Tenderest selves and hardest selves: a reading with Julia Bouwsma, Maine Poet Laureate

Poetry Medicine for the Soul is a podcast inviting poets to share and examine their work, produced and moderated by John Gillespie. Episode 18 celebrates National Poetry Month. This episode features Maine Poet Laureate Julia Bouwsma reading multiple poems from her forthcoming collection, Death Fluorescence. Julia Bouwsma is Maine’s sixth state Poet Laureate. Julia lives off-the-grid in the mountains of western Maine where she works as a poet, homesteader, editor, teacher, and small-town librarian. She is Maine’s sixth Poet Laureate, currently serving a term from 2021 to 2026, and is the author of three poetry collections: the forthcoming Death Fluorescence (Sundress Publications, June 2025), Midden (Fordham University Press, 2018), and Work by Bloodlight (Cider Press Review, 2017).  She is also the librettist for the short chamber opera, Ghost Apples, created in collaboration with composer Nathan Davis and to be performed by the Halcyon Quartet in the fall of 2025. Bouwsma’s honors include a 2024 Poet Laureate Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets and two Maine Literary Awards. Her work can be found in various publications including Ecotone, Green Mountains Review, Kenyon Review, Plume, and Poetry Daily. She has taught in the Creative Writing department at the University of Maine at Farmington, serves on the Community Advisory Board for the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, and works as the Library Director for Webster Library in Kingfield, ME. Learn more at www.juliabouwsma.com/ This podcast is hosted and produced by John Gillespie. Check out our website for more episodes: https://poetry-medicine-for-the-soul.simplecast.com/Listen and subscribe to Poetry Medicine for the Soul in Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Get in touch with us at: [email protected]