Someone contacted me when the book came out, who had very recently lost a parent to heroin. She said to me, and I’ve held on to this, “The poems gave me a feeling that I had a place to go.” The West Virginian landscape exists as one of the great splendors of North America, but… Continue reading There Was Light A Mile Deep: Interview with Poet William Brewer
Tag: William Brewer
Language Sideways: The Poetry of Addiction
In what ways do current poems of addiction represent the minds of addicts in the throes of active disease as well as after the process of recovery’s begun? Something poet Sam Sax said in an interview for The Fix has me thinking about poetry and addiction. “Poetry for me,” he told writer Christian Arthur, “is… Continue reading Language Sideways: The Poetry of Addiction
So You Want to Write About Addicts
At its best, addict lit satiates our quintessential human yearning for stories that may lead to salvation. We want warm fuzzies. We want sweet, sweet, redemption. We started each morning of residential treatment with burned muffins, a house meeting, and introductions. “My name is Tom and I’m a junkie here on vacation. My goal today… Continue reading So You Want to Write About Addicts