Part 2 'Everything Matters'; Death, Dreams, Ancestors, Poetry and Voices of Kent: A Conversation with David Hassler, Executive Directive of Kent State University's Wick Poetry Center

In Part 2 of this heartfelt talk, David and Joel discuss poetry as a transmission, what the heart of one poet offers to others, and their community, and the notion of transmission from 'mind to mind from mind' within the frame of poetry.

David recalls a story of Maj pulling up in David's driveway in Maj's Chevy Nova and Maj reciting Antonio Machado's 'Last Night, As I Was Sleeping.'

David and Joel discuss David's forthcoming memoir 'Prayer Wheel' and Maj's influence, open readings in Kent, and death and how it is healthy to openly discuss death as a preparation for its coming.

The unique quality of the Kent poetry community and Kent as a epicenter and confluence as a spiritual portal, and Kent's poetry commmunity as wisdom holder and torch-bearer drawing poets to the Kent community.

Dreams as a connection with our ancestors and those dreams as a conversation with messages from our ancestors for us, waking us up to what we need to see our lives more clearly.

Hearing the voices of the living and the dead, and how we tend to the dead as a reflection of the quality of our life.

David offers the Mayan teaching that the other world sings us into being.

David and Joel close out the conversation with discussion of the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the Wick Poetry Center, and winding down David reads 'Kissing Lightening.'

 

Biography

David Hassler is the Bob and Walt Wick Executive Director of the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University and cofounded Traveling Stanzas, a community arts project which brings poetry to the most urgent and evolving needs of our communities through expressive writing interventions, interactive exhibits, and digital platforms. Most recently in May 2023, Hassler presented the Poets for Science project with poet Jane Hirshfield at the Nobel Prize Summit at the National Academy of Sciences. Hassler is the author or editor of ten books of poetry and nonfiction, including Dear Vaccine: Global Voices Speak to the Pandemic. His play, What We Learned While Alone, drawn from the Dear Vaccine anthology, debuted at the National Academy of Sciences in October 2022. Hassler is also the author of the play, May 4th Voices: Kent State, 1970, based on the Kent State Shootings Oral History Project, which was produced in 2020 as a national radio play. Hassler’s awards include Ohio Poet of the Year, the Ohioana Book Award, and the Carter G. Woodson Honor Book Award. His memoir 'Prayer Wheel' is forthcoming. His TEDx talk, “The Conversation of Poetry,” conveys the power of poetry to strengthen communities. In addition to his creative writing publications, he has co-authored articles on poetry, technology, and healing in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, the Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, and the Online Journal of Issues in Nursing.