News and Resources from the National Association for Poetry
Therapy
Volume XXVIIIVolume XXVIIIVolume XXVIIIVolume XXVIIIVolume XXVIII •
• • • • Number 3 • November 2007Number 3 • November 2007Number 3 •
November 2007Number 3 • November 2007Number 3 • November 2007
NAPT Executive Committee (2005-2007) President
Diane Allerdyce Vice-Presidents
Nick Mazza Publications Chair
Karen vanMeenen
NAPT Board Members Evelyn Torton Beck Barbara Bethea (Diversity)
Ted Bowman
Geri Chavis Nick Mazza Hannah Menkin
A Praise of Muses Jennifer Bosveld Michael Dennis Browne Rafael
Campo Michael Collier Jack Coulehan
Maria Mazziotti Gillan Patricia Hampl Edward Hirsch Jane Hirshfield
David Read Johnson Shaun McNiff Gregory Orr Grace Paley Linda
Pastan James Pennebaker Luis J. Rodriguez
Myra Sklarew Henry Taylor
(Continued on page 4)
Southern California Poetry TherapySouthern California Poetry
TherapySouthern California Poetry TherapySouthern California Poetry
TherapySouthern California Poetry Therapy Network Annual Training
IntensiveNetwork Annual Training IntensiveNetwork Annual Training
IntensiveNetwork Annual Training IntensiveNetwork Annual Training
Intensive Contributed by J. Elaine McCracken
The Southern California Poetry Therapy Network met for our annual
training inten- sive on August 26, 2007, at the beautiful and
inspirational Holy Spirit Retreat Center in Encino. Each presenter
brought the theme of mindfulness into their session, and demon-
strated how we, as “wordworkers,” can be- come more present in our
facilitations.
Laura Landau discussed the benefits and purpose of meditation in
“Word-working with Clay.” We meditate so that our minds become
strong, clear and stable. With prac- tice, the meditator learns to
hold her mind to the object she is meditating on, and ultimately to
be present in her life. With a stable mind, we are better able to
help the people we’re working with. There are many different ways
to meditate, but the main point of the prac- tice is to learn to
focus your mind.
For this workshop, Laura demonstrated how you can use work with
clay in conjunc- tion with writing to practice mindfulness. She
cautioned that the facilitator does not want to give the students
too much time knead- ing, because that invites discursive thought.
Remember to honor your first thought as your best thought. You can
always go back and edit later. Remember the concept of “beginner’s
mind.” You’re given a lump of clay. What is there? You’re given a
blank page. What is there? You’re given a life. What is there? You
are there!
Thomas Hedberg, in “Mindful/Spiritual Poetry,” related a story
which demonstrated
the concept of “amygdala hijacking.” When a people experience an
emotional scare, the thoughts that were on their mind previous to
the shock often disappear. Poetry can help us get to the most
genuine, deepest parts of ourselves. In sacred listening, you will
lis- ten with your mind, your eyes, your pres- ence. Learn to
listen between the lines of what is said or written. Thomas relayed
the Leonard Cohen line: “There’s a crack in ev- erything. That’s
how the light gets in.” Rob- ert Carroll responded to the Cohen
quote with the statement, “Sometimes all the words don’t get in.
Healing words, like rain, might get through the cracks.”
In his session, Robert spoke about how we can use our breath
intentionally. In the beginning of meditation, our mind is un-
stable. Keep your focus on your breath, and keep your space small.
Try the three breath method: Breath One - Focus inward, Breath Two
- Experience your body, Breath Three - Give yourself in communion
(the I is with others).
Deep breathing helps us to focus. New studies show that children do
better in school when they spend ten minutes a day in a deep
breathing exercise. Modern poetry has been based on voice,
therefore breath, since the early 1900s. When you read a poem out
loud, the poem will read like a modern person talk- ing.
Punctuation, line breaks, and spacing guides the reader to pause,
slow down or stop. When writing a poem, try some abdominal
2 The Museletter
••••• The Museletter is published in March, July and November by
The National Association for Poetry Therapy. All copyrights remain
with the individual contributors.
••••• Please address all newsletter submissions to: Karen
vanMeenen, Editor The Museletter
[email protected]
••••• Address all subscription inquiries as well as general NAPT
inquiries, memberships, address changes and administrative business
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••••• Visit NAPT’s website at www.poetrytherapy.org
In This Issue: July 2007In This Issue: July 2007In This Issue: July
2007In This Issue: July 2007In This Issue: July 2007
From the Editor
Karen vanMeenen
Welcome to the latest issue of The Museletter , where those working
with the healing power of words come together to share their
thoughts and experiences. This issue’s feature article is an
expanded “Poems as Process” column as the modeling process inherent
in this section has proven useful for many readers. If you would
like to contribute to this column in an upcoming is-
sue, please contact me at
[email protected].
Another highlight of this issue is the announcement of more details
about our April 2-6, 2008 confer- ence in Minneapolis, “Reaching
Out and Reaching In: Expressive Writ- ing for Growth and Healing.”
See within for exciting news from our
hardworking conference planning team and be sure to book your hotel
room by March 1.
Finally, it is ironic to be writing this when the weather even here
in upstate New York is breaking heat records into October, but
wishing you all a warm, peaceful and poetic winter.
ErratumErratumErratumErratumErratum
In an article in the July 2007 issue, the term “Tikkun Olam” was
incorrectly cited as “Olam Tikkun.” We regret the error.
Contributors to This IssueContributors to This IssueContributors to
This IssueContributors to This IssueContributors to This
Issue
Diane Allerdyce, PhD, CAPF; Geri Chavis, CPT, LP; Catherine Conway,
MS, CPT, LCPC; Beverly A. Jackson; Perie Longo, PhD, RPT-M/S, MFT;
J. Elaine McCracken, MLS; Sherry Reiter, PhD, LCSW, RPT/BCT; Karen
vanMeenen, MA, CAPF; Lila Lizabeth Weisberger, MS, CASAC,
RPT/MS.
From the Editor
................................................................
2
President’s Message
......................................................... 3
Feature: Poems as Process
............................................... 5
NAPT News
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12
Please note that the email addressPlease note that the email
addressPlease note that the email addressPlease note that the email
addressPlease note that the email address
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is no longer in use.is no longer in use.is no longer in use.is no
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use:To contact the Editor, please use:To contact the Editor, please
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use:
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November 2007 3
President’s Message
Dear NAPT Members and Friends, Late last month, I visited a place I
had not encountered
before, except vicariously through the faces of my many immigrant
students and my partner’s stories of childhood. I had the
opportunity to visit Haiti as the newest member of a delegation
working with the Haitian government to create a Special Economic
Zone (SEZ) on the island of La Gonave. The five days we spent there
were filled with amazingly vari- ous experiences, from meetings
with Parliament and elected officials including the Prime Minister
and a fortuitous meet- ing with President Preval, to our attendance
at a traditional feast in Pointe-a-Raquette, LaGonave, as part of
the Festival of St. Louis, their patron saint. My heart rose and
fell as I tried to reconcile the sites of extreme beauty on the
island and in parts of the countryside with the realization of
nearly hopeless poverty in the inner city of Port-au-Prince. I came
back from Haiti with an upset stomach and a severe case of
swimmer’s ear, but the memories I have of this Caribbean island are
of the children, and of their hopes, and of a par- ticularly
poignant evocation of the power of poetry to reach out across
cultures, which I witnessed as the sun went down upon my first day
in Haiti:
It was balmy that late-August evening after our long day of travel
to PAP and exploration of the narrow, winding, bumpy streets that
took us from the Toussaint L’Ouverture International Airport to the
hotel for check-in and a meeting, and then to the top of the city
above Petionville for the birth- day party of our colleague’s
brother, Yves. We arrived intact at a hillside home and opened the
doors of the parked car on a cobblestone driveway in complete
darkness. A few candles flickered inside the house several yards
away, and we were told that the hurricane of two weeks before had
left much of the city with only intermittent electricity. A slight
breeze greeted us, though, and crickets were singing like songbirds
in the darkness. I could scarcely believe they were crickets at
all, so melodious their song. The rest of the evening was even more
sensory and musical. It turned out that the gather- ing, in
addition to food and drink and conversation in three languages
among the 30 or more people assembled on the lanai, featured the
acoustic music of a family who sang into the candlelit night for
hours. The sweet troubadour held her toddler on her lap as her
father and friends played guitars and a drum. To my surprise and
awe, every so often the mu- sic would stop, and a person among the
guests would recite an original poem or read a piece of classic
poetry from a book. It was all in French, my weakest of the three
languages, and I could follow only the emotion of the verses, but
it was
amazing—to be in a country so magical, enjoying an im- promptu
poetry reading for hour upon late-night hour, on that introductory
excursion into the heart of a close-knit com- munity. And to know
that it was poetry that greeted me to this new culture was a
welcoming sign.
I tend to see signs often, in nature or in human experi- ences, and
to look at them for guidance along the steep and bumpy roads we
traverse in everyday life. Since becoming NAPT president, I have
been also listening between the lines of communications that I at
times understand clearly and at times just listen to, allowing
meaning to emerge on its own terms. And as so many of us know
through the therapeutic application of the spoken word, meaning has
a way of mak- ing itself known, as long as we listen.
So I, and the rest of the Board, are listening too—in a series of
conference calls that will continue, monthly or so, until we meet
in person again at and after the conference in Minneapolis. One of
the themes that has been emerging as the NAPT membership continues
and the 2008 conference planning solidifies is that NAPT is
re-thinking its organiza- tional identity. NAPT is seeking, for
instance, to develop a vision even more distinct than it now has
from that of its sister organization, the Federation for
Biblio/Poetry Therapy, which oversees all aspects of training and
credentialing. Re- cent discussions have focused on:
WelcomeWelcomeWelcomeWelcomeWelcome Contributed by Diane
Allerdyce
NAPT President Diane Allerdyce with children in Haiti
4 The Museletter
a) The need to formalize and organize more commu- nity outreach
initiatives;
b) An exploration of the idea of “networks” or, as Niall Hickey put
it in a recent email from Ireland, “the identity of local
structures, both within and outside of the States”;
c) A focus on the role of educators using poetry in their
professional work, and especially on ways to sup- port them at the
conference and otherwise;
d) The possibility of creating more publication oppor- tunities for
creative writers and scholarly writers; and
e) Ways to celebrate the diverse applications of poetry and the
written/spoken word across cultures, national boundaries and racial
lines.
The Board welcomes your input! Please send any one of us your ideas
and we will listen. We will listen for awhile, and consider, and
think, and let ideas reach out across any divisions to strengthen
the organization that makes NAPT what it is at its best—a community
whose members pause in the darkness to tell each other what the
Miami-based Hai- tian poet and playwright Jan Mapou expresses in
his poem “Fanm Peyi Mwen” (Women of My Country):
breathing before you begin. This will help to ground you and take
you deeper into yourself.
Perie Longo advised us to find a mindful practice for ourselves in
“Mindful Processing of Client’s Words.” We need to be practicing
our writing and processing our emotions. Poetry as a focus can help
us become more present when we are talking to our clients and
processing their poems. Perie noted that people don’t often claim
their feelings in poems. To help a client go deeper, ask them to
change their third person point of view to a first person “I”
statement. To help clients relax before reading, it may be useful
to ask everyone to “take a deep breath.” Breathing helps bring
everybody back into the moment and more open to listening to the
poem and the person reading. Perie spoke a bit about group
dynamics, the interplay between participants, and the facilitator’s
part in help- ing to get in between the words. Keeping participants
focused and in the moment is one of the great challenges of group
work.
Hannah Menkin has found that different “tools” can be used to set
intention for a meditation. In preparation for the environment and
self, one can create a sacred space that is free of noise and
clutter. Ritual is another tool created by having a set time of day
to meditate, using certain colors, scents, objects or food;
bathing; or keeping a journal and writing instrument nearby to
record thoughts. Using our senses, various objects, sounds or
special music can also en- hance a meditation practice. Perie also
offered a role-playing exercise in a group poetry therapy
session.
Near the end of this intense workshop, participants were given time
to go out onto the retreat campus and find a quiet place to reflect
and write. From the solid earth beneath my feet, to the dark pond
that hid its contents, to the salamander that ran down the tree and
froze while I took a photo, to the wasps that chased me out of the
woods, I experienced life all around me, breathing and watching and
listening. A poem was born.
Each facilitator also prepared a packet of poems and other useful
writings on the overarching theme of mindfulness. Many thanks to
the presenters and participants of this workshop.
Annual Training Intensive Annual Training Intensive Annual Training
Intensive Annual Training Intensive Annual Training Intensive
(con’t.)
Some recommended poems for mindfulness
“The Ten Thousand Things” by Anne Silsbee (from Orioling) “Zen of
Housework” by Al Zolynas (from The Book of Luminous Things)
“Connections” by Nancy Wood (from This Place I Know) “Breathing
Meditation” by Thich Nhat Hanh (from Blooming Lotus) “Go Among
Trees and Sit Still” by Wendell Berry (from Sabbaths)
Remember … yes remember We’re all the same, The same branches On a
flame-tree Blossoming … Blossoming Blossoming with life In the four
seasons of rain …
November 2007 5
Poems as ProcessPoems as ProcessPoems as ProcessPoems as
ProcessPoems as Process As this column has proven to be one of the
most popular elements of The Museletter, in this issue we offer an
expanded selection, with poems offered by Ted Kooser in his “Ameri-
can Life in Poetry” column and writing prompts by NAPT Past
President Perie Longo. NAPTers interested in contrib- uting to this
column are encouraged to contact the editor at
[email protected].
Writing SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting
SuggestionsWriting Suggestions
American Life in Poetry: Column 96 By Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet
Laureate, 2004-06
Grief can endure a long, long time. A deep loss is very reluctant
to let us set it aside, to push it into a corner of memory. Here
the Arkansas poet Andrea Hollander Budy gives us a look at one
family’s adjustment to a death.
For Weeks after the Funeral
The house felt like the opera, the audience in their seats, hushed,
ready, but the cast not yet arrived.
And if I said anything to try to appease the anxious air, my words
would hang alone like the single chandelier
waiting to dim the auditorium, but still too huge, too prominent,
too bright, its light announcing only itself, bringing more
emptiness into the emptiness.
Copyright (c) 2006 by Andrea Hollander Budy. First published in
Five Points and included in her book, Woman in the Painting.
Reprinted by permission of the author and Autumn House Press.
Writing poetry can give us the chance to look back at a situation
where we didn’t know what to say or how to describe what we were
feeling. Reflect on such a time, perhaps beginning with what the
setting felt like (e.g., “the opera”). Describe what you felt like
at the time and upon reflection, follow your words and allow them
to speak your truth.
As another option, describe a time of emptiness.
6 The Museletter
Writing SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting
SuggestionsWriting Suggestions Chances are we all have a favorite
tree with which we have a special relationship, or a shelter not
far from our door, where we have experienced complete peace, as the
author of this poem describes. She takes us right into that moment
so we almost hear the rain and feel her happiness. Write of such a
place for you, describing the smallest details, such as the name of
the tree, where it is, what took you there, and most importantly,
what was happening outside and how that affected your inner
life.
American Life in Poetry: Column 66 By Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet
Laureate, 2004-06
Some of the most telling poetry being written in our country today
has to do with the smallest and briefest of pleasures. Here Marie
Howe of New York captures a magical moment: sitting in the shel-
ter of a leafy tree with the rain falling all around.
The Copper Beech
Immense, entirely itself, it wore that yard like a dress,
with limbs low enough for me to enter it and climb the crooked
ladder to where
I could lean against the trunk and practice being alone. One day, I
heard the sound before I saw it, rain fell darkening the
sidewalk.
Sitting close to the center, not very high in the branches, I heard
it hitting the high leaves, and I was happy,
watching it happen without it happening to me.
Reprinted from What the Living Do (W. W. Norton & Co., 1997).
Copyright (c) 1997 by Marie Howe.
November 2007 7
The title of the poem speaks of possibilities for writing: find-
ing the poem in a letter written to us, words written on a
billboard or sign, or any of the places Ted Kooser suggests. Once I
found a poem about world peace printed on the inside a box of
granola! Unfortunately, the granola was stale. I cut the box apart
to keep the poem, but lost it. This leads to an- other idea,
writing about a lost poem you can’t find, but you remember what it
was about, almost, and write it again. Lastly, you could write a
“letter poem” to someone else about how to live a “happier”
life.
Writing SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting
SuggestionsWriting Suggestions
American Life in Poetry: Column 123 By Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet
Laureate, 2004-06
There is a type of poem, the Found Poem, that records an author’s
discovery of the beauty that occasionally occurs in the everyday
discourse of others. Such a poem might be words scrawled on a
wadded scrap of paper, or buried in the classified ads, or on a
billboard by the road. The poet makes it his or her poem by holding
it up for us to look at. Here the Washington, DC, poet Joshua
Weiner directs us to the poetry in a letter written not by him but
to him.
Found Letter
What makes for a happier life, Josh, comes to this: Gifts freely
given, that you never earned; Open affection with your wife and
kids; Clear pipes in winter, in summer screens that fit; Few days
in court, with little consequence; A quiet mind, a strong body,
short hours In the office; close friends who speak the truth; Good
food, cooked simply; a memory that’s rich Enough to build the
future with; a bed In which to love, read, dream, and re-imagine
love; A warm, dry field for laying down in sleep, And sleep to trim
the long night coming; Knowledge of who you are, the wish to be
None other; freedom to forget the time; To know the soul exceeds
where it’s confined Yet does not seek the terms of its release,
Like a child’s kite catching at the wind That flies because the
hand holds tight the line.
Poem copyright (c) 2006 by Joshua Weiner. Reprinted from From the
Book of Giants (University of Chicago Press, 2006), by permission
of the author.
8 The Museletter
Think of a difficult time in your life, or one that you are going
through right now, and write about how you “carry on.” Where do you
go to escape for awhile? With whom? At one such time in my life, my
husband and I (after his diagno- sis) went on a long hike into the
mountains on a very hot day and soaked in a cold creek until we
were truly numb. Today it is 100 degrees and writing that brings a
smile. This poem demonstrates eloquently how survival is often a
moment of observation. Note the image of the sun lighting up an or-
chard and the couple “holding hands” in the dark.
American Life in Poetry: Column 124 By Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet
Laureate, 2004-06
Here is a lovely poem about survival by Patrick Phillips of New
York. People sometimes ask me “What are poems for?” and “Matinee”
is an example of the kind of writing that serves its readers, that
shows us a way of carrying on.
Matinee
After the biopsy, after the bone scan, after the consult and the
crying,
for a few hours no one could find them, not even my sister, because
it turns out
they’d gone to the movies. Something tragic was playing, something
epic,
and so they went to the comedy with their popcorn and their
cokes,
the old wife whispering everything twice, the old husband cupping a
palm to his ear,
as the late sun lit up an orchard behind the strip mall, and they
sat in the dark holding hands.
Poem copyright (c) 2006 by Patrick Phillips, whose latest book is
Chattahoochee (University of Arkansas Press, 2004). Reprinted from
the Greensboro Review (Fall 2006), No. 80, with permission of the
author.
This poem reminds me of Kahlil Gibran’s poem about how our children
come through us but are not ours. Mary Jo Salter warns us that we
“better hand over what you can’t have, and gracefully.” It might be
interesting to write why you better do that. Another idea is to
write of a time you realized your child did not belong to you, but
to the greater world in pur- suit of his/her own journey. Then
there is always the matter of advice that a child may seek, but not
really want. How did you handle that, or how did you address her
tears, when she was older? As an option, write about a relationship
that ended (in one of the many ways they do), reconciling the
person was not “yours” anyway.
Writing SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting
SuggestionsWriting Suggestions Writing SuggestionsWriting
SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting
Suggestions
From now on they always are, for years now they always have been,
but from now on you know they are, they always will be,
from now on when they cry and you say wryly to their mother, better
you than me, you’d better mean it, you’d better
hand over what you can’t have, and gracefully.
Reprinted from New Letters Vol. 72, no. 3-4 (2006), by permission
of the poet. Copyright (c) 2006 by Mary Jo Salter.
American Life in Poetry: Column 97 By Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet
Laureate, 2004-06
Though parents know that their children will grow up and away from
them, will love and be loved by others, it’s a difficult thing to
accept. Massachusetts poet Mary Jo Salter emphasizes the poignancy
of the parent/child relationship in this perceptive and compelling
poem.
Somebody Else’s Baby
November 2007 9
American Life in Poetry: Column 118 By Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet
Laureate, 2004-06
Our species has developed monstrous weapons that can kill not only
all of us but everything else on the planet, yet when the wind
rises we run for cover, as we have done for as long as we’ve been
on this earth. Here’s hoping we never have the skill or arrogance
to conquer the weather. And weather stories? We tell them in the
same way our ancestors related encounters with fear- some dragons.
This poem by Minnesota poet Warren Woessner honors the tradition by
sharing an experience with a hurricane.
Alberto
When the wind clipped the whitecaps, and the flags came down before
they shredded, we knew it was no nor’easter. The Blue Nose ferry
stayed on course, west out of Yarmouth, while 100 miles of fog on
the Bay blew away.
The Captain let us stand on the starboard bridge and scan a jagged
range. Shearwaters skimmed the peaks while storm petrels hunted
valleys that slowly filled with gold. Alberto blew out in the
Atlantic. We came back to earth that for days might tip and sway
and cast us back to sea.
Poem copyright (c) 1998 by Warren Woessner, whose book of poetry,
Clear All the Rest of the Way is forthcoming from The Backwaters
Press. Reprinted from Iris Rising, BkMk Press of UMKC, 1998, with
permission of the author.
Writing SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting
SuggestionsWriting Suggestions As Ted Kooser suggests, we can
“honor the tradition” of fa- vorite weather stories by writing
about one, when we were the most inconvenienced, or frightened,
when we had to run for our lives, at least to protect ourselves.
Several poems have been written about Hurricane Katrina and Wilma,
in recent years, the devastation in New Orleans, but what about
that power outage in last summer’s heat wave? Or the earthquake
when you felt that the once solid earth had morphed into Jello? A
current weather “dragon” is global warming. Per- haps a poem
encountering your fears or personal choices about how you deal with
that might be worth examining. Note in Woessner’s poem the vivid
description that brings us right into the moment.
10 The Museletter
American Life in Poetry: Column 126 By Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet
Laureate, 2004-06
The British writer Virginia Woolf wrote about the pleasures of
having a room of one’s own. Here the Vermont poet Karin Gottshall
shows us her own sort of private place.
Writing SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting
SuggestionsWriting Suggestions
The Raspberry Room
It was solid hedge, loops of bramble and thorny as it had to be
with its berries thick as bumblebees. It drew blood just to get
there, but I was queen of that place, at ten, though the berries
shook like fists in the wind, daring anyone to come in. I was
trying so hard to love this world—real rooms too big and full of
worry to comfortably inhabit—but believing I was born to live in
that cloistered green bower: the raspberry patch in the back acre
of my grandparents’ orchard. I was cross- stitched and beaded by
its fat, dollmaker’s needles. The effort of sliding under the
heavy, spiked tangles that tore my clothes and smeared me with
juice was rewarded with space, wholly mine, a kind of room out of
the crush of the bushes with a canopy of raspberry dagger-leaves
and a syrup of sun and birdsong. Hours would pass in the loud buzz
of it, blood made it mine—the adventure of that red sting singing
down my calves, the place the scratches brought me to: just space
enough for a girl to lie down.
Poem copyright (c) 2007 by Karin Gottshall. Reprinted from Crocus
by Karin Gottshall (Fordham University Press, 2007), with
permission of the author and publisher.
The language of this poem is as delicious as the raspberries. The
poem reminds me of a lesson I do with young students, to write
about a “Secret Place” where they feel alone and safe from the
world. Travel back in time and think of a place or “space” where
you felt you were the queen or king, what you had control over,
despite discomfort you may have experienced to get there. Describe
this place with all of its details, both beautiful and painful.
Perhaps there was adventure involved, some danger you surmounted,
to discover something about yourself for the first time, something
that has remained with you.
November 2007 11
American Life in Poetry: Column 120 By Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet
Laureate, 2004-06
The loss of youth and innocence is one of the great themes of
literature. Here the California poet Kim Noriega looks deeply into
a photograph from 40 years ago.
Heaven, 1963
It’s my favorite photo— captioned, “Daddy and His Sweetheart.” It’s
in black and white, it’s before Pabst Blue Ribbon, before his
tongue became a knife that made my mother bleed, and before he
blackened my eye the time he thought I meant to end my life.
He’s standing in our yard on Porter Road beneath the old chestnut
tree. He’s wearing sunglasses, a light cotton shirt, and a dreamy
expression.
He’s twenty-seven. I’m two. My hair, still baby curls, is being
tossed by a gentle breeze. I’m fast asleep in his arms.
From Blue Arc West: An Anthology of California Poets (Huntington
Beach, CA, Tebot Bach, 2006). Copyright (c) 2006 by Kim Noriega.
Reprinted with permission of the author and Tebot Bach.
One of the wrenching things about Kim Noriega’s poem is the
contrast between the title and the well-chosen details of the poem
which speak of a tumultuous and abusive child- hood—that is, until
you reach the last stanza—a time of “Heaven” when she was two,
asleep. Write from a photo- graph of yours that you keep around and
look at often, or one you keep in your mind’s eye. Simply describe
the people or the scene and what hadn’t happened yet. In the
conclu- sion, you might make an observation you didn’t have at the
time of the picture. My hospice group once wrote about their idea
of heaven, without a photograph. That also was very
effective.
Writing SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting
SuggestionsWriting Suggestions
American Life in Poetry: Column 128 By Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet
Laureate, 2004-06
Our poet this week is 16-year-old Devon Regina DeSalva of Los
Angeles, California, who says she wrote this poem to get back at
her mother, only to find that her mother loved the poem.
Snip Your Hair
I’ll snip your hair Cut it all off until you look like a man I will
replace your weight loss bars with bars to make you gain I will cut
your credit cards in half I will shrink all your clothes Every
trick in the book I will try I will give all your shoes to the dog
I will do it all Crazy is where you will be driven Off a cliff you
will want to jump Then when I am all done I will look at you with
big doughy eyes And I will say I am sorry But I have my fingers
crossed
Reprinted from Untangled: Stories & Poems from the Women &
Girls of WriteGirl (WriteGirl Publishers, 2006). Poem copyright (c)
2006 by WriteGirl Publishers and used by per- mission.
One of the most mischievous writing activities is to give your
anger a place in a poem. This sixteen-year-old girl thought of all
the ways she could “get back” at her mother, and had a wonderful
time doing it. The mother loved reading it. What better
constructive way to air anger. The poet’s impishness at the end we
are all too familiar with. It might be fun to try expressing your
anger at anyone with the awful things you might do to get even,
with tongue-in- cheek. The poem could be to a relative, a neighbor,
a friend, a co-worker, or a pet. You might even trade “anger” poems
with a child and see if you could make each other laugh.
Writing SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting SuggestionsWriting
SuggestionsWriting Suggestions
Submitted by Geri Chavis and Catherine Conway, On-site Conference
Chairs
We are very much looking forward to welcoming all of you to the
beautiful “Twin Cities”—a mecca for literature, visual and dramatic
arts, music, and education—for NAPT’s 2008 conference “Reaching Out
and Reaching In: Expres- sive Writing for Growth and Healing,”
April 2-6, 2008. Filled with cultural attractions such as the
Guthrie Theatre, the Minnesota History Center and the Walker Art
Center, the Twin Cities is also home to the legendary Mississippi
River and a lavish system of in-city lakes and surrounding
parks.
A very exciting conference is shaping up at the Millen- nium Hotel,
which is conveniently located right on Nicolette Mall in Downtown
Minneapolis, very close to a wide vari- ety of restaurants,
nightclubs and theaters. We have two dy- namic, award-winning and
versatile keynoters, J. Ruth Gendler, keynote speaker, and Patricia
Smith, keynote poet. In addition to addressing our group as a
whole, both keynot- ers have agreed to facilitate a special
workshop. Please see more information on these two illustrious
speakers elsewhere in this Museletter.
We are planning a delightful Twin Cities/Mississippi River
excursion on Wednesday, and on Thursday evening, our “meet and
greet” event promises to be better than ever with playful,
poetry-related activities that will encourage camaraderie and help
set the tone for an enriching and memo- rable conference. Our
Saturday evening event, specially de- signed to provide satisfying
closure for conference attend- ees, will be facilitated by the
talented, sensitive players of River’s Edge Playback Theatre. As in
the past, Friday and Saturday will be packed with a diverse array
of high quality workshops, and this year, we are extending a
special wel- come to first-time attendees who are educators and a
very warm welcome to old friends who did not get to the confer-
ence this past year in Portland.
Please check the NAPT website for updates on the con- ference and
for the conference program, which will be avail- able in January
2008. Hotel booking information will be there as well. Please note
that you will need to book your room by March 1 to take advantage
of the special con- ference hotel rate.
Dear Poetry Therapy Friends: I write to tell you again about our
extraordinary good
fortune in having been the beneficiaries of the legal services
provided pro bono by the law firm of Arnold and Porter. The reason
for this acknowledgement now is that our legal hero, Michael Roman
Geske, is leaving the firm for an important and prestigious new
job, and I want you to know a bit about our relationship with the
firm and with Mike.
Here is an excerpt from my talk at our 2003 conference when I
presented Arnold & Porter with NAPT’s Public Ser- vice
Award:
I have the happy honor of having been asked to thank the law firm
of Arnold and Porter for its generosity … in the service of our
organization. In 1991, when I was president of NAPT and aware of
our need to have a charitable arm to accept and provide funding for
our own good works, A&P gifted us with indis- pensable help in
creating the NAPT Foundation.
Where do we get such champions of the good as these? … the ones who
would have agreed with Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., “I say to you
with sad conviction that to think great thoughts, you must be
heroes as well as idealists.” They were the ones who would have
been hired by Arnold and Porter, who believe in work that is pro
bono publico, that legal justice is the art of the good and the
fair.
Is there some connection between them and us? …They, like us,
listen exquisitely; like us, they use language deliberately. They
gather the disparate frag- ments of story and history to create a
narrative that has meaning and wholeness. Redressing wrongs is a
vital aspect of healing.
…When they heard of the gross injustice that had been done to NAPT
that required legal redress way beyond our organization’s means,
these powerful advocates for what is right and good gifted us again
with their brilliance and determination.
Arnold and Porter attorneys, Gillian Wood and Mike Geske say,
“Don’t thank us yet. Don’t thank us until you get back what you’ve
lost.” Oh, no, again. Of course, that will be lovely, but what
you’re doing for us now is pure poetry, and who better to appreci-
ate it than we.
A Letter of RecognitionA Letter of RecognitionA Letter of
RecognitionA Letter of RecognitionA Letter of Recognition
November 2007 13
So, I present our heroes with the NAPT Public Ser- vice Award
inscribed, “For their active promotion of fairness, the public
good, and the arts.” And, “Jus- tice is Truth in Action,” Benjamin
Disraeli.
…Mike accepted NAPT’s Public Service award for the firm. In the
months that followed, he continued to work on NAPT’s behalf and
kept us informed of the challenges and eventual success thanks to
his and his team’s efforts.
Two years later, he was the Federation’s champion in researching
and addressing the legal issues relating to train- ing and
credentials. Here’s a copy of part of a note I wrote to him after
the 2006 Federation and mentor/supervisor meet- ings at the NAPT
conference in Boston:
Dear Mike: For the Federation, I want to express deep apprecia-
tion. We are so grateful for your expertise, meticu- lous
preparation, eloquence, and exceptional patience with our board and
the mentor/supervisors.
The many hours of groundwork you have dedicated to our issues were
so apparent in your three separate presentations: two to our board
and another at the mentor/supervisor Roundtable. That you could ad-
dress each of these audiences with clear informa- tion, grace, and
good humor was abundant evidence of your professional skill. Beyond
that, several of us have had the distinct perception that you bring
not only that professionalism to our cause, but also a caring for
our field and its people.
With utmost gratitude and respect, Peggy Osna Heller, President
NFB/PT
We wish you all the best, Mike.
Peggy Osna Heller for the National Federation of Biblio/Poetry
Therapy
FindingsFindingsFindingsFindingsFindings
Querencia: Feeling SafeQuerencia: Feeling SafeQuerencia: Feeling
SafeQuerencia: Feeling SafeQuerencia: Feeling Safe and at Homeand
at Homeand at Homeand at Homeand at Home
I am in the dentist’s chair and after multiple shots of Novocain,
the probing, pushing, pulling begins. The sound of the drill is
pain. Without exaggeration it is a non-stop four-and-a-half-hour
session, which must have broken a record.
I have my ipod connected to my noise-canceling ear- phones and a
pad and pen on my lap. I need to write. I can find safety if I can
escape by writing. I can create distance from the distress by
writing freely and assuming the role of reporter.
My head is back, and I can’t see what I am writing. I let my finger
mark my place so I don’t write over and over in the same space. I
write in three voices: the conversations in the office between
dentist and assistant and between dentist and periodontist, lyrics
from the music or lines from the poems I am listening to, my own
thoughts and feelings. My favorite line is the periodontist saying
to me, “If you feel anything, tell me.”
An excerpt from my notebook at the dentist’s office:
FFFFFinding the Root of the Rootinding the Root of the Rootinding
the Root of the Rootinding the Root of the Rootinding the Root of
the Root One of my precious teeth is being extracted Half of a root
of a decaying tooth splinters off My dentist cannot remove the root
She is breathing hard. How bad is this? I am looking for
querencia
She is looking for a periodontist He places a heavy hand on my head
It feels like a benediction, not a vise. Four probing hands in my
overstretched mouth, more Novocain: cutting, pulling. “It’s
counterintuitive,” the periodontist says, “But we must remove
bone.” “Why the heck is it so hard to get it out?,” he speaks aloud
And to me, “If you feel anything, tell me.”
I think of Rumi’s poem “The Guest House”:
This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new
arrival.
Contributed by Lila Lizabeth Weisberger
Your input is needed!Your input is needed!Your input is needed!Your
input is needed!Your input is needed! If you have a special book
that you recommend be sold at our bookstore at the 2008 conference
in Minneapolis, please contact Ted Bowman at
[email protected]. Please include the title, author,
publisher, publication date and ISBN if possible. Requests are due
by January 1, 2008.
14 The Museletter
Animals have querencia by instinct. The golden plover knows every
year where to fly when it migrates. Rattlesnakes know by the
temperature when to lie dormant. In winter, spar- rows and
chickadees know where their food is and return to the same spot
again and again. Querencia is a matter of sur- vival. A nest, a
mole’s tunnel, is querencia.
Humans have querencia, too. We know where we feel most at home. Our
bodies tell us, if we listen. There are cer- tain seasons during
which we feel more at ease. Certain times of day when we feel safe
and more relaxed. Certain climates. Terrain. Even the clothes we
wear make us feel more at home.
In a 1999 interview, Norman Mailer described Provincetown,
Massachusetts, the town he lives in, as his zone of privacy, his
querencia where he is free and offered sanctuary.
In February 2007, in my online course, The Healing Fountain, we
were discussing the place/s we feel safe. I re- sponded to the
prompt by writing about a place that I re- membered feeling safe as
a child.
You may want to think about your own querencia, or perhaps you
already know that it’s when you are one with nature or in a
specific setting or with a special person.
A Leg to Stand OnA Leg to Stand OnA Leg to Stand OnA Leg to Stand
OnA Leg to Stand On
Summer long
summer after summer swimming in the ocean scared of the bottom
afraid of the crabs afraid of the living things afraid of being
bitten and nibbled afraid to have my feet touch down
I’d swim to my sister and rest my feet on hers I’d get my breath
back and then I’d swim off
Over and over again summer after summer and she would always accept
my toes landing on hers I always had an extra leg to stand
on!
A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as
an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they
are a crowd of sorrows, who violently sweep your house empty of its
furniture...
No. I don’t want to let my house be a guest house. I want to feel
safe. With pen and pad at hand I feel some control of what/who
enters into my sanctuary. Later, I’ll think more about who and what
is sweeping my house empty of its fur- niture. For now I want to
observe my furniture and my unin- vited visitors. Perhaps later I
will think of them as guests and learn from the experience of
seeing them in all their dimen- sions and knowing them by
name.
One thing I know is that the writing I am doing comforts me, and is
the medicine I need. I am learning: understanding how the writing
is protecting me and leading me to my querencia. When I am writing,
I am calling myself by name and creating my own safety.
From the book Querencia by Stephen Bodio, a quota- tion by William
Buckley:
Querencia: The word doesn’t translate. It is used in Spanish to
designate that mysterious little area in the bullring that catches
the fancy of the fighting bull when he charges in. He imagines it
his sanctu- ary: when parked there. He supposes he cannot be hurt …
So it is, borrowing the term, that one can speak of one’s
“querencia” to mean that little, un- specified area in life’s arena
where one feels safe, serene.
In the book Writing Toward Home, Georgia Heard de- scribes a
bullfight:
The wounded bull retreated to a spot to the left of the gate
through which he had entered, to rest, it seemed. He had found his
querencia: a place where he felt safe and was therefore at his most
dangerous. The matador tries not to let the bull find this place,
because it increases the danger to himself. For the bull, it is a
place where he believes he can survive this unfair game.
Unfortunately and cruelly, he al- most never does. It is said that
if the same bull were to fight more than once in the ring, every
matador would die; once an animal learns the game and stands in his
power, he cannot be defeated….
November 2007 15
2008 ANNUAL NAPT CONFERENCE2008 ANNUAL NAPT CONFERENCE2008 ANNUAL
NAPT CONFERENCE2008 ANNUAL NAPT CONFERENCE2008 ANNUAL NAPT
CONFERENCE
REACHING OUT AND REACHING IN:REACHING OUT AND REACHING IN:REACHING
OUT AND REACHING IN:REACHING OUT AND REACHING IN:REACHING OUT AND
REACHING IN: EXPRESSIVE WRITING FOR GROWTH AND HEALINGEXPRESSIVE
WRITING FOR GROWTH AND HEALINGEXPRESSIVE WRITING FOR GROWTH AND
HEALINGEXPRESSIVE WRITING FOR GROWTH AND HEALINGEXPRESSIVE WRITING
FOR GROWTH AND HEALING
Keynote Poet:Keynote Poet:Keynote Poet:Keynote Poet:Keynote Poet:
Patricia SmithPatricia SmithPatricia SmithPatricia SmithPatricia
Smith
Keynote Speaker: Ruth J. GendlerKeynote Speaker: Ruth J.
GendlerKeynote Speaker: Ruth J. GendlerKeynote Speaker: Ruth J.
GendlerKeynote Speaker: Ruth J. Gendler author of The Book of
Qualities
and editor of Changing Light: The Eternal Cycle of Night and
Day
• Twin Cities/Mississippi River excursion • “meet and greets”
• performance by River’s Edge Playback Theatre • pre- and
post-conference workshops
• dynamic and engaging conference sessions
APRIL 2-6, 2008APRIL 2-6, 2008APRIL 2-6, 2008APRIL 2-6, 2008APRIL
2-6, 2008
Please check the NAPT website for updates on the conference and for
the conference program, which will be available in January 2008.
Hotel booking information will be there as well. Please note that
you will need to book your room by March 1 to take advantage of the
special conference hotel rate.
• Four-time winner of the National Poetry Slam individual
championship titles
• Winner of the first- ever Hurston/Wright Legacy Award in Poetry,
a Pushcart, the Paterson Poetry Prize and the Chautauqua Literary
Journal Award in Poetry
• Teahouse of the Almighty was named the best poetry book of 2006
by About.com
16 The Museletter
NAPT Member NewsNAPT Member NewsNAPT Member NewsNAPT Member
NewsNAPT Member News Please send your professional news
announcements of 150 words or fewer in the format exampled below to
the Editor at
[email protected] by the published deadline
for each issue. Please note: we do not list events or awards that
are listed elsewhere in The Museletter (e.g., Poetry Alive awards
and awarding of CPTs and RPTs). Members wishing to publicize these
accomplishments in the monthly member e-newsletter are encouraged
to email the information to Mary Caprio at
[email protected].
Lapidus is NAPT’s sister organization in the UK. Its Cornwall
branch has just published Prompted to Write, which gives a vivid
account of three years of workshops and peer training in Cornwall,
with over 30 contributors, including NAPT members Geri Chavis, Mari
Alschuler and Ted Bowman and American poet George Wallace,
alongside many eminent UK practitioners. It was edited by Victoria
Field and Zeeba Ansari and has a foreword by London poet, Moniza
Alvi. The cost for U.S. orders is $15 (which includes s&h). To
order, please email
[email protected].
Along with a chapter being published in Prompted to Write (see
above), Ted Bowman (St. Paul, MN) has a chapter in Dying,
Bereavement and the Healing Arts (2007, edited by Gillie Bolton)
and articles currently or forthcoming in Lapidus Quarterly, the
journal Illness, Crisis and Loss, the British journal Bereavement
Care and The Journal for Po- etry Therapy.
Ann Bracken (Columbia, MD) is pleased to announce the launch of The
Possibility Project, her new practice of jour- nal coaching. This
practice is dedicated to using writing, poetry, and drama in
creative ways to effect positive change and healing for a fuller,
richer life. Ann’s vision is to pro- vide a space where creativity,
growth and self-expression support happiness and deepen a sense of
purpose in people’s lives. Ann is also currently enrolled in the
Drama in Educa- tion Post-graduate Diploma program at Trinity
College in Dublin, Ireland, and she looks forward to incorporating
drama techniques into her practice of embodied writing.
Along with a chapter being published in Prompted to Write (see
above), Geri Chavis (St. Paul, MN) also had a won- derful set of
experiences teaching five different workshops in the Republic of
Ireland this summer: a two-day Oasis for Therapists in the Wicklow
Mountains; a three-day introduc- tory course in Mulranny on the
west coast; two one-day workshops in the Dublin area and an
afternoon workshop co-led with Niall Hickey in Portarlington for
the Irish
Poetry Network group there. Geri is looking forward to next year’s
teaching in Ireland and to her five-day introductory course, which
is scheduled for the first week of June 2008 in St. Paul,
Minnesota, at the College of St. Catherine. If inter- ested, please
contact her at
[email protected].
Kerstin Hof (Hamburg, Germany) has articles in Volume 2 of
Scientific Basics of Art-Therapy and in I Love to See You Talk:
Language in the Reference Field of Art-Therapeutical Practicing an
Research.
Charlie Rossiter (Chicago, Illinois) has a new collection of poems
out from FootHills Publishing. The Night We Danced With the
Raelettes is available at www.foothillspublishing.com.
Faye Snider (Newton, MA) is enrolled as a first-year MFA student in
Pine Manor College’s low residency program in creative writing. She
is specializing in creative nonfiction and writing personal essays
and memoir.
Shanee Stepakoff (New York, NY) was the Commencement Speaker and
was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters at the
Worcester State College commencement cer- emony in Worcester,
Massachusetts, on May 13, 2007. In August 2006, she was a member of
the six-person team that received the American Psychological
Association’s Interna- tional Humanitarian Award on the basis of
work with Liberian refugees in Guinea, and she delivered the award
address at the APA convention in New Orleans. Over the past year,
she has had five articles and one chapter accepted or in press in
refereed professional journals/books, most focusing on the use of
the creative arts therapies with victims of torture and
ethnopolitical violence. Dr. Stepakoff, a licensed clinical psy-
chologist and mentor/supervisor in poetry therapy, enrolled in the
MFA program in creative writing (poetry specializa- tion) at the
New School University in New York in Sept. 2007. She will also be
in private practice in New York City, providing psychotherapy and
poetry therapy for adults, ado- lescents and children.
Share the News! Report your lastest
accomplishments to:
[email protected]
November 2007 17
Margot Van Sluytman (Calgary, Alberta, Canada) gave workshop and
reading entitled, Poetry and Your Health, at the University of
Alberta, in the Arts and Humanities in Health and Medicine through
the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry in Edmonton. She also gave a
reading and talk as poetry as healing voice, which was sponsored by
Lapidus. She will be in Toronto, Ontario, November 9-10
participating in a Po- etry as Meditation and Healing Voice
Workshop with Dr. Matthew Fox and in Vancouver, British Columbia on
No- vember 23 (speaking during Restorative Justice Week) about the
power of words to heal. She will be speaking with Glen Flett who
was sentenced to 21 years to life in 1980 for the shooting death of
Margot’s father Theodore Van Sluytman, during a Brink’s holdup at
the Hudson’s Bay store in Toronto. Because of reading about her
Seeds of Joy Award, which she received from The Foundation of the
National Association for Poetry Therapy, Flett contacted her, and a
dialogue of miraculous proportions occurred, including deep and
neces- sary healing. Margot is writing a book entitled Sawbonna:
Murder. Grief. Forgiveness. Letters of Transformation, which will
speak of this astounding gift of the power of words to heal.
Media WatchMedia WatchMedia WatchMedia WatchMedia Watch This column
of The Museletter is designed to be a service to our readers and to
the larger field of poetry therapy. We will print listings of
newspapers, periodicals, academic and professional journals, radio
programs, television specials, etc. that provide coverage of
writing as a healing tool, as well as related is- sues. If you see
or learn of material that should be included, please email full
citation information to the Editor at
[email protected]
for inclusion in the next issue.
In Memorium Grace Paley, 1922-2007
Dear NAPT Members and Friends,
It is with mixed feelings that I recently accepted the resignation
of Mary Caprio from our Board of Direc- tors. I say “mixed” because
although Mary’s shoes are virtually unfillable, I admire and
understand her need to focus on her internship in social work, as
part of the MSW degree she is now pursuing.
Mary has gone beyond the call of duty in all as- pects of her role,
to the degree that it is difficult to fully represent her
contribution to NAPT and to the Board. Although most of her fellow
Board members consider Mary to be an “old timer” (a testament to
her enormous success and presence), Mary joined the board in 2003
and became Vice President of Membership in 2005. Shortly after
assuming the VP position, she started the e-newsletter that has
provided one of the best commu- nicative instruments in NAPT
history. I don’t believe I am overstating the case in saying that
Mary has been among our most active and pro-active Board
members!
As I told Mary, no one can really ever replace her. Yet, we must
start thinking about whom to ask, and how to ask, for nominations
for a new VP of member- ship, who I’m sure will bring his or her
own set of strengths and contributions.
Please join me in wishing Mary the very best. Thank you, Mary, with
all our hearts!
Sincerely, Diane Allerdyce, NAPT President
Author and activist Grace Paley, a member of NAPT's Praise of
Muses, passed away in August.
An NAPT tribute to Grace is forthcoming.
• The February 22, 2007, edition of HealthDay.com in- cluded the
article “Words Can Help the Healing: Expres- sive-writing therapy
is aiding cancer patients.” The story can be accessed online at
www.healthday.com/ Article.asp?AID=602096.
18 The Museletter
Muse ReviewsMuse ReviewsMuse ReviewsMuse ReviewsMuse Reviews
Cracking Up and Back Again: Transformation Through Poetry by Diane
Kaufman Palabras Press, 2007 (www.palabras-press.com)
Reviewed by Sherry Reiter
Cracking Up and Back Again: Transformation Through Poetry is a
simple and beautiful workbook by
psychiatrist Diane Kaufman, composed of fifteen poems followed by
questions to use as writing prompts. What is unique is the stark
honesty and accessibility of the poems themselves. Kaufman begins
the book with “Poetic Medi- cine,” as follows:
readymade guide, with each session’s theme neatly laid out. Poetry
therapists should be aware that there are two instances where
suicidality is mentioned, (“No one can love who I am/ No one ever
loved who I am/ If I show you who I am/ I will have to kill myself/
Because being dead will be the/ Only way I can hide once more.”)
While some therapists may feel it is appropriate to use this with
persons who are grappling with suicidal feelings, other therapists
may feel it is counter- therapeutic to introduce the theme of the
death wish. This topic remains somewhat controversial in the field.
Dr. Kaufman is a psychiatrist who believes it is better to put the
theme of suicide on the table so it can be discussed and not acted
upon.
This issue aside, the remaining poems are lucid and touching, with
no content that would be disputed. The spirit of the book is warm,
loving and to the point. Here is a wounded healer who has been
there and survives to help others with her words. What greater
inspiration can there be?
Yesterday my heart cracked open All birds in the sky Flew within
And I like they have wings.
There’s always a big black pot Simmering Bubbling Boiling over with
troubles The brew gets thicker and thicker As more troubles keep
piling in, You ask yourself, “Oh, when will it ever end?” A whisper
replies, “Pour out the pot and start all over again!”
The pot will certainly break as in “breakdown” or “crack- pot”
unless some action is taken. Cracking Up and Back Again is the
odyssey of a wounded healer who forged her own path through
writing. She has generously bequeathed her poems to serve as
guideposts for others who choose to “pour out the pot and start all
over again.” Persons in recovery from abuse, violence, alcohol and
chemical addiction, and difficult life situations will benefit from
Kaufman’s poetry.
Scorchingly honest and self-searching, Dr. Kaufman is a wounded
healer who has confronted herself with the ques- tions that every
person needs to ask in the quest for whole- ness. How sick do you
have to be to move toward wellness? Have you ever forgotten the
good and magnified the bad? Have you ever lived your life for other
people? Have you experienced abuse by others or yourself? What kind
of love story are you writing in your life? What are your spiritual
beliefs about forgiveness? How open or closed is your heart? These
and other questions pierce our hearts because the heart is first
softened with a poem.
Psychiatrists, psychologists and social worker therapists,
substance abuse rehabilitation counselors, as well as creative arts
therapists will find Cracking Up and Back Again to be a
Eating Sour Rhubarb Beneath a Cold Moon: A Book of American Haiku
by Joy Shieman Trafford Publishing, 2007 (www.trafford.com)
Reviewed by Perie Longo
If you have ever wondered how or why haiku can be an exciting and
helpful form of healing in a psychotherapeutic or educational
setting, Joy Shieman’s book is the answer. The title comes from one
of the many haiku she has written:
It seems so fitting, eating stalks of sour rhubarb
beneath a cold moon…
She writes that in Medieval times, rhubarb was considered to be “a
tonic for the system.”
Monks would grow this humble plant among the sweet and bitter herb
gardens behind monastery walls. She imag-
November 2007 19
ines how a friar might slip into the night with a bowl filled with
honey, then quietly dip the stalks, stripped to make no sound and
thus be discovered, into the thick sweetness, to eat with pleasure.
No one would know but the “cold moon.” We are left to finish the
haiku in our own mind, one of the requirements of a well-written
haiku, according to Joy, and one of the elements that provide a
mean’s of self-discovery and the haiku’s ability to heal.
She clarifies other elements of writing haiku for plea- sure and
discipline, as well as settling emotional chaos, fur- ther
developing the healing quality of rhubarb.
The Museletter is looking for people to write full reviews
(750-1,000 words) of new books of poetry/writing and art therapy
theory and practice, as well as poetry collec- tions and other
related titles for “Muse Reviews.” Re- viewers may suggest books to
review or check the “Books Received” list in each issue of The
Museletter for pos- sible review titles. We are also looking for
people to write shorter “Books Noted” pieces (100-150 words)
highlight- ing not-so-recent books and other media that may, for
various reasons, not be covered in a full review in “Muse Reviews.”
If you would like to contribute or need addi- tional information,
please email Karen vanMeenen, Edi- tor, The Museletter, at
[email protected].
…if you take out the center of a rhubarb root, always it will die…
if you cut out the center of the human soul, always it will
shrivel… if you water the center of the soul, the soul will
flourish.
Writing in the given form of three lines, seventeen syl- lables,
Joy feels, is a good way to begin writing haiku be- cause it
provides a pattern and focus, as well as settling emo- tional
chaos. Writing in the now is essential because in haiku, there is
no past or future. Emotion is expressed through the images in
nature, which “hint at a season.” The secret of a haiku is the
“paradox in the center.”
Makoto Ueda of Stanford University, professor of Asian languages,
writes in his foreword about the “healing nature of haiku,” quoting
one of Joy’s haiku published in Borrowed Water (1966), the first
anthology of American haiku pub- lished in Japan.
Snail, if you shouted in your narrow room, no one
would hear your great need
weaves into her theory of writing haiku and teaching others to do
so in a healing environment. By observing nature close up, we begin
to get underneath our own skin and know our own patterns, and
perhaps change them as we express joy, sorrow, loneliness and anger
through imagery and connec- tion.
The poems in the book are divided into two sections: those she
wrote and those written by friends and “patients.” Her poems,
written over many years, include those inspired by her travels in
the United States, Mexico, South America, Ireland and Canada as
well as those inspired by water and circles, to name a few. The
anthology is a rich resource for all those working in the field of
poetry therapy, peppered with beautiful photographs to illustrate
some of the haiku, taken by a variety of photographers. One of the
many de- lights of the book is how lovingly Joy writes about the
im- portance of how haiku has opened not only her life, but oth-
ers, into doorway after doorway of opportunity. Joy is one of our
beloved pioneers in NAPT, and offers the “Seeds of Joy” scholarship
for international practitioners of poetry for heal- ing to attend
the annual conference.
If I were to quote my favorite haiku, this review would be pages
long, so I end with one, written by a patient, that holds the
essence of our work:
Scurrying ant displays overwhelming strength
this longing to exist…
Shieman has had a passion for writing haiku for many years as a way
to harness her exuberance and joy at the bless- ings life has given
her. The haiku serves as a “door” to one heart connecting to
another, as one image connects to an- other not only through
similarity, but difference. In the pro- cess of taking her love for
this form into a hospital setting, beginning in 1962, she developed
a methodology called “Therapoetics—Re-Alignment of the Soul,” which
she de- scribes in the opening pages of the book.
Married to a man who had a passion for flying, she had the
opportunity to rise above the world to observe many vary- ing
patterns visible from 2,000 to 10,000 feet above. From that
experience, she coined the term “Overvision,” which she
20 The Museletter
Books ReceivedBooks ReceivedBooks ReceivedBooks ReceivedBooks
Received Healing the Inner City Child: Creative Arts Therapies with
At-risk Youth edited by Vanessa A. Camilleri. London: Jessica
Kingsley Publishers, 2007.
Mourning Has Broken: A Collection of Creative Writing About Grief
and Healing (2nd ed.) edited by Maria Koven and Liz Pearl. Toronto:
KOPE Associates, 2006.
Poems from Guantánamo: The Detainees Speak edited by Marc Falkoff.
Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2007.
The Spoken Word Revolution Redux by Mark Eleveld. Naperville, IL:
Sourcebooks, 2007.
Writing Poetry from the Inside Out: Finding Your Voice Through the
Craft of Poetry edited by Sandford Lyne. Naperville, IL:
Sourcebooks, 2007.
Listing in “Books Received” does not preclude future nota- tion or
full review in The Museletter. Individuals interested in reviewing
titles listed here, or other books that may be of interest to
readers of The Museletter, are encouraged to con- tact the Editor
at
[email protected].
PoemNationPoemNationPoemNationPoemNationPoemNation
• • • • • CaliforniaCaliforniaCaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia
The Southern California Poetry Therapy Network offers
peer/supervision hours for trainees working on their CAPF, CPT and
PTR on the second Sunday of the month in Santa Barbara or Los
Angeles. Others interested in the process are also welcome.
Facilitation practice, skill building, case stud- ies and
literature review are offered. The group is super- vised by
Mentor/Supervisor Perie Longo, PhD, MFT, PTR. Call Perie at (805)
687-1619 or email
[email protected] for further information.
• Colorado• Colorado• Colorado• Colorado• Colorado
Colorado CPT training group meets the third Saturday (with some
schedule variations) near downtown Denver of- fering peer group,
literature review, group supervision. Con- tact Kay Adams at (303)
986-6460 or
[email protected] for schedule and information.
• Connecticut• Connecticut• Connecticut• Connecticut•
Connecticut
Peer group forming in Southeastern Connecticut. Easily accessible
to CT, MA and RI. For more information contact Elaine Brooks,
PTR-M/S, at (860) 546-0621 or
[email protected].
• Florida• Florida• Florida• Florida• Florida
The South Florida Peer Group meets the third Sunday of the month at
the Fort Lauderdale office of Mentor/Supervi- sor Deborah E.
Grayson, LMHC, RPT. Each month partici- pants are treated to the
latest techniques in Poetry Therapy, thematic poems, new books and
resources in the field and invaluable feedback from their peers. We
allow ample time for discussing difficult cases, reviewing
applications and updating personal files. This has been an ongoing
group for eight years! Join us by reserving your space at (954)
741- 1160.
Mari Alschuler, LCSW, RPT, M/S, is available for mentoring of CPT
and RPT trainees. She continues to offer a correspondence/email
course in Poetic Devices. Please contact her at
[email protected] or (954) 424-9085.
• Illinois
Charlie Rossiter, PhD, CPT, offers mentoring for poetry therapy
trainees as well as writing and poetry therapy work- shops in the
Chicago area. For more information or to be added to his mailing
list to be kept informed of offerings contact him at
[email protected]. Charlie is also working on
developing an “Off-Season Training Intensive” in the Chicago area.
If you are interested in re- ceiving details when they become
available, send a note to
[email protected] with
“off-season inten- sive” as the subject line.
• Maryland
Gina Campbell, Counselor and CAPF, offers training in Symbolic
Modeling, a cutting-edge mind/body technique
November 2007 21
that uses a systematic process for verbally exploring and
developing a client’s internalized metaphors to foster clar- ity,
healing and change. Participants will have opportunities to be both
facilitator and client as they learn the basics of Symbolic
Modeling and Clean Language. These are skills readily used by
therapists, body workers, life coaches, teach- ers and business
consultants. Quickly and safely get at the deep-rooted sources of
issues that may not be accessible at the conscious level. Effective
with assisting clients in releas- ing old patterns, beliefs and
trauma. Also effective with goal- setting, motivation issues and
more. For more information email
[email protected].
• Minnesota
Geri Chavis, LP, CPT, PhD, facilitates a poetry therapy su-
pervision group in Minneapolis. For information contact Geri at
[email protected] or (651) 690-6524.
Minnesota Regional Gatherings: Since the early 1980s, the Minnesota
Poetry Therapy Network has been meeting six times a year and is
going strong. This peer experience poetry therapy group focuses on
a particular theme, reading and creating together and sharing
resources. Currently, we are in the process of planning our group’s
second anthology of choice poems generated during our gatherings.
We meet ev- ery other month on Saturdays from 10:30am to 2:30pm.
For details contact Geri Chavis at
[email protected] or at (651)
690-6524.
• New England• New England• New England• New England• New
England
The New England Chapter of the American Society for Group
Psychotherapy and Psychodrama (ASGPP) offers free, open psychodrama
trainings three times a year in New England. For information e-mail
[email protected] or phone (508) 647-0596.
• New York City/New Jersey/Long
Island/Long Distance
The “Creative Righting” Center continues to train poetry thera-
pists who are distant learners as well people in the tri-state
area. Once Sunday a month, peer groups meet at The Institute for
the Arts in Psychotherapy in New York City. Newcomers are wel-
come. Sessions include facilitation by Sherry Reiter, PhD, PTR-
M/S, facilitation session by a member of the group, one hour of
supervision, and one hour of didactic. Includes poetry, story gems
and honing of facilitation skills. For full schedule, see visit
thecreativerightingcenter.com or write Sherry at
[email protected].
bridgeXngs POETRY CENTER, Inc., a state-of-the-art comprehensive
poetry center and intentional community pio- neering on-line
courses for poetry therapy trainees, directed by Lila L.
Weisberger, offers local and long distance trainings, individual
and small group supervision. Monthly poetry peer groups are offered
in Manhattan as well as the July Intensive “ACTIONWEEK.” Courses
offered are for on-line poetry peer groups for long distance
trainees (10 hours); an on-line ten month didactic course and
experience facilitating on line based on the text The Healing
Fountain: Poetry Therapy for Life’s Journey by Geri Chavis and Lila
Weisberger; Poetic Forms: Poetry as Symphony; Poetry as Container;
Develop- mental Psychology and Abnormal Psychology: Words on a Hat:
Learning Psychology Through Literature and study groups of major
poetry therapy texts. Special Programs: Po- etry and Altered Books;
Poetry and creation of three dimen- sional dolls. For Information
contact Lila at
[email protected] or (917) 660-0440.
Writing Your Way Home, a poetry weekend intensive led by Laura Boss
and Maria Mazziotti Gillan, will be held at St. Marguerite’s
Retreat House in Mendham, NJ, on December 7-9, 2007. Fee of $375
includes room, meals and all work- shops. 15 professional
development credits available. For registration and additional
information email Maria Mazziotti Gillan at
[email protected].
• On-line/Virtual/Region-free• On-line/Virtual/Region-free•
On-line/Virtual/Region-free• On-line/Virtual/Region-free•
On-line/Virtual/Region-free
Two-year CPT distance learning program with Kay Adams RPT,
mentor/supervisor. Call Kay Adams, (303) 986-6460, email
[email protected] or see www.journaltherapy.com for details.
Online CPT psychology prerequisite courses. Abnormal Psychology,
Group Process and Counseling Methods classes of 10 weeks each are
forming now. Call Kay Adams, (303) 986-6460, email
[email protected] or see www.journaltherapy.com for details and
schedules. Indepen- dent study Language Arts prerequisite classes
also avail- able with Gayle Nosal, CPT,
[email protected].
The Wordsworth Center’s signature Intensives that en- gage the
wider world of applied literature in poetry therapy are available
for presentation in your community. Ken Gorelick and Peggy Heller,
clinical poetry therapists, men- tor/supervisors and former
presidents of NAPT, have devel- oped unique intensive programs,
often called “creativity camp,” for students, practitioners and
seekers in the poetry therapy field. All participants will attain
knowledge of po- etry therapy methods and principles through
lectures, dis- cussions, readings and writing processes; skills
through
22 The Museletter
experience of classical and action poetry therapy and team design
of field applications hours in didactic, peer group and group
supervision applicable to CPT or RPT credentials or
mentor/supervisor requirements. For more information about
sponsoring and organizing a Wordsworth Intensive in your community
contact Peggy Heller at
[email protected] or Ken Gorelick at
[email protected].
Margot Van Sluytman offers five on-line courses in Po- etry/Writing
and Healing: 1) Poetry and the Process of Heal- ing: The Dance With
Encounter; 2) Poetry from Soul—Soul from Poetry; 3) Writing From
Wild Self—Real Self: Surren- der not Control; 4) Writing and the
Process: Out of Dark Night; and 5) Writing and the Process Two: the
Healing Art of Dancing With Words. For information visit www.Dance-
With-Words.com and select “On-Line Course” link or con- tact Margot
at
[email protected] or (705) 760- 9446.
Workshops, Classes, Seminars,Workshops, Classes,
Seminars,Workshops, Classes, Seminars,Workshops, Classes,
Seminars,Workshops, Classes, Seminars, General EducationalGeneral
EducationalGeneral EducationalGeneral EducationalGeneral
Educational
OpportunitiesOpportunitiesOpportunitiesOpportunitiesOpportunities
Goddard College’s Transformative Language Arts Master’s Program
allows students to pursue social and per- sonal transformation
through the spoken and written word through a deep exploration of
your personal TLA practice (as a writer, storyteller, etc.) as well
as the social and cultural picture informing your particular focus
of study (a focus you choose!). TLA students may also fulfill most
of the poetry therapy certification requirements through this
degree. TLA criteria include a community-based practicum, thesis
project of your own design, and a balance between theory and prac-
tice in your study and art of words. Students also have op-
portunities to shadow poetry therapy and related practitio- ners
around the world. See www.goddard.edu/academic/ tla.html or contact
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg at
[email protected] for
information.
Since 2003, the Masters in Liberal Studies program (MLS) at
University of Denver’s University College has offered coursework on
Writing & Healing. Students can earn a DU graduate degree while
meeting many of the requirements for poetry therapy certification.
The following classes are de- signed and taught by Kay Adams, RPT,
M/S; Joy Sawyer, RPT, M/S; and Gayle Nosal, CPT: Writing &
Healing I, Writing & Healing II, Journal to the Self, and
Poetry & Per- sonal Growth. Courses are available on campus and
online. For more information, call Holly Dunn at University Col-
lege at (303) 871-3935.
Toronto author and psychotherapist Ronna Bloom will lead a writing
workshop on a vineyard in Santiago, Chile, Jan. 6-20, 2008.
“Writing Wherever You Are” will explore the richness and
availability of the writer’s material in their present
circumstances; writing with attention to geographic, emotional and
sensual forces; figs on trees; and works of Neruda, Rilke,
Ginsberg, Carolyn Forche, Pema Chodron, Raymond Carver. For
information email Susan Siddeley at
[email protected].
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg and Kelley Hunt will be present- ing Brave
Voice, their retreat on writing, singing and songwriting in the
Flint Hills of Kansas from May 4-9, 2008, at White Memorial Camp
(near Council Grove, KS.). The retreat features morning workshops
on writing close to the earth and open to the spirit, the care and
use of the voice, songwriting and inventing wonder out of our
perceptions, and much more; movement, yoga and other body awareness
exercises each day; afternoons free for writing, singing, mas- sage
(massage therapist on the premises), walks, rest, and art-making;
and evening performances from award-winning internationally-touring
rhythm and blues singer Kelley Hunt, and poet, writer, teacher and
mentor Caryn Mirriam- Goldberg. The setting is at a beautiful camp
on a peninsula in Council Grove lake, surrounded by the Flint
Hills. Coun- cil Grove is also a historic location where many
Plains tribes met in council on a regular basis. Space is limited,
and we do provide shuttle service for people flying into Kansas
City International Airport. For complete details, please contact
[email protected], or see www.bravevoice.com.
Reflective Writing: A Women’s Writing Group meets on Mondays,
7:30-9:00pm, through the Behavioral and Collabo- rative Medicine
Department at South Miami Hospital, and is facilitated by Barbara
Kreisberg, MS, CPT. Through sponta- neous guided writing
experiences designed to awaken and nurture the self and through the
reading of selected poems, participants will discover the process
of personal growth and healing by using the written word.
Participants are given the opportunity to be moved by their own
writing as well as oth- ers, with the emphasis on gaining a deeper
understanding of life events, obstacles and opportunities. Please
call (305) 975- 3671 or email Bkexpres @aol.com for further
information and pre-registration.
Writing for Life: Creating a Story of Your Own by Sandra Lee
Schubert. The journaling and scrapbooking techniques taught in this
course provide a creative way to connect with the inner self and
heal emotional wounds while documenting your story, your life in a
fun and unique way. For more information and to sign up visit
www.selfhealingexpressions.com/scrapbooking.shtml.
November 2007 23
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, PhD, CPT, facilitates ongoing workshops for
people living with or recovering from cancer at Turning Point of
Kansas City: A Center for Hope and Health; Lawrence Memorial
Hospital in Lawrence, KS; and The Light Center, Baldwin, KS. Caryn
also regularly facili- tates workshops on writing as a spiritual
practice, writing from the earth and mythopoetics. Please see
www.writewhereyouare.org for what’s coming up.
Lapidus is the UK’s national Association for the Literary Arts in
Personal Development and brings together people with an interest in
creative words for health and well-being. Lapidus offers monthly
“Writing-Well” seminars, part of a pro- gram of regional
development for Lapidus in Scotland, which follows the aims of
central Lapidus to promote and develop the role of the literary
arts in healthcare, education and the community. Each evening
focuses on a theme (recent themes include “Cancer, Poetry and
Healing” and “Dementia and Creativity”) and allows ample time for
creative and reflec- tive writing, discussion and questions with a
guest speaker. For details email
[email protected].
Several workshops are being offered in Germany in up- coming
months: • Words with wings: Creative Writing, Nov. 16-18, 2007. A
workshop for everybody who wants to get in touch with a creative
approach to personal and individual writing. The workshop offers
the opportunity to test writing crafts and to meet the power of
your own voice and to have fun! For in- formation visit
www.gsi-bevensen.de.
• Further education in Creative Writing and Poetrytherapy in four
modules in Feb., May, Aug. and Oct. For information visit
www.schreibart-institut.de. The SchreibArt-Institut is run by
Kerstin Hof and Adelheid Liepelt, both longtime pro- fessionals in
creative writing and poetry-/bibliotherapy in Hamburg, Germany.
They are both members of the German Association of Poetry- and
Bibliotherapy.
• Biographical Writing is being offered in Feb. 2008 for art
therapy students and professional art therapists at the Insti- tute
for Art Therapy and Research at the University of Ap- plied
Sciences, near Bremen. For information visit
www.kunsttherapieforschung.de.
The Institute for the Arts and Psychotherapy, 526 W. 26th St.,
Suite 309, New York, NY. Registration: $35. For more infor- mation
contact Barbara Bethea
[email protected] or (718) 978-4663.
Calls for Work/Articles/ProposalsCalls for
Work/Articles/ProposalsCalls for Work/Articles/ProposalsCalls for
Work/Articles/ProposalsCalls for Work/Articles/Proposals The
Museletter is seeking writers of book reviews, “Pro- files” of
organizations and individuals, “Poems as Process,” “Happenings”
reports, “Process” pieces, “Chapbook” poems (with accompanying
narrative), interviews with poets and creative arts therapies
practitioners and feature articles for future issues. The Editor
welcomes proposals 3+ weeks in advance of submission deadlines. As
we are unable to pub- lish all the submissions we receive, please
refer to issues of the Museletter for general style and content
guidelines be- fore submitting a proposal or article. See ad in
this issue for full Submission Guidelines, including upcoming
deadlines.
The Power of Words conference, to be held Sept. 12-15, 2008, at
Goddard College, is now calling for proposals for workshops and
performances. We seek workshops on writ- ing, singing, songwriting,
storytelling, spoken word poetry, drama, and related topics that
speak to how we can use our words to change ourselves and change
the world; we also seek workshops on making a living through
transformative language arts (social and personal transformation
through the written and spoken word); and we call for workshops
that look at our words through the lenses of social change,
EventsEventsEventsEventsEvents Native American Poetry and Healing
Tradition: Poetry, Mu- sic and Storytelling with Joseph Bruchac at
the Tristate NAPT Regional Chapter Meeting at 2pm on Dec. 9,
2007.
Like most other organizations these days, NAPT relies more and more
on e-mailed communications to members. This saves substantial
amounts of money and also means that you can hear from us in a more
timely fashion. Some of our e-mailed anouncements—such as the
monthly mem-
bership e-newsletter—are not duplicated with print versions, so if
we don’t have
your e-mail address, you are missing them.
Please send us your e-mail ad- dress so we can keep you
up-to-
date and you won’t miss out on any of the benefits of NAPT
member-
ship. If you’re not currently receiv- ing the monthly e-newsletter
or other
NAPT announcements, please send a note to
[email protected] so
we can add your e-mail ad- dress to the database.
Also, please notify us also of e-mail address changes.
E-mail addresses, please!E-mail addresses, please!E-mail addresses,
please!E-mail addresses, please!E-mail addresses, please!
24 The Museletter
person and communal healing, race, class, ability, sexual ori-
entation, spirituality and religion, history and visions for the
future. The deadline for workshop proposals is Feb. 4, 2008, and
all workshop proposals are to be sent to
[email protected].
For complete details, includ- ing the form for submitting
proposals, please see www.goddard.edu/powerofwords.
Patient Education and Counseling presents a new section comprised
of selected narratives on reflective practice. Re- flective
Practice will provide a voice for physicians and other healthcare
providers, patients and their family members, train- ees and
medical educators. The title emphasizes the impor- tance of
reflection in our learning and how our patient care and own
self-care can be improved through reflective prac- tice, similar to
other health care provider skills. We welcome personal narratives
on caring, patient-provider relationships, humanism in healthcare,
professionalism and its challenges, patients’ perspectives, and
collaboration in patient care and counseling. Most narratives will
describe personal or pro- fessional experiences that provide a
lesson applicable to car- ing, humanism and relationship in health
care.
Submit manuscripts through the Patient Education and Counseling
on-line electronic submission system at http://
ees.elsevier.com/pec. Patient Education and Counseling is an
international journal indexed in Medline and 13 other re- lated
indexes. All manuscripts, including narratives, are peer-
reviewed.
If you would like an electronic copy of the editorial de- scribing
the Reflective Practice section, “Sharing Stories: Nar- rative
Medicine in an Evidence-Based World,” please e-mail Dr. Hatem or
Dr. Rider. Editors: David Hatem, MD, Univer- sity of Massachusetts
Medical School:
[email protected]; Elizabeth A. Rider, MSW, MD,
Harvard Medical School:
[email protected]; Florence
van Zuuren, PhD, University of Amsterdam and the Free, University
in The Netherlands:
[email protected].
Submissions of poems, stories, diary entries and essays on the
analytic experience are being sought for The Psycho- analytic
Experience: Analysands Speak. No rhymed or re- ligious material.
Deadline: Ongoing. Email submissions to Editor Esther Altshul
Helfgott, PhD, at
[email protected]. For more information
visit www.analysands.homestead.com.
The Canadian Art Therapy Association Journal, which publishes on a
variety of subjects relevant to Art Therapy and Expressive Arts
Therapies, is seeking submissions. For more information and
instructions for authors please visit www.catainfo.ca.
ResourcesResourcesResourcesResourcesResources The Transformative
Language Arts concentration at Goddard College now has extensive
resource pages on poetry therapy, poetics and poetry, expressive
and creative writing, drama therapy, education and development,
facilita- tion and leadership, journal-writing, literacy and
linguistics and language, memoir and life stories, mythology and
much more. The resource pages include thousands of weblinks and
very extensive bibliographies. You can click and visit many sites
of people doing all kinds of poetry therapy-related work around the
world! Please visit the TLA Resource Page at web.goddard.edu/~tla/
and if you have any additions, please contact Caryn Mirriam-
Goldberg at
[email protected].
The Transformative Language Arts Network—a profes- sional
organization that promotes networking, resource-shar- ing, and
right livelihood through using the written, spoken and sung word
for personal and community growth—is now offering memberships, and
also, internet-based and phone conference-based classes. The
classes cover such topics as memoir, spirituality and writing,
promoting one’s