Sarah Kay

Oh, wow.

So he's a family doctor.

His wife was there.

I got to meet her.

She's a third grade teacher.

It was so lovely because when I teach poetry workshops, I'm not teaching them with the belief that all of these kids are going to become poets.

And maybe some of them will never write a poem ever again, although that would make me sad.

But even if they don't, even if it was just the time that I got to have with them, one of the things that I love about poetry

poetry is that teaching poetry or facilitating poetry is a way of teaching so many other things that is useful to you no matter what you end up doing, right?

Like when I'm working in a classroom with young people, really what I'm doing is helping them figure out what they really care about, what is important to them.

helping them find language to talk about it in a manner that is authentic to how they actually communicate, how to present it with joy and confidence to a room of their peers, to be able to bear witness to each other, to be able to be a good listener, to be able to learn empathy for a foreign narrative, to be able to collaborate, to be able to receive criticism and give helpful feedback.

And all of those things are going to be useful even if you do end up a family doctor.

Oh, wow.

I love that question.

I think because I use the metaphor of having been welcomed into the house of poetry myself and how I'm always thinking of ways to try to open doors for other people into the house of poetry.

To me, I also think there's no wrong way in.

And so whatever door feels open to you into poetry, try that door.

And I'm also always trying to think of new doors.

So, for example, if you're the kind of person who is never going to pick up a book of poems, that's fine.

Maybe you're the kind of person who would listen to an audio book.