Annette Libeskind Berkovits on what led to the writing of her collection of poems – Erythra Thalesse a brain disrupted.
“My son was 46, six years ago, when he had a massive brain bleed, which is called a hemorrhagic stroke. He was perfectly healthy, big strapping 6 foot 3, father of 3 little girls ..He was in a coma for such a long time.. many, many brain surgeries. He cannot move any part of his body but his cognition is excellent… His speech is difficult sometimes, it’s hard to understand what he’s saying – but he’s with us….
” I experienced such a flood of emotion, with what happened to my son; grief obviously, sadness, joy in the little tiny bits of progress he had. I was elated when he open his eyes when he was in a coma… And then hope; hope that he would improve, more than he did,
All of these emotions sort of crowded my brain and kind of had to come out on paper. Put together they are kind of a memoir in poetry form.”
“My son was 46, six years ago, when he had a massive brain bleed, which is called a hemorrhagic stroke. He was perfectly healthy, big strapping 6 foot 3, father of 3 little girls ..He was in a coma for such a long time.. many, many brain surgeries. He cannot move any part of his body but his cognition is excellent… His speech is difficult sometimes, it’s hard to understand what he’s saying – but he’s with us….
” I experienced such a flood of emotion, with what happened to my son; grief obviously, sadness, joy in the little tiny bits of progress he had. I was elated when he open his eyes when he was in a coma… And then hope; hope that he would improve, more than he did,
All of these emotions sort of crowded my brain and kind of had to come out on paper. Put together they are kind of a memoir in poetry form.”
I found the idea of letting your imagination sort of roam the way it does in poetry and sort of responding to all the senses to be very helpful in my writing.
A poem should not mean but be
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