The great fortune of having a teacher on one’s path. I think it is true what they say when the student is ready the teacher appears. That has been the case for me all my life as I have come across really wonderful teachers in my life.
I had the great honor of having my teacher John fox of the Institute of Poetic Medicine visit Abu Dhabi for 2 weeks in December 2012. There were many events, talks, and workshops planned before his visit.
We visited Universities and schools. Students ranging in ages from adults to children as young as 4. The class of children in Kindergarden are among my favorite. Sitting in that particular class last year I wrote a poem entitled “Elders sitting in Kindergarden and Fools sitting in UN”. I took my teacher John Fox to the class to share the space and wisdom. Both he and I are always amazed at the lessons children teach us through their poetry and their words and even their silence.
There were so many memorable moments I am not quite sure where to start. I find that as a student I would like to write about the lessons I learned.
I learned that each time we visited a place and John Fox spoke of being a good listener he mentioned that 3 things were necessary for good listening…
The tripod for good listening:
- Openness
- Attention
- Respect
When asked how one becomes a good listener, he said with time and practice and putting aside one’s own frame of reference and listening to what someone is actually saying. Attention means to pay attention not only to words but to body language and gestures
And I will always recall that one of the poems John recited to almost all the places we visited is one that he says came to him when he was asking why he has been placed on this path.
Here is that poem:
WHEN SOMEONE DEEPLY LISTENS TO YOU
When someone deeply listens to you
it is like holding out a dented cup
you’ve had since childhood
and watching it fill up with
cold, fresh water.When it balances on top of the brim,
you are understood.
When it overflows and touches your skin,
you are loved.When someone deeply listens to you,
the room where you stay
starts a new life
and the place where you wrote
your first poem
begins to glow in your mind’s eye.
It is as if gold has been discovered!When someone deeply listens to you,
your bare feet are on the earth
and a beloved land that seemed distant
is now at home within you.John Fox
John had recommended that this poem perhaps be translated into Urdu for our visit to the E-English classes at the men’s labor camp in Musafa, and my dear friend and poet Jamal Iqbal was kind enough to do the translation. It was so wonderful to have it read in Urdu and also explained at the class. With that “prompt” of when someone deeply listens to me we all wrote for about seven minutes and then shared our poems. Truly, the most beautiful words, images, and feelings were expressed and shared.
The poem had also been translated into Indonesian by Nisrina Salida the translator who has with much care and skill been translating at our poetry therapy sessions at the Indonesian Embassy for the past year. Again for the poem to be read in a language that all the sisters could understand was truly powerful, and the poems written from the prompt were wonderful.
The days John spent at American Community School were wonderful. To see him working with Middle School Children. The respect and honor I felt given and received between teacher and students was truly breath taking. I felt each students voice was heard even when they did not speak. It was as if their silences spoke deeper to my teacher and mentor and they would be called on.
The session with the teachers at ACS was also a deep space, teachers of literature and also those generally interested in poetry and the idea of poetry therapy were open to the idea and when the prompt was to pick some words out of a bowl and write a poem,we all were like kids playing with words. I am not sure if you are familiar with this method… but John has selected, typed,and cut up hundreds of words and he places them in a bowl and says to take a few words and write a poem with the words… the magic that evolves was memorable.
It was wonderful to listen to the stories I had heard before about how John got involved with Poetry and therapy and how it has been such an important part of his life. He mentioned how he wrote because he needed to write and how poetry was a life line for him. It made me assess my own life and the role of poetry in my healing and growth.
I remember and cherish the fact that poetry has given me the voice to speak the truths that I may otherwise not ever speak, both those in my life and those I see around me in the world. For me poetry is not only in writing about the roses and the bees and the clouds and light. Poetry for me is to write about the wounds, about the scares, about the difficult situations in life we all try to put under the rug in our own family and in our universe.
There were certain things that I was thankful to see through the eyes of a sensitive traveler in the universe. For example John noted how he was amazed how on Friday grown men were rushing almost running to Friday Prayer. He said that is something that we may not see in the Western world and it was beautiful to see here.
In the learning process, I leaned how absolutely important it is for poetry to be read out loud to be given a voice. Sometimes, John would ask someone to read a poem twice and other times he may even ask someone else in the group to read someone’s poem out loud. Always with care and absolute respect.
As a mentor he mentioned to me a few times that he realizes his students in the Institute of Poetic Medicine where I study with him are not blank slates, and that each student brings their own gifts. He believes that as a good teacher he must draw on each of our strengths.
I am so blessed to be among the first of John Fox’s students and I feel honored to have him as a mentor of poetry therapy. I hope that I am able to learn from such wonderful human being and caring teacher and also to bring forth my own strengths as a woman who has grown up in the East and the West and who hears the song of the bees and also that of those that are hungry but proud.
The songs of life continue to add music to my life through words and wonder, thank you for sharing this part of the journey with me.
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