Simpson’s “Lawns” as pivotal/revelatory for Raegen 

 

At about 20:00, Raegen responds to Pete’s inquiries about how she reads differently after having served as an editor over many years; she discusses the ways in which her choices have changed over the years in valuing the visceral more 

 

At about 28:05, Pete makes an incredibly terrible/smooth transition as the two talk about the background and important facts around Head of a Gorgon-publishing, etc.  

 

At about 29:35, Pete reads one of the collection’s epigraphs and Raegen discusses seeds for the books and connections in her life and those of loved ones to the myths of Medusa

 

At about 35:35, Raegen delineates her view of and focus on a particular lesson and her lens in looking at a particular version

 

At about 36:50, Pete and Raegen discuss the book’s trigger warnings and lay out the book’s outline and structure and ideas of “rein

 

At about 41:20, Pete highlights skillful onomatopoeia, sound, and creative and active verbs in the collection’s first poem; Raegen talks about decapitation (!) and describes her rationale in writing the poem in 20-30 lines and reads the poem-it is called “The Gorgon’s Parting Thought”

 

At about 45:50, The two discuss water as a motif throughout the collection, as well as speaker and audience for the collection and the multiple “Your Captain is Speaking” poems in the collection 

 

At about 50:10, The two discuss the poem “Sex Ed” and its implications about “willful ignorance” and an imagining of a young Medusa 

 

At about 53:10, Pete gives an example of a humorous Simpsons scene that pokes at the the often “woefully adequate” ways 

 

At about 56:10, Pete reads the powerful ending of “Sex Ed”  

 

At about 56:50, The themes of misogyny and women as existing in juxtaposition with powerful men through reading of resonant lines

 

At about 58:00, Raegen discusses the ideas in her work and beyond about women as being viewed as “sacrificial”  

 

At about  59:20, Raegen relates some of her early encounters with Medusa in an artistic way

 

At about 1:01:40, Ideas of snakes as venomous and victimizing and treacherous and men as predatory, though less so as the woman discovers her power as the book goes on are discussed  

 

At about 1:05:15, Pete likens parts of the collection to ideas of “light” and “blinders” in the collection and “Allegory of the Cave”; Raegen answers Pete’s questions about sources of strength for survivors in “finding the light”

 

At about 1:09:35, Pete cites lines from the collection, connecting ideas of fate and free will and self-worth in Greek myth 

 

At about 1:10:50, Pete quotes from the powerful poem “Cheer,” with its meditations of grief and “reinvention”

 

At about 1:11:40, Pete and Raegen discuss the collection's denouement and the ways in which internalized shame and grief and the external relate

 

At about 1:13:50, Pete compliments the ways in which realizations and growth are shown throughout the collection, quoting from a powerful ending

 

At about 1:15:40, Raegen gives details on SAAM (Sexual Assault Awareness Month) and National Poetry Month, and the extensive work she is doing to fundraise in so many fun and unique ways for victims of sexual violence-here’s the link for her work in partnership with Resilience

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  Please tune in for Episode 177 with Laura Warrell. She is the author of Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize, and long-listed for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the Golden Poppy Book Award through the California Independent Booksellers Alliance; her writing has been published in the New York Times, Lit Hub, Los Angeles Review of Books, Huffington Post, The Rumpus, The Writer, and other publications.

   The episode will air on April 11.