For more than a decade, Karen Chase taught poetry writing to
severely incapacitated patients at a large psychiatric hospital
outside of New York City. During that time, she began working with
Ben, a handsome, formerly popular and athletic young man who had
given up speaking and had withdrawn from social interaction.
Meeting on the locked ward every week for two years, Chase and Ben
passed a pad of paper back and forth, taking turns writing one line
of poetry each, ultimately producing one hundred and eighty poems
that responded to, diverged from, and built on each other's words.
"Land of Stone" is Chase's account of writing with Ben, an
experience that was deeply transformative for both poet and
patient. In Chase's engrossing narrative, readers will find
inspiration in the power of writing to change and heal, as well as
a compelling firsthand look at the relationship between poet and
patient. As she tells of Ben's struggle to come out of silence,
Chase also recounts the issues in her own life that she confronts
by writing with Ben, including her mother's recent death and a
childhood struggle with polio. Also, since poetry writing seems to
reach Ben in a way that his clinical therapy cannot, Chase
describes and analyzes Ben's writing in detail to investigate the
changes that appeared to be taking place in him as their work
progressed. A separate section presents twenty-two poems that Chase
wrote with Ben, selected to show his linguistic development over
time, and a final section offers Chase's thoughtful reflections on
the creative process. "Land of Stone" will provide honest and
valuable insight to psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers,
alternative therapists, and other mental health practitioners, and
will also surely be of interest to creative writers, teachers,
linguists, and anyone looking to explore the connections between
language and healing.
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