Susan Rich’s masterful collection, Blue Atlas, (Red Hen Press, April 2, 2024) is a physical and emotional travelogue through a “land of deferred decisions.” In this collection, the reader is taken on a journey from North America to Europe to Africa, from the “before and after,” with a speaker grounded in a decision made 30 years ago. There is a wonderment when the speaker asks, “What can I do with the women who occupy my vertebrae, // take over my hips and tongue?”
I asked Susan about lineage, about politics, and about writing the body.