diVERSES reKINDLED: In Conversation With Poet Kush Thompson

As a parent, I have found myself more invested in memory. Specifically, I have become less concerned with my own recollections and more with those of my child.

How easily the moments that we deem forgettable are moments that create a life narrative for others.

My parents wouldn't remember the piece of glass from a broken beer bottle that cut my hand as a three year old if I hadn't kept reminding them.

I say this because my own child reminds me of a time she touched my nose on the bus and I didn't like it. This happened four years ago. She touches my nose every day. I have no reason to remember any of this the way she does.

Fellow Cave Canem graduate Kush Thompson recently led a Craft Write workshop for diVERSES; her talk was centered on memory and its ability to shift.

It's scary in a way: what I experienced becomes less factual than what I believe I experienced.

I have seen firsthand parents change the story of what happened with their kids, and vice-versa. Often, this is not done out of malice; the reasons are varied, often based on self-preservation, fear, and identity. The story we tell ourselves about ourselves colors the world we live.

As poets, Kush challenges us to deal with the same challenges artists always have dealt with. In fact, there is a need to push further, to warp with intention instead of reaction. The facts cannot get in the way of the truth.

Kush's work and instruction suggests we do not have to be passive rememberers. Instead, consider what happens when we take control of the memory we deliver to others.

Full Craft Write poetry workshop with poet Kush Thompson: https://youtu.be/mlSV18ijo7k