Poetry Therapy Workshop
“Poetry provides us with the history of the human heart.”
— BILLY COLLINS
The goals of poetry therapy are:
• To develop accuracy and understanding in perceiving self and others;
• To develop creativity, self-expression, and greater self-esteem;
• To strengthen interpersonal skills and communication skills;
• To ventilate overpowering emotions and release tension;
• To find new meaning through new ideas, insights, and information; and
• To promote change and increase coping skills and adaptive functions.
“The genesis of a poem for me is usually a cluster of words. The only good metaphor I can think of is a scientific one: dipping a thread into a supersaturated solution to induce crystal formation. I don’t think I solve problems in my poetry; I think I uncover the problems.”
— Margaret Atwood
“Poetry therapy helps patients to become more spontaneous and creative… Poetry is one of man’s deepest expressions, and emotions are thereby released. A poem has been described as the shortest emotional distance between two points, the points representing the writer and reader.”
– Jack J Leedy, MD, Poetry Therapy: The Use of Poetry Therapy in the Treatment of Emotional Disorders (New York: Lippincott; 1969)
“Poetry empowers the simplest of lives to confront the most extreme sorrows with courage and motivates the mightiest of offices to humbly heed lessons in compassion.”
― Aberjhani, Splendid Literarium: A Treasury of Stories, Aphorisms, Poems, and Essays
Source: https://pickmeuppoetry.org/poetry-therapy-healing-your-creativity/
Where am I right now?
Mentally, Physically, Emotionally, Spiritually
Besides what is obvious to the host of the workshop (you’re all in Shim’s Speakeasy)
Try an eight sentence response dedicating two sentences to each of the four fore-mentioned qualifiers.
Acrostic poem:
H-
E-
A-
L-
I-
N-
G-
If you were your own care provider, what would you love to hear?
Blackout Poem:
Using your paragraph answers to the opening question ‘Where am I right now?’
Write a poem entitled HEALING (use provided markers)
SIDEWAYS EIGHT PROJECTS 