In this episode, Andrea and Rebecca are joined by poet Cheryl Slover-Linett for a deeply moving conversation about grief, trauma, motherhood, land, and the healing power of poetry. Cheryl shares how her life experiences shaped her work, including the long arc of writing The Seduction of the Daughter in 15 Pieces and the emotional care required to tell a traumatic story without overwhelming herself or the reader.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The strange emotional tension of Colorado spring: beauty, heat, fire risk, and unease
• Cheryl’s grief origin story and the moments that shaped her early life
• How trauma, memory, and grief show up in poetic form
• Writing about sexual violence with care, specificity, and boundaries
• The role of nature in holding difficult creative work
• Mother wounds, protection, and the grief of not being fully protected
• Land, colonization, ancestry, and the grief embedded in place
• Hope, recovery, and what it means to keep living with unresolved pain
• The embodied power of poetry and why form matters

Featured guest

Cheryl Slover-Linett

Poet based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her work has appeared in multiple literary journals, and she also leads wilderness retreats through Lead Feather, the nature-based nonprofit she founded in 2008.

Poems featured in the episode

• Glastonbury Guzzle
• Mistletoe

Connect with Cheryl:

• Get her book of poetry: https://dulcetshop.myshopify.com/products/the-seduction-of-the-daughter-in-fifteen-pieces-cheryl-slover-linett-copy
• Lead Feather Wilderness Retreat