The sadness, isolation, and loss of the past year and a half can be so hard to talk about, but sometimes poetry provides the exquisitely precise language we need to name our hurt. That’s what writer Peter Markus found when he sat down to process the death of his father. On today’s pod, April Baer talks to Peter about how poetry became a vehicle to process his grief when fiction fell short. GUESTS: Peter Markus, writer, novelist, and poet. His first collection of poetry is called When Our Fathers Return to Us as Birds. Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way. If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work. Stateside’s theme music is by 14KT. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.