Huguette Bourgeois is a poet and writer from the small Canadian town of Rogersville, New Brunswick, where she grew up during the early 1950s. Known for her deeply reflective and profoundly personal style, she has published multiple works, including Alysse: An Acadian Refugee, a collection of short stories capturing the memories of her childhood and teenage years. Her recent work, Raw Sweets, is a collection of poems exploring life’s harshness, beauty, and unfiltered truths.
In this deeply personal conversation, Huguette shares the profound impact poetry and language have had on her life—guiding her through moments of intense personal tragedy, including her son’s diagnosis with schizophrenia, and leading her toward self-discovery and authenticity. She reflects openly on her complex relationship with faith, spirituality, and the existential questions that arise from hardship, ultimately suggesting there may be dignity in living—and dying—with uncertainty. Throughout the episode, Huguette reveals how embracing life’s darkness, doubt, and solitude can become a source of strength, creativity, and profound human insight.
Thank you for listening.
EPISODE LINKS:
Buy Huguette Bourgeois' Raw Sweets
Buy Huguette Bourgeois' Alysse: An Acadian Refugee
Buy Huguette Bourgeois' Le bleu de Mon Ile (French)
Buy Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment
Buy Dostoyevsky' The Brothers Karamazov
By using these links, we earn commission from qualifying purchases.
SHOW LINKS:
OUTLINE:
00:00 Introduction
01:45 What is Poetry?
09:10 Stories of Writing Poetry
19:37 Poetry as a Path to Spirituality & Meaning
23:54 Finding Your Voice
35:27 The Dark Side of Agreeableness
43:50 The Importance of Asking Questions
48:56 Authenticity & Identity
56:21 Echoes of Rejection & Love in Childhood
01:03:54 Love, Loss, and Happiness
01:08:32 Youngest Son’s Schizophrenia Diagnosis
01:17:03 Believing in God
01:33:52 The Danger of Blind Faith
01:44:06 Does Poetry Find the Poet, or Vice Versa?
01:48:06 The Endless Possibilities of Words
01:55:22 Can Words Fully Capture The Human Experience?
02:02:34 Fiction, Dragons, and The Human Experience
02:09:52 Closing Thoughts
02:15:17 Outro
CONTACT LINKS:
Click here to come on the podcast, share feedback, ask a question, or reach out for any other reason.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!