Changing the Face of Workshops

I was an academic poet. I studied at Carnegie Mellon. Got my creative writing degree with a cumulative 3.48 and was on the Dean's List for high honors the semester I graduated. My life was all about the academic path, competing to be first, best, most noted and awarded writer I could be. I probably woulda' slit your throat to win first place in Slam from you (yes, academia has co-opted Slam culture).

Then my son died. And I'm ashamed that it took that level of tragedy for me to find my humanity and see talent and poetry in every living being-- to see that there is enough space in this world for every poet and artist to make a living if only we'd stop trying to step on each other to get ahead. If only we'd drop out of academia, apply some healing concepts of art & poetry therapy to our lives, and find our humanity collectively.

My kid is dead. Your academic deconstruction of this article cannot hurt me anymore.

PS: I do realize that the discipline of Poetry Therapy is becoming more and more co-opted by the academic model, too, and that universities are now starting to offer degree programs in this area. Good, bad, I don't know. But I do know that it wasn't always like that-- and the practice and application of it in my life has not been academic which I am grateful for.

PSS: I am not offering many links with this article because my point of view on this matter is very outside the norm. And frankly if I put links in here, it's possible that those sites would be offended or see it as liable. Do your own searches and research on this-- there is plenty out there on both sides of the issue.

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