Episode 23: Richie Marrufo

In this episode of Words on a Wire, host Daniel Chacón sits down with poet, educator, and community organizer Richie Marrufo for a wide-ranging conversation about art, identity, and what it means to stay human in a digital world.

They explore how AI is changing the way students write—and what may be lost when language becomes too polished. Marrufo reflects on teaching bilingual writers, balancing six classes a semester, and building one of El Paso’s most vibrant literary spaces through the Barbed Wire Open Mic Series. For him, poetry isn’t just something you publish—it’s something you perform, share, and build community around.

The conversation turns deeply personal when Marrufo reads a new poem written after the passing of his father. He speaks about grief as “love that doesn’t know where to go,” and about the moon as witness to every version of ourselves.

This episode is about authenticity in an age of algorithms, the power of live performance, creative burnout, aging, and the quiet work of sustaining a literary community. At its heart, it’s a conversation about connection—between teachers and students, poets and audiences, and the living and the lost.