the healing power of literature and poetry

Matthias J Barker Podcast

This week I'm joined by my co-author of On Grief. The poet William Bortz and I talk about:

• The difficulty of putting difficult life experiences into words and the healing power of poetry to help us reflect on what's most important to us.
• William shares his story of becoming a poet, sharing how he conceptualizes putting complex emotion into words
• How poetry and writing allows us to have more empathy and how both reading and creating poetry expands our understanding

Touching on substance abuse, trauma, grief, and loss, this conversation is all about grounding in love, art, and vulnerability. I hope you enjoy our conversation!

About my guest:

William Bortz (he/him) is an author and a poet from the Midwest. He volunteers for the curation team for Button Poetry and is a poetry reader for Longleaf Review. Bortz is the author of The Grief We’re Given (Central Avenue, 2021). You can find his poems online at Brave Voices, Okay Donkey, Turnpike Magazine, and others. William lives with his wife and their two cats.

>> William's website

>> Book - The Grief We're Given

>> Find our free e-book On Grief here

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