Poetry mends the broken parts

“There's a reason poets often say, 'Poetry saved my life,' for often the blank page is the only one listening to the soul's suffering, the only one registering the story completely, the only one receiving all softly and without condemnation.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Born on this date in 1945, Estés is the recipient of numerous awards for her life's work, including the first Joseph Campbell Keeper of the Lore Award for her books and many spoken word series.    She has been a featured speaker around the globe including a much lauded performance with Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison at Carnegie Hall. 

A writer, post-trauma specialist, and a certified psychoanalyst, her many books include The Faithful Gardener: A Wise Tale About that Which Can Never Die and her much honored Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of The Wild Woman Archetype.

“The doors to the world of the wild Self are few but precious,” she said.  “If you have a deep scar, that is a door, if you have an old, old story, that is a door. If you love the sky and the water so much you almost cannot bear it, that is a door. If you yearn for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life, that is a door.”           

                      “Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.”

 

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