Power of Poetry

Every Thursday night I facilitate a reading and writing group at a Chicago homeless shelter. Since the past two Thursdays hugged Valentine's Day, I decided to focus on love poems with the men at the shelter. Last week we began with the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. At first, the theater of it all was funny and the text incomprehensible. However, after doing a reading in the balcony of the church where we meet, we sat down together to look at the text more closely. The results were amazing!

Besides the expected line, "I need to memorize some of these lines so that I can use them on some women," men were also enamored by the depth of Romeo's words. "Wow, Kate, Romeo really loves Juliet!" They really began to appreciate the precision and depth of Shakespeare's metaphors after analyzing the text and began to make connections to their own lives and their own worlds (far from Shakespeare's London). This makes me really appreciate the power of poetry and literature.

A few days ago, back at the shelter, we read non-traditional love poems: Dorianne Laux's "Facts About the Moon" and Stanley Kunitz's "Touch Me." These poems yielded even more success. Written in more contemporary language with more contemporary takes on the realities of love, these poems spoke to the men. Two men who had never felt poetry was accessible to them fell in love with words on Thursday night. What a beautiful thing!

My experiences creating and facilitating this program have only increased my faith that literacy works. It draws people together; it feeds confidence; it makes us see the world from a different perspective. Most of all, it heals us. If anyone is interested in starting a program like this in the community, please be in touch. I'd love to help you get started.