IT’S POETRY, NOT THERAPY: It’s always a pleasure to announce a successful grant in front of an appreciative crowd. On June 2, I went to the Attention Home, Inc., facility with WAC’s new intern, Rebecca Brazzale. The focus of the trip was a poetry slam staged by the teen residents, supervised by writer/teacher Megan Oteri. Teachers, administrators, and residents crowded into the community room to hear some fine work by April, Stephen, Josey, and other teens who, thus far, have led tangled and traumatic lives. During an intermission, I took the mike to announce a successful $1,495 WAC grant (written by Oteri) to bring three spoken-word artists to Attention Home in October for workshops and readings. I also thanked the writers for sharing their work. I’ve conducted a writing workshop at Attention Home and worked with these kids. I’ve also been a judge at several of their slams. They’re getting better every time, and I told them so. As I sat back in the audience, I remembered some words of wisdom from poet Jane Wohl. She said she approaches workshops with at-risk teens the same way she approaches any group of aspiring poets. It’s poetry, not therapy, she says. If it has a therapeutic effect, that’s fine. Her goal is to help kids find their voices. My goal, too.

- posted by Michael Shay @ 9:06 AM