Thank you so much for being here.
I'm happy to answer questions or evade them.
[LAUGHTER]
Whatever.
OK, there you go.
Hi.
Thanks so much, my dear.
Can you talk a little bit about the subjects?
I'm interested.
So there was the poem about the man and the horse,
and that seems like it came out of a lived experience of yours
and his and the horse's
The woman character, are they aggregates?
What informs them?
Who informs them?
I did-- like, actually, most of what I write--
I did a lot of research for the project.
I read many books, but, in this case, I read many articles.
And there's a particular group of prison wives--
prison wives and families, strong prison wives
and families-- that do a lot of great work
in trying to create a support system.
And I was really lucky enough to be invited into that space
and spend time with them.
So some of it came from that.
Personally, I was with someone who
had been incarcerated for 10 years, prior to us
being together.
So I do know that space on a personal level.
But I, also, didn't want that to be my story.
I wanted it to be a separate thing, a third thing,
so that I could have, maybe, a little more freedom
to create work and not bring all of my baggage to that page.
But almost everything is taken from real experiences
on some level.
I can feel them all.
[LAUGHTER]
It's just you and me.
Then, can you talk about the--
so I'm assuming that this group knows about the poems.
And could you talk about their response?
I haven't shown them yet.
(GASPS) Ah.
Yeah.
I mean, I wanted to--
they're finally finished.
So we'll see.
We'll see what they think.
I think, right now, one of the things that I wanted to do
was make sure that the world I was creating
was space enough to be, both, lyrically powerful
and stay true to that life.
But I also wanted to give space for myself, as the artist
and as the creator, and, also, my own experience, being
in a situation that was similar.
I can probably just shout.
[LAUGHTER]
So I want to know if there are other poem in progress
and if any of those involve women
as the incarcerated person.
It's interesting.
I got so attached to this project
as I was writing that it was really hard for me to not write
more.
So I think there are more poems coming.
I would imagine those poems would be coming.
I don't know for sure, but, yeah, that would make sense.
The project I spent the most time with
was with the retired horses at Blackburn Correctional
Facility.
So that was my one-on-one experience,
but I could see that happening.
I wanted to write, also, from the left space because
of my work in South America.
Most of the people that I talked to--
because it was, primarily, men that
were imprisoned or killed--
were women.
So that was, primarily, why the voice was originally a woman.
Yeah.
(FAINTLY) How would you encourage people that
Where's--
--have--
--a--
--experience--
--mic?
--with what you say--
I'm sorry.
Can you wait for the mic?
Thank you.
(LOUDLY) How would-- sorry, I'm not used to using this.
How would you encourage people to speak from their experiences
and also to write in the way that you have
and to be able to call on that courage?
Because it's something that a lot of people
here might have experience in, and I, myself, too, as well.
And it's something that people should
use as a healing mechanism.
And it also will inspire you to change the world in the way
that you do, because everyone, here, will
share what you've done today.
And I will too-- hopefully, with the video that was recorded--
because this is a learning experience
and a project for everyone here if they're trying to heal.
And this is exactly what I felt. And I just
want to thank you for your time here.
Thank you.
I think that every study that they've
done about creative writing, it has always shown that it helps.
All the James Pennebaker studies have proven, again and again,
that even if you are in talk therapy,
the addition of writing improves, immediately,
the outcome.
And so I think that, sometimes, it's
a disservice when we talk about creative writing
not being healing, because I truly believe it is healing.
And I also believe it's a way to increase empathy.
It's hard not to enter a space where art is being made
and not feel what someone is going through.
So I would say--
my advice would be to, first, give yourself
permission to do that.
To know that it is healing.
To know that you can also write, and throw it away.
That's a beautiful thing too.
Sometimes, if I'm going through something really, really tough,
in my own personal life, I can write it
and not have to give it to the public
and not have to give it to another person.
But I can just write it and feel better, immediately,
just having written it.
And that, in itself, is power.
And I think, sometimes, we forget that.
We think, oh, no.
It needs to be a polished thing.
It needs to be a done thing.
It needs to go out into--
But, actually, just the act of creating,
that's where the magic happens.
That's the real moment, I feel like--
to have that ability.
To give yourself permission to just write
and it doesn't always have to be for everybody else.
And I think that's a hugely, important thing--
that we can also be secret with our art.
We can protect it, and let it do,
for us, what we need it to do.
Thank you.