Crash and Ride: Episode 11 - Susie Ulrey

May 19, 2019

I interviewed Susie Ulrey from the band Pohgoh! She's a guitarist and singer/songwriter who is living with Multiple Sclerosis. She's a huge inspiration to me as she continues to create great art and thrive despite living with a disease that robs her of her mobility and peace of mind. After our interview, she sent me this fantastic poem and I asked her if I could include it in the show notes:

 

The Thing Is | Ellen Bass  

 

to love life, to love it

even 

when you have no 

stomach for it and everything you’ve 

held dear 

crumbles like burnt 

paper in your hands, 

your throat filled with the 

silt of it. 

When grief sits with you, 

its tropical heat 

thickening the air, heavy 

as water 

more fit for gills than 

lungs; 

when grief weights you 

like your own flesh 

only more of it, an 

obesity of grief, 

you think, How can a 

body withstand this? 

Then you hold life like a 

face 

between your palms, a 

plain face, 

no charming smile, no 

violet eyes, 

and you 

say, yes, I will 

take you 

I will love you, again.

 

You can listen to Pohgoh here:

https://pohgoh.bandcamp.com/