Poetic Medicine Journal

Autumn 2015

John's Opening Letter
John's Upcoming Schedule

Poetry Partner Programs

Poetic Medicine in Action

Friends of IPM

In Appreciation: Thomas Merton

Your Support Matters

The Last Word

(To go directly to a section, click on its head.)

September 21, 2015

Dear Poetic Medicine Friend,

Slowly, I am remembering

the language of awe,

how to take in, say,

the living complexity of a tree

Michael Glaser

from The Presence of Trees

Autumn - Seeing Something Whole & True

I've been giving workshops/retreats since last Autumn called Writing Our Relationship with Trees. Trees offer us a reminder of presence & change, lastingness & uniqueness, root & leaf, darkness & light.

Yesterday I was speaking with Susan Johnson at the Decatur Healing Arts center in Decatur, GA and trees came into our conversation. Susan said the other day she was looking up into the trees in her backyard and she suddenly realized that the leaves on all of those (deciduous!) trees would fall. We sighed because we had been speaking about a mutual friend, an amazing healing presence she was, who died suddenly in February.

And I said to Susan, "Susan, we are all those leaves."

Without rushing to this insight of something more or transcendent, we remembered that we are, along with being those sere leaves of Autumn, we are also the very energy that composts itself from those fallen leaves to feed the first faint hint of a leaf of the lightest green in the brusque chill of early Spring. At that moment, I remembered this poem and spoke it to Susan:

This Broken, This Blessed Earth

From the organic shed and scree of winter,

the withered leaf, the cracked cone,

wintered bones--new life emerges wet

and green; life alive on the edge of this broken,

this blessed earth.

This is who I am.

John Fox

Susan received hearing this with a gracious feeling.

While the poem didn't eliminate all our feelings about the loss of this dear friend or even grieving recent losses of friends or of family or for ourselves...it felt like talking together about death and then speaking this poem gave us a way of seeing something whole and true.

In exploring my relationship with Trees, over this past year, I am not only aware of falling leaves, but I am becoming more aware of root systems in my life, and in particular, the roots of this healing work with poetry and poetry-as-healer. Each of those leaves, both green and brown, are intimately connected to mostly hidden roots.

It Takes a Long Time of Getting to Know Someone

As a junior in high school, I made a decision to become a writer. The moment I made this decision is vivid. I was standing in the orchestra room at Shaker Heights High. No one else was there, as I recall, as I stood on one of those tiers where we practiced. Cradled in my right palm I held the fingerboard of my cello; the bow lightly clasped / woven through my fingers.

I had played cello since 4th grade when I chose it among all the other possible instruments. The first vinyl LP recording I owned was given to me in 4th grade (1964). It was the performance of Maestro Pablo Casals in November 1961 for the Kennedys at the White House. I've always felt this to be the most beautiful gift my mother and father ever gave me.

I studied with Mr. Martin Simon who was a cellist in the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by George Szell. I remember playing cello in the Messiah at my church when I was in
10th grade.

While I truly loved the cello and loved playing it--I admit that I simply wasn't very good. I certainly was not as good a player as my orchestra mates, David Newman and Ilene Gilbert! Looking back, this didn't matter much. Sounds of

Ilene Gilbert was the better cellist, but it didn't matter-- sounds of the cello had sunk into my cells.

the cello had seeped and sunk into my cells. My experience of leaning over it with the bow in motion, taught me so much about making the shape of that sound. I wasn't giving up that miraculous sound and motion of feeling. (More about this a bit later in my letter.)

Yet, I decided that in exchange for no longer playing the cello, I would wholly dedicate myself to becoming a writer. Or more specifically, that I would dedicate myself to poetry--whatever that meant!

To prove this dedication to myself, when I applied to Boston University, because of the outstanding creative writing program, I sent a handful of poems I had written in high school to the Director of the Creative Writing Department, Mr. George Starbuck.

Looking back, I am stunned by the zealous, the sheer enthusiastic...errr....the bold and utterly naive rawls of doing that!

However, Mr. Starbuck, actually responded. And he didn't write something cursory, or patronizing--he took me seriously. He was, after all, once I got to know him, one of the kindest people I'd ever met. Professor Starbuck wrote back on Boston University Stationery with that official red insignia in the upper left corner.

I wish I still had that letter. But what I have not forgotten is one sentence. He wrote:

"It takes a long time of getting to know someone before you can make helpful comments about their poetry."

That single sentence had a more powerful effect on my way of seeing writing than just about anything else in my four years of getting that degree in English with a minor in Creative Writing.

In fact, this sentence is among a handful of statements made in my life about poetry that help me grow and continue to cultivate a whole landscape of practice.

To have that respect for a person and their work, to practice a sense of stepping back, to remember that reticence to speak is a way of learning more, that getting to know someone means listening deeper to someone.

This is a core quality of my poetry therapy practice.

What does it mean to be helpful, anyway?! Getting to know a person! Releasing my assumptions and presumptions. Here is another cornerstone of practice given by William Stafford:

If you don't know the kind of person I am

and I don't know the kind of person you are

a pattern that others made may prevail in the world

and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.

from A Ritual to Read to Each Other

That Sighing Can Be Heard...

So the vibrancy of this lost friend, this sound of the open C string, this poetry and person it takes time to know, this poetry therapy--all of these are the

root & trunk,

branch & leaf

of life

and they are what I want, what I look for everyone involved with practicing this work, to share through The Institute for Poetic Medicine.

I said I'd bring something back about Pablo Casals to this opening letter and the feeling I experienced listening to him. In his performance at the White House, on that LP, when I listened there was the beauty of the cello (as well as of the violin and piano of the other musicians) but what stood out even more for me was that Pablo Casals sighed as he played.

That sighing can be heard. There was mastery--but there is also feeling, a profound sense of being with. That is, for me, the deep light of practice; it is also the willingness to be aware of, and sensitive to, shadows cast by that light.

Feeling & willingness, awareness & sensitivity-

these are gifts of learning about the practice

of poetry-as-healer.

What Is In This Early Autumn Issue?

So I welcome you to this Late Summer edition of the Poetic Medicine Journal!

My schedule, so far, for the next three seasons.I'll visit Decatur, GA; Auburn, Sacramento and Bolinas, CA; Vashon Island, WA; Mechanicville, NY (near Albany); and Asheville, NC.

It is exciting to share with you the recent and current work of two of our funded Poetry Partners, Wayne Gilbert and the Sterling Correctional Facility and Judith Prest at New Choices Recovery Center. Their essays can give you an idea of how poetic medicine is making a difference and even more how you might consider bringing this into your own work, your own community.

You can find inspiration and practical ideas in the Poetic Medicine in Action essay by Cathey Capers about her sessions at the Austin Clubhouse. These sessions were part of her Phase 3 work as a student in the training program. Cathey writes about using the brilliant manual written by Poetry Partner Lisa DeVuono entitled Poetry as a Tool for Recovery: An Easy-to-Use Guide in Eight Sessions.

IPM has brought poetry-as-healer to the Wellspring Clubhouse in Sellersville, PA and to the Magnolia Clubhouse in Cleveland OH.

In Cleveland, Cindy Washabaugh is developing a way to share this manual, PATFR, with other 200 Clubhouses in the US and Canada. Please click here to see the video that was made of the concluding reading at Magnolia. If you have interest in bringing this project forward please get in contact with me.

Check out the Friend of the Institute section that features a link to the new journal, Snapdragon, created by former IPM Poetry Partner and long-time friend, Jacinta V. White. Jacinta is the Director of the fabulous Word Project.

An appreciation for the poet and Trappist monk, Thomas Merton,
recently brought to our attention by Pope Francis.

Please, if you believe in the efficacy and beauty of this work done by
The Institute for Poetic Medicine, consider supporting us with a financial contribution--a donation that is entirely tax-deductible. We will be grateful to hear from you.

Make your way to the Last Word! You'll learn about Raimundo Arruda Sobrinho. He is a man in Brazil who knew that by making poems, he gave his life meaning. Raimundo also had been homeless for 35 years. Thanks to Gina Anaya of Abu Dhabi for alerting me to this brief video.

A New IPM Web Site & Facebook Presence!

I hope, if you haven't already, you will visit the new Institute for Poetic Medicine web site. You can see so much there that describes our work--the Poetry Partners, Community of Poets, Poetic Medicine in Action, Poetic Medicine Bag Resources and Journal Archives with a great wealth of material for your reading pleasure. Click here to check it all out!

Also, click here to check out our new Facebook presence for the Institute!
We regularly share stories, people, books, links, news, articles, videos of the work--all related to poetry therapy, poetic medicine and the practice of the same. In the vernacular of the day, please "like us" and like what we post! We welcome you to share posts that inspire you or might be of interest to friends and colleagues.

Please let us know what moves and interests you about this Journal, about the Institute for Poetic Medicine. We invite your involvement and communication. Thank you!

Sincerely yours,

John Fox, CPT

To hear Pablo Casals play his original composition, Song of the Birds, at the White House on November 13, 1961, click here .

JOHN'S UPCOMING SCHEDULE

BANGOR, PA

September 30-October 3, 2015

Bread for the Journey

Sponsored by Commonweal &

The Lloyd Symington Foundation

John will be presenting with other leaders in the holistic cancer support and healing field. Presenters include BJ Miller, Susanne West, Michelle Peticolas, Kamer Mutafoglu and Keith Block.

Check later in the Autumn with Commonweal for more information. Click here to go to their web site.

.......

MECHANICVILLE, NY (Near Albany)

February 12-14, 2016

At the Bend in the River

Plans are in process for a retreat to be held at Stillpoint Retreat Center. More information to come. Please contact Judith Prest at JEPrest@aol.com.

.......

AUSTIN, TX

April 8-9, 2016

April 8 Dinner Program with Mirabai Starr and John Fox

Details to Come

April 9 Retreat

The Heartbeat of Hope: Life-Giving Nourishment in Stressful Times

with Mirabai Starr and John Fox

Sponsored by Eremos: A Center of Contemplative Life

Please contact Eremos for more information: eremos.org or (512) 531-9594

.......

ASHEVILLE, NC

May 17-21, 2016

Poetry & Wounded Warriors

Sponsored by Charles George Veterans Administration Hospital

John will join with Ron Capps, Bruce Wiegl, Carolyn Forch�, Joseph Bathanti, Brian Turner, Kevin Bowen, Fred Foote and others to demonstrate the efficacy of and provide opportunities to directly engage Veterans in the use of poetry and narrative to demonstrate their value in recovery and healing.

For more information available in 2016, please contact Dr. Bruce Kelly at Richard.Kelly4@va.gov.

Click here to read more about the work of Dr. Bruce Kelly in the Spring 2015 edition of the Poetic Medicine Journal in the article, Poetry as Healer: Serving Vets.

POETRY PARTNER PROGRAMS OF IPM

Give a gift to your sister, but there's no gift to compare with the

giving of assurance that she is the golden eternity. The true

understanding of this would bring tears to your eyes.

Jack Kerouac

"36" from The Gift of the Golden Eternity

Poetry Partner Programs are the centerpiece of the services we offer at IPM. We are proud of them! The partners we fund are committed to excellence. They lead with their hearts and bolster that with the courage required to

listen and stay--especially when it is difficult. John has known these partners often for many years. Trust in their creative intelligence, therapeutic skill and an appreciation for their healing gifts is at the core of this collaborative relationship.

People served in these programs vividly demonstrate the creative potential that awaits only welcome, inspiration and support. Each person, in the seemingly ad hoc but in many ways truly beloved community, makes an irreplaceable difference.That is this: each voice matters.

As Jack Kerouac would likely agree, what that actually means "each voice matters" would never fit on a bumper sticker; rather it is fit for something like poetic scripture or it is written on the salt fleck in the tear that runs down your cheek when hearing a poem read aloud.

IPM is dedicated to fund poetry partner programs that:

are generative--meaning if a program funded for multiple years, they continue to evolve, and
whose goal is to empower those we serve, as well as
expand the involvement and raise the awareness of the greater community so that this community of people is more deeply valued and is less marginalized.

In this Late Summer PMJ, we feature the work of:

Wayne Gilbert who is presenting at the Sterling Correctional Facility in Sterling, Colorado. Wayne first met John Fox in 1997 at a conference in Denver, Colorado sponsored by the Mind-Body Health Program of the Community College of Aurora. Wayne was doing journaling workshops called The Inner Teacher Project. He went to John's session and John to his. They talked and became instant friends. A few weeks later, Wayne was doing a weekend 'poetic medicine' workshop with John in Fort Collins, Colorado. In 2008, Wayne attended the Canyon de Chelly Nature of Poetry retreat, and he consulted with John on curriculum for the current Poetic Medicine practitioner program.

Judith Prest who presented at the New Choices Recovery Center in Schenectady, New York. Judith met John at a poetry therapy workshop he led in Hamden, Connecticut in 2004. A friendship ensued around their interest in expressive therapy. That includes a shared agreement for a grass roots nature of conducting a healing practice. Judith offers expressive therapy at New Choices three times a week. This Finding Voice project allowed her to expand this presence considerably. Over the past six years, she has invited John to New Choices four times and she has coordinated independent Poetic Medicine workshops.

Finding Our Voices: The Poetry of Recovery

A Poetry Program at New Choices Recovery Center
by Judith Prest, LMSW

Schenectady, New York

"When a person gets the chance to speak what is gut-level true

for his or herself, in a place that is safe and among a community

of peers who pay attention (and by attention I mean who give respect)-- powerful elements come together--we are associating ourselves with generative energies that align with healing."

John Fox

from Preface to Finding Our Voices: The Poetry of Recovery
(the anthology produced by Judith and Clients at New Choices)

This program launched in late March and continued into April 2016 at New Choices Recovery Center in Schenectady, NY. New Choices is an addiction day treatment clinic for adults. Many (but not all) of the clients are also dealing with some kind of mental health issues, and some attend mental health day programs for part of the week. The clients range in age from late teens to their 60s and come from many different situations and backgrounds. Many have spent time homeless, in jail, in prison, in mental health facilities and many have been through treatment for substance abuse several times.

Howling, hurting body aching, Help.

Help me. Been through hell and back

Oh no, not again. Finally a quiet place

A place to recover, getting better one

day at a time--feelings, emotions,

family, finally love.... Love oh it

feels so good. Hold on and won't

let go.

~ Jacob K.

Judith Prest with one of her paintings.

From my work with expressive arts at New Choices over the past 8 years, I know there are creative, talented people passing through this addiction treatment program. Whenever I have used poetry in my expressive arts groups, wonderful poetry emerged. This use of expressive art taps into the irreplaceable and unique nature of each person. To lift up that uniqueness is critical, especially within community--addicts are kept at the margins by a society that is punitive and quick to pronounce judgment. Our prisons are full of people who need treatment not jail time. The expressive arts have the capacity to raise awareness, awaken the conscience and quiet the tendency towards marginalization.

For this program, clients who had an interest in writing poetry were encouraged to let their primary clinicians know and the primary clinicians referred participants to the poetry groups. The plan was for 8 to 12 clients per group, and for two groups to work for eight 90-minute sessions each. The response was enthusiastic, and there were almost always more than 12 participants in each group. Some new people entered in the first weeks, and some people were discharged from the program so there was some turnover in population, but there was in each group a core of clients who began and finished the eight-session program.

The program also featured two "Open Mic" programs--the first held on April 30 (the last day of National Poetry Month) showcased the poets who were in the poetry group, and offered opportunities for other poets to read as well. The second and final Open Mic was held in August, and was a very good way to keep interest in poetry alive throughout the program--a more detailed description of the second open mic appears later in this story.

With the publication of this chapbook, clients enjoyed the affirmation
of seeing their words
and ideas "in print."

Another valuable addition to this program, something that we had never had funding for before, was the publication of a chapbook of client poetry,

Recovering Poetry: Finding Our Voices. Many of the participants in the groups had poetry in the book. Each participant received two copies of the book which was beautifully laid out and designed by Valerie Knight.

Jimmy C., one of the poets, also an artist, contributed the cover art and the art that appears throughout the pages of the book. It is my belief that for these clients to see their words "in print" and to be able to share a copy of the book with a significant other is a profoundly empowering experience.

Here is what happened for one man: Kevin W. was a lively and active participant in each session. Often he would remark on his lack of formal education--he left school during seventh grade for the streets, has a long history of addiction, gang activity and prison time. When he learned that he would get a second copy of the book, he said "I can't wait to give this to my grandma--she will be so proud of me."

Further Reflections by Judith Prest...

August 27, 2015

Yesterday we held the FINAL program connected with the New Choices poetry groups--the second Open Mic poetry event. Because of the nature of this program, many of the clients who participated in the poetry groups have graduated, some have relapsed or moved on. Two of the original participants were present. Richard B. dropped in to do a bit of his spoken word poetry and Zaida C. who is back in the rehab program again, did not want to read her poem, but instead was willing for me to read her poem to those gathered. There were about six or seven other clients who signed up to read, and they read POWERFUL work--poems about finding their way out of addiction, holding on to sobriety and sanity while relapse calls to them during hard times, elegies for friends they've lost, and a love poem to a baby who was put up for adoption because the mom was unable to care for her.

Heartbreak and courage transformed into poetry,

words forged in the fires of hard living.

My sense is that this was a very appropriate conclusion to the poetry program which served two groups of clients over a six-week period during March and April of 2015, produced the beautiful chapbook, and shared poetry with the entire population of New Choices clients with two Open Mic programs.

Over the past six years, John Fox has come to work with clients at New Choices on four different occasions. Each time, I witnessed people moved by the power words--their own words and the words of others. That sense of feeling "moved" showed itself in a quality of deep respect enriching the atmosphere of that very large utilitarian room. That quiet listening to one another approached a feeling of the sacred.

It was not until I had the opportunity to work with these two groups of clients, each for eight 90-minute sessions, that I could guide and witness--before my own eyes and ears, the transformative nature of immersion in poetry.

One of the initial topics we explored in depth through our poem-making had to do with asking questions:

Questions - using this quote by Rainier Maria Rilke:

"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."

And using the work of Pablo Neruda--passages from his evocative book, Questions--I used these "prompts" too to guide discussion and writing for the "Questions" session:

Lines from Pablo Neruda:

Why do the leaves kill themselves

as soon as they feel yellow.

What did the tree learn of the earth

to confide to the sky?

At whom is the rice grinning

with its infinite white teeth?

When prisoners think of the light

is it the same that lights up your world?

Have you wondered what color

April is to the sick?

In the sky over Colombia

is there a collector of clouds?

How do the seasons discover

it's time to change shirts?

I also drew from an anthology called Luna, Luna--questions generated by 8th graders in Houston, Texas:

Why is sadness always pushing like a runner to overtake happiness?
Who decided "opposites attract"?
Why does crying help you smile?
Do I see the same moon that people in China see?
Does anger make everyone feel like they're on fire?
Why is depression made out of salt water?

I invited participants to take five minutes and write their own questions. From these prompts, participants came up with wonderful questions and wrote poetry as well, based on the questions.

Here is an example:

Why does evil prevail?

And why must anyone suffer?

It seems like common sense,

something easy to cease.

A tear in the eye of a child.

A cry of dying animal.

The scream of a mother who's

lost her child.

Why are children killing soldiers,

fighting wars?

Why do we see only bad,

expect the worst,

find ways to hurt each other?

Do we forget who we are?

Humans, capable of empathy,

love and forgiveness.

Love heals.

Empathy teaches.

Forgiveness can prevail.

~ Zaida C.

Another prompt for writing had to do with a sense of place.

Where I'm From--In one of our first sessions, I used as a prompt the poem Where I'm From by George Ella Lyons. This is a beloved, powerfully evocative, classic poetry therapy poem. The poem begins:

I am from clothespins

from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride

I am from the dirt under the back porch.

(Black, glistening

it tasted like beets.)

I am from the forsythia bush,

the Dutch elm

whose long gone limbs I remember

as if they were my own.

I'm from fudge and eyeglasses,

from Imogene and Alafair.

I'm from the know-it-alls

and the pass-it-ons,

from perk up and pipe down.

I'm from He restoreth my soul

with a cottonball lamb

and ten verses I can say myself.

(Here is the whole poem in a beautiful reading by the poet

from the program The United States of Poetry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdnHl_yW1dQ)

Along this foundation poem, I drew from some other examples of Where I'm From that I've gathered from writing groups over the years. This proved to be a rich prompt and almost everyone wrote something.

Here is one example:

I've been pushed around

and let down.

I've been behind prison walls

but they didn't break me or make me fall.

I've faced them demons with doing pills

leaving scars - all the battles uphill.

I've lost my pride and trust,

losing love and even lust.

I threw away all that I had

thinking my life would always be bad.

But now I see I can get it back

even if it's not easy getting my life on the right track.

I have to work for what I want,

though the inner ghosts will come out to haunt

but in the end I can look back

and say - You did it, your life's

back on track.

~ Sherry R.

People didn't always use the exact prompt. They don't have to, this is not school! Lyon's poem became a stepping stone as Sherry went into her own expressive flow.

We also explored emotions in the battle to overcome addictive behavior.

Emotions--Prompts I used for dropping into emotions came from Rumi's The Guest House and The Book of Qualities by J. Ruth Gendler.

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!

~ from The Guest House

I also brought pastels and drawing paper to this session and invited people to make a "visual representation" of their "guest house" as a doorway into writing a poem. Below is an example of a poem that came in response to the "Book of Qualities" prompt:

Ambition

from a writing prompt based on J. Ruth Gendler's

"Book of Qualities"

Ambition is like an alarm clock,

a cup of coffee, extra folders full of paper

and a rubber band around a fleet of fresh

new pens. Tomorrow's clothes at the ready.

Closet neat, clothes in dresser folded. It keeps

my ears wide open, eyes observant.

Ambition keeps an NA book under the Bible

cause he can't get enough. His family

and friends are out there somewhere.

He drives a reliable car to his son's

school concert, cooks family meals

on Sundays. Tucks his kids into bed

and welcomes their sweet wake-ups.

Ambition is clean and sober, a listener,

learner and leader. Ambition is a father,

a son, a best friend, and a lover.

Ambition is me.

~ Chris R.

Sessions 6 and 7 focused on the interplay of Shadow and Light. All humans experience light and dark sides of life and this is particularly applicable for those who wrestle with addiction and are making their way through recovery. Originally, this was going to be only one session. It quickly became evident, however, that "shadow and light" needed more time, and what I planned for one session easily took two sessions.

Visual prompts were part of these sessions. I have a deck of cards called "Shadows." These cards are artful, evocative images to use for writing prompts. At one point these cards were laid out on a table for people to choose as prompts to write about "dark times."

I made a clinical decision to alternate "light" and "dark" prompts, because I did not want to trigger anyone with trauma or depression by an entire session focused on "the dark side." Reminding people of their capacity for resilience is important! Yet, to give people grappling with addiction a safe and supportive way to clearly name what is shadow, is a way to help a person release trauma.

For these sessions, I relied on handouts I developed with quotes and poems about our human journeys through despair and renewal.

Here are two poems that came out of these sessions:

I am spiraling down

into the darkness

I spin out of control

I am coming through and

see the light

Morning-the day breaks

it is no longer night.

~ Phil D.

and

I was displaced into a fierce world

of degradation, dereliction, disintegration

and darkness in an unknown place,

that doesn't even exist on the map-

Mama said "Honey you are strong

and your heart will awaken,

where hundreds of flowers will bloom,

just don't give up". But the surge

of addiction had a hold on me. I

was playing games with my dreams

and my courage was running away

was floating and my whistle shaking.

My self-respect had been broken

But my heart was hungry and it

shifted into survival mode. I

kept hearing Mama's voice so

I came back and that's when

the truth was bold, and the

fear set in--but I was learning

that doubt is the beginning

of wisdom--my spirit growing and

igniting the fire in my heart, and the bearing was lifted. I

am here--not displaced any more, and

although this place is still not on the map,

I am at ease.

~ Saronica D.

I requested a response to these sessions. One participant, Tami P., who has now graduated from the treatment program and is living independently in the community, said this with clarity, insight and eloquence:

"As I look back, to recall being a part of the poetry program I remember how it felt not to be bound by my addiction but to feel free to express what I really was, within walls of safety to express how it felt to be an addict among addicts who had a passion to write poetry. For some it wasn't easy, for some it just flowed out...(It was) like we were breaking through a dam that had been pushed back, locked inside our heads, waiting to be released. For me it was comfortable this comfortable pleasant and yet it was short but it was sweet and I can only say if more people should be able to take part is that so they can experience such a ride as I."

As the facilitator of this program, I can add that it was both exhilarating and humbling work. In every session, I felt as if I were exactly where I was supposed to be, doing what I came here to do. I want to thank IPM and John Fox for this opportunity to do "my real work" at New Choices Recovery Center.

I wrote this poem in one of the first poetry sessions that I facilitated with New Choices clients. I have been sober for over 13 years. This is the first time I was able to write a poem about it.

Judith Prest, LMSW

August 28, 2015

Recovery Poem 1

I lost count

how many times I

fell down

fucked up

woke up

in the wrong

place

Can't remember

when

I knew

nobody

but me could

grab hold of

that space

between impulse

and action,

step off

the edge

of all I knew

and FLY

~ Judith Prest, March 13, 2015

Judith Prest with her husband, Alan Krieger

Judith Prest, LMSW is an artist, a published poet and creativity coach. She spent 26 years as a school social worker/prevention trainer prior to "retiring" in 2009. She trained with Seena Frost as a SoulCollage� facilitator in 2008. She has done expressive arts workshops in retirement communities, prisons, treatment centers, schools, and community centers. Her poems have been published in many journals and in six anthologies. Judith's art includes mixed media collage and photography
and has been exhibited in several venues in the Capital Region over the past five years.

I Call Them "Poet-Offenders"

Reflections on Reading, Making and Sharing Poems

in Sterling Correctional Facility, Sterling, Colorado

by Wayne Gilbert

(aka Magmapoet)

I have a bluebird in my heart

that wants to get out...

Charles Bukowski

They're called "offenders"--not inmates or convicts or prisoners, although each of those words is accurate. I don't know why the "o" word was chosen, or by whom, but it was obvious from the day-long required Orientation that it was the "official" designation. To me, it seems an inappropriately lightweight word, like a position in a board game after a player has made an error.

Before the project began, I'd already decided I
didn't care what crimes offenders had committed, and did not want to know. Whatever they revealed in their poems and discussion of poems was up to them, and I would acknowledge them the same way I had acknowledged the experiences of other writers across 35 years of teaching writing. I'd heard and seen most everything there is to hear and see. Most everything: it's what happens in good writing classes.

I call them "poet-offenders," because each man who comes to one of my two monthly Saturday sessions is already a poet by virtue of his attendance. That's a given. Secondly, this appellation puts both their purpose and intention first, and also sets a positive expectation which I know with utter certainty each can easily and readily achieve. They do not always know these things about themselves, but trust (a little) that I do and would not lie to them about something so central to our joint project.

This is also why I wear a suit and require them to call me "Professor Gilbert." I've always hated suits and despised the pretentious title of "professor." I'm a teacher. I'm a blue jeans, earrings, untucked shirt-tails, tennis-shoes kinda guy. But I want them to believe I'm for real. I want them to understand I'm a professional and they deserve a professional and poetry's damn serious business! Besides, I'm not allowed to wear my earrings in the prison.

The poet-offenders don't want to write when we're together. They have plenty of time to write in the mindless, empty hours of their daily lives. They live in a completely regulated sensory-deprived world in which vulnerability of any kind is taboo and dangerous. They want to talk and share. They want to study together. They are hungry for inspiration and meaningful interaction.

I bring a sheet of poems on a theme. We read aloud and discuss one or two of them.

Most of the poet-offenders bring poems of their own which they have written in pencil (they are not allowed pens) on scraps of paper and in tattered notebooks. Some have written their very first poems. They want to hear their voices aloud. They want feedback.

We do not distinguish between Frost or Dickinson, Baca or Bukowski, and the poems of poet-offenders. We read and explore them all the same.

And I always ask:

What happened within you as you wrote the poem? When you finished?
How does making a poem feel?
What did making the poem do for you? What changed in you? How? Why?
What can you tell about what happened within the poets we study? What happens inside you when we study their poems?

The answers always have something to do with turning pain or rage or sorrow, regret or confusion or hopelessness into beauty and self-efficacy-making meaning where there was none. They often talk about how they discover a sense of presence in a poem-not of the poem or its elements, but of themselves as really-real actual here-and-now substantial human beings. "Presence" is not otherwise a characteristic of prison life.

Sometimes we talk about being men and how we were raised to lock up our feelings-except anger--which prepared us for lives of numbness, emptiness, violence and despair. Oh, and especially for addiction. Reading, making and sharing poems re-kindle the heart's fire, which flashes in that masculine darkness and enables us to see other choices and possibilities.

The answers always have something to do with turning pain or rage or sorrow, regret or confusion or hopelessness into beauty and self-efficacy-making meaning where there was none.

I say "us" and "we," because I do not distinguish myself from them in these ways. We all struggle in various prisons, of our own making and those others have made for us. It doesn't matter which of us is wearing prison green and which a poet's fedora.

The poet-offenders I've met are intelligent and thoughtful. Some are highly educated, although most are self-educated, so they can go deep but not very wide. Prison life is antithetical to a critical, creative and reflective inner life. Poetry creates space for these capacities to dance, tentatively at first but then more bravely and adventurously. A poem provides the means by which each man can examine, explore, evaluate and re-imagine his own past, present and possibilities.

Every time a session ends, the poet-offenders are hurried out. We never get to finish. Each makes a special effort to shake my hand, express his gratitude, and quickly make one last comment.

Last month a poet-offender left a wadded scrap of paper in my hand. I knew he'd had a tragic death in his family not long ago. He quickly told me of two more recent family catastrophes. He judged himself harshly, and was being treated for severe depression. I put the poem in my pocket until I got back to my hotel room.

The poem is "a cry in frustration." In it, the poet-offender is trying to resist
the seeming inevitability of his own addiction to "find a friend to shoot with." He acknowledges he "subsidizes my own pain." Most importantly, the poem nurtures "the quiet voice of reason/(which) lies beneath the heavy burden.../ of the mask I wear." This is "who I want to be..." --the real me. The pain and grief in this poem are palpable, but the honesty of it gives hope a chance.

This is poetic medicine in its most distilled and essential form. Our reading, making and sharing poems together at the Sterling Correctional Facility unlock the hearts and souls of the poet-offenders and allows them to breathe freely in a rare atmosphere. Those breaths lead inevitably to some new measure of health and well-being. It's the most successful and exciting teaching experience I've ever had!

This poem is a recent one by me--and one I shared that prompted a LOT of discussion. They were dazzled by my performance of the poem, but I called their attention to HOW the poem itself is effective and why. This led to a conversation about different kind of prisons, since a common symptom of Parkinson's disease is to "freeze" or "lock-up," and one's body will not obey one's brain---thus being "imprisoned" in one's own body. They totally got that, and we swapped tales of imprisonment and how to get "jazzed" anyway.

PD on ZZ (Top)

some days the symptoms dissipate dissolve

power-blue dumped pumped

through my blood streams released slammed

across the grey neuro-galaxy

kapow kazam juju-jammed zz-topped espresso throb

for a while i'm re-wired re-set refreshed

a dam-burst flood of light

unmediated flash rumble down

collapsed cognition canyon

overpowered overwhelmed flush-rush

i am suddenly fluid again

hydroelectric juice

turbo-solar dopa-burn brainstem magma jubilation

from cerebral cortex download to heart belly

hips thighs knees calves ankles toe-tips

sea-surge wave-rock back up again

vibrant no tremor

jazzed no dyskinesia

vital vivacious resonant

no shaky limbs

no frozen meat

alive!

each cell swimming the same direction

membranes singing "legs"

tumbling toward delicious oblivion

double-time bass-drive

lead bent-shiver keen-yowl

raw cymbal crash

alive!

~ Wayne Gilbert

Wayne Gilbert (aka Magmapoet) has been a teacher of writing and literature since 1979. He retired from full-time teaching at Aurora Community College in 2012. For 19 years, he has been an adjunct professor of educational psychology in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development, University of Colorado Denver, where he specializes in learning theory and adult development. He recently joined Colorado Women's College at the University of Denver as an adjunct English professor. Wayne has extensive experience in faculty/staff development. Most recently he prepared and taught a workshop for teacher-interns called "Self-Care for Teachers." He has published two small books of poems, magmamystic and From the Ashes. His performances of his poems are well-known in the Denver area, and he has just completed a short poetry video. Wayne is also an actor and dancer. He was diagnosed in 2005 with Parkinson's Disease, and the arts have kept him going!

Click here for videos of readings and conversations of Wayne Gilbert.

POETIC MEDICINE IN ACTION

The Poetic Medicine Training Program

A Story About Practice

The first cohort of students in the Poetic Medicine training program are, by and large, in the Third Phase of the training--Phase Three is dedicated to practice in various settings.

One student, Cathey Capers, has brought her intern practice to working with

Clinical Pastoral Educators--people who are hospital chaplains--introducing

them to the benefits and blessings of poetry-as-healer in their spiritual work. She has also brought a regular series of programs to the Austin Clubhouse.

What Cathey is doing with the manual Poetry As a Tool for Recovery:

An Easy-to-Use Guide in Eight Sessions at the Austin Clubhouse builds upon the pioneering work that Lisa DeVuono has done at the Wellspring Clubhouse in Sellersville, PA and that Cindy Washabaugh is involved in currently at the Magnolia Clubhouse in Cleveland, OH. We hope in the unfolding future

to bring this to more Clubhouses in Canada and the US.

The following is a report that Cathey wrote about her work.

Poetry as a Tool For Recovery

A Poetic Medicine Series for Austin Clubhouse

by Cathey Capers

A Student in the Practice of Poetic Medicine

Spring 2015

The Invitation

Upon learning about Poetry as Recovery: An Easy-to-Use Guide in Eight Sessions, I was inspired to seek out Austin Clubhouse and offer my services to bring them a series of poetic medicine classes utilizing this guide.

From the outset their response was very appreciative and welcoming. I attended one of their monthly Open Houses in January to learn more about their history and mission and to meet some active members. In co-ordination with the Assistant Director, Greg Hansch, recruitment for the class began soon afterward with a flyer that I produced for distribution and posting at Austin Clubhouse (see attachment).

I was excited to collaborate with Cindy Washabaugh and the Institute for Poetic Medicine on a project that will evaluate the Guide as Clubhouses pilot it in its early use.

Preparation

I was fortunate to be using Poetry as a Tool for Recovery as my guide for preparing for these classes. I reviewed the Guide closely, paying special attention to the Tips for Facilitators and the goals for each successive session. I had a phone conversation with Lisa DeVuono, the author of the Guide who had extensive experience working with poetry in Clubhouses in Pennsylvania. Lisa clarified for me the role she played in leading the sessions and offered suggestions for engaging members throughout the series. I also learned more from Lisa about the Clubhouse model of service and their unique history.

Each week I reviewed the goals and themes for the upcoming session and my notes from the previous session. I became familiar with the poetry, the discussion questions, and activities suggested and on occasion made substitutions based on what I considered most appropriate/effective for the Austin Clubhouse members.

The Program

The series began at Austin Clubhouse on February 17 and concluded on May 12, 2015. We held weekly classes on Tuesday afternoons from 3:30-5:00 p.m. A total of 12 sessions were offered. Attendance ranged from a low of 1 member (these two sessions were repeated for the benefit of more members), to a high of 7 attendees, with an average attendance of 4-5 members. The 4-5 members were repeat attendees and constituted a "core" class group. A total of 15 members attended at least one session. Participation within each class was high. Everyone attending contributed to the discussions, wrote, and shared.

Excitement about this new offering was high among those attending. (Due to a weather situation I was unexpectedly out of town for Session 2 but sent materials with which the members held a session and sent me photos/poems!) I had recommended they use the poem Where I'm From by George Ella Lyons in order to get to know one another better and the following week we used these for our "listening" activity. They were eager to share with me about their class upon my return.

Experience with the Guide

Poetry as a Tool for Recovery was an invaluable Guide throughout the series. Having the themes, goals, activities and poetry already delineated left me more time to consider the dynamics of our small group, my relationship with the Clubhouse, and the individual personalities within my class. Because this was a new setting and population for me I was relieved to be using a Guide developed with years of experience in this particular setting.

I came to quickly appreciate the Guide's clear layout of weekly themes and goals, and its well-considered and presented steps and discussion questions. I felt there was a strong pattern/rhythm that was established in the classes that lent to the establishment of a sense of safety early on. Members who attend one session could know what to expect in upcoming sessions. The suggestions in the Guide brought to each class a deliberate beginning, a full and rich center, and a satisfying summative closing. The format of the Guide made it easy to substitute alternate activities, poems, or discussion questions without disrupting the overall structure or flow of the session. Members who attended only one session, or who began attending in mid-stream affirmed for me that each session was indeed a "stand-alone", as well as part of an integrated series.

Initially the Clubhouse offered a one-hour slot for this class but after 2 classes members advocated for an additional half-hour and this made a very positive difference to the class. I rarely had enough time to cover all the suggested activities but by the end of the series we had participated in each of the suggestions (e.g. reading the quotes and discussing them; reading more than one poem; writing to a prompt; sharing and responding; sharing our take-away from the session). I placed a priority on the poetry, writing and responding and sharing with one another. At times this meant we did not read the page of quotations- though I may have offered one or two for discussion, and at least one or two sessions we did begin with the quotes that provided for our discussion of the theme.

I found the selections of poetry excellent for the theme and for our group. I only made a couple of substitutions or additions throughout the series. Each week I copied the pages from the Guide so even if we did not have time for all of the poetry, attendees left the session with all the poetry, quotes, and prompt suggestions.

I appreciated how the Guide spoke to everyone, including myself and other guests that were not Clubhouse members. It's focus on recovery as a path to wellness allowed all of us to consider the individual themes and apply them to our respective journeys. I noted how quickly members felt comfortable to speak about their specific diagnosis/issues but in terms that anyone could identify with.

The Impact

In looking over the notes I took after each session I can appreciate the measurable impact this series had especially on a core group of members who attended very regularly. They often spoke directly to this. Because of confidentiality, it is not appropriate to give specific details of members participation, but I would like to convey a general sense of the beautiful impact these sessions had upon each person, upon us as a community.

We learned that for all of us it is not that easy to communicate and poetry and poem-making, when approached in this healing way, encouraged a certain kind of vulnerability. Our gatherings gave us a place and a context to discuss this challenge. Some people, in addition to their poem-making, wrote in personal journals. There was an overflowing of gratitude as this process unfolded--and this became poems written to Clubhouse staff. This was for me a beautiful illustration of the sense of community and friendship that was another hallmark of this program.

This process gave everyone a chance to relax--because although there is seriousness in communication and vulnerability--there is also a chance to find out that you can, in fact, be heard and received--warmly!

As we took further steps, some members grew empowered to share poetry as a tool for recovery with others at the Clubhouse. This desire to share is so much in-tune with the Clubhouse mission to empower participation of everyone. Two Clubhouse staff members commented to me on the very noticeable and positive change in a member's demeanor.

Even among those who attended only one time I could note a discernable difference by the end of class. Things that are valuable in healthy human interaction but are not always easy to achieve--like making space for another person to be heard without imposing upon them, we got much better at that. By taking our time, with gentle reminders from me when facilitating, and the skillful direction of a poem-prompt, through the example of other members--a space of deep respect was built up. What was once experienced as consternation at someone's behavior, turned to something much softer, consideration of one another.

Future Considerations

I assured members at our last session of my interest in continuing to support Poetry As a Tool for Recovery at the Austin Clubhouse. Two of the regular class members spoke to me of their interest in offering poetry sessions throughout the summer. I heartily encouraged this and reminded them of the copy of the Guide available to them at the clubhouse. I encouraged them to read this closely with particular attention to the Tips for Facilitators and we brainstormed together some suggested activities/themes they were interested in. I also asked their suggestions for recruitment of more members for a fall series.

I set up a meeting with the Executive Director to discuss our experience and to share some ideas about follow-up, as well to learn more about Austin Clubhouse. Ideas which I plan to follow-up on that emerged from this meeting and the recommendations of class members include:

Arranging a "Poetry Reading" as part of a Thursday evening Social Hour that would include poetry written by members of the first series as well as poetry that Clubhouse members cherish and would like to share.
Creating an anthology of poetry from our initial series (two members have agreed to help me solicit poetry from class members and arrange it in an anthology).
Organizing a recruitment event that would take place right before or after the lunch hour when attendance is very high. This would include the members of the first series and offer an activity such as a word bowl or word collage for people to experience.
Working with two interested members to Co-facilitate a series in the fall that would serve as a poetry series as well as training in utilizing the Guide. Facilitators could meet with me beforehand to plan the session, our roles, practice reading the poetry, etc. We could also reserve some time following each session to share feedback with one another about our facilitation. Members would take responsibility for preparing materials in advance, collecting, copying, and typing poetry from the session, and returning the originals to class, as well as producing an anthology should they be interested in this following the series.

I'm extremely heartened by the enthusiasm and support of the Austin Clubhouse for Poetry as a Tool for Recovery. One of the questions Amanda Royston, the Executive Director posed to me during our meeting was, "How can the Clubhouse support this initiative?" She offered the use of a printer for the poetry and materials for each class, was enthusiastic about engaging members in valuable roles throughout the series, and brainstormed with me ways to increase participation, including offering it during the work-ordered day as a component of the Clubhouse Wellness Program. She also raised the importance of having staff attend a session so they would be effective in recruitment efforts. (This will assist dispel a persistent notion that the series is targeted toward "writers").

Finally, I'm very grateful for the opportunity to have employed such an inspiring Guide to direct my efforts in bringing poetic medicine to my local Clubhouse community. I learned and will continue to learn so much from the valuable and well-articulated experience of its author, Lisa DeVuono. She has been so accessible, generous, and compassionate when I have called upon her with questions regarding its implementation. I look forward to moving to the next level of Co-facilitation with eager members this fall.

~ Cathey Capers

Photo Credit:

Anton Plauch�

Cathey Capers is a community health educator and a student in the first training cohort from The Institute for Poetic Medicine. She offers Poetic Medicine in association with interfaith centers for contemplative practice, a Clinical Pastoral Care Program, The Austin Clubhouse for people with mental health diagnoses, and a local non-profit serving incarcerated women. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband where she looks forward to expanding the reach of poetry's healing.

Click here to visit the Austin Clubhouse--please watch the excellent video!

* * * * *

What is the Clubhouse?

Clubhouse Community Philosophy

The clubhouse model affirms the value of members and their ability to be part of a meaningful community regardless of mental illness.

The Four Guaranteed Rights of Membership are:

A right to a place to come

Membership is open to anyone who has been diagnosed with a mental illness at some point in their life.

A right to meaningful relationships

Members work side-by-side for the development of the clubhouse, sharing experiences and skills with one another.

A right to meaningful work

Clubhouse work arises from the needs of the community as a whole.

A right to a place to return

Membership is for a lifetime. You're always welcome at the clubhouse.

FRIENDS OF IPM:

People Who Are Bringing Poetry to

Life for Healing & Transformation

Snapdragon

The talent behind
Snapdragon:

Jacinta White, publisher and poetry editor; and Cyndi Briggs, creative nonfiction editor

Snapdragon: A Journal of Art & Healing is in its first year of sharing poetry, creative nonfiction and photography about the healing journey. This electronic quartlerly features emerging and established writers from across the globe. With its mission to provide a space for people to share their journey artistically, the editors of Snapdragon Journal are committed to expanding the conversation on art and healing.

Click here to learn more about Snapdragon Journal. You will also find submission guidelines there.

IN APPRECIATION: Thomas Merton

Pope Francis, in his address to the United States Congress, lifted up the life and example of Thomas Merton. He said Merton was an example of dialogue and yet he also recognized Merton for his willingness to challenge certitudes of his time. In that regard, for decades, I have admired Merton as a passionate poet of social witness--and compassion.

This past year I've regularly visited a wonderful place called Recovery Caf� in San Jose--a center led by Reverend Dana Bainbridge--that serves people who
do not have homes. It is difficult to convey to you the knock-my-socks-off experience of their poem-making. That experience makes me consider the trueness of what Thomas Merton wrote in a letter to a friend, Jim Forrest:

"You gradually struggle less and less for an idea and more and more

for specific people. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationship

that saves everything."

Thomas Merton

Trappist, Poet, Social Activist

January 31, 1915 - December 10, 1968

What I love about going to Recovery Caf� is the specific persons whose presence and voice I am given the opportunity to treasure. Merton's words remind me of what George Starbuck wrote to me in 1973, that I mentioned in my opening letter, "It takes a long time of getting to know someone before you can make helpful comments about their poetry."

*****

Paper Cranes

(The Hibakusha* come to Gethsemani)

How can we tell a paper bird

Is stronger than a hawk

When it has no metal for talons?

It needs no power to kill

Because it is not hungry.

Wilder and wiser than eagles

It ranges round the world

Without enemies

And free of cravings.

The child's hand

Folding these wings

Wins no wars and ends then all.

Thoughts of a child's heart

Without care, without weapons!

So the child's eye

Gives life to what it loves

Kind as the innocent sun

And lovelier than all dragons.

Thomas Merton

The Collected Poems of Thomas Merton. New York: New Directions Press,
1977: 740.

(*Hibakusha are survivors of the bombing of Hiroshima)

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The Last Word

Click here to learn about this man's story.