Suzanne Edison, MA, MFA

Poet • Educator

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September 25, 2019 By Suzanne

Hope & Despair: After Thoughts from Town Hall reading of The Body Lives Its Undoing

After reading poems from “The Body Lives Its Undoing”, and presentations by collaborators at Town Hall on Wednesday, September 18th, I opened up the conversation to the audience. The questions were penetrating and while I did my best in the moment to respond, later that night I had further thoughts that I want to share.

Dramatic and beautiful volcanic eruption
Photo credit to Gronda Morin https://grondamorin.com

How to keep hopeful when struggling with an autoimmune disease

A difficult question was posed by someone living with an autoimmune disease; she asked how to deal with hope, specifically, how to keep up hope when one is in pain and seemingly closer to despair. At the time I answered by recalling my struggles with pain and despair as a parent of a child with an autoimmune disease who, when in the thick of her treatment I had no knowledge of whether she’d get better, I also despaired. I fell off “the Hope wagon” often. And I came to think this was going to be a wild roller coaster ride and the resulting stress might sicken me in some way too. 

[Read more…]

Filed Under: blog, brief thoughts Tagged With: despair, holding grief, hope, Lisa Spiderman, Pema Chodron, The Body Lives Its Undoing

Events & Workshops

The Words To Say It: Reading and Writing Poems about Illness, Trauma, & Healing

In the Time of Virus–Part 2–Writing Workshop

Writing as a Righting Journey-San Francisco/Oakland–2020

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June 3, 2020

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