Using poetry to treat cancer
A bullseye graces one corner of Ted Kooser’s office in the English Department at UNL. The framed target, complete with several bullet holes, is slightly yellowed and contains a hand-written note from its assailant.
I was looking at the target when Kooser walked into the office. I felt a little embarrassed to be caught being snoopy and I didn’t get a chance to read the personal note written on the paper. But Kooser was gracious and put me at ease for being nosy.
He explained that the target is from William S. Burroughs, the author from the Beat Generation who penned “Naked Lunch” and “Blade Runner.” A contemporary of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and other important writers from that time, Burroughs was a friend of Kooser’s.
His next statement caught me completely off guard, mostly because he shared the information as an aside, almost not noteworthy, in the same way that we might offer an explanatory tidbit of information to an overall more important message, such as: “Lucas, he’s the guy I used to work with in North Platte.”
Kooser said: “That’s from a friend of mine, William S. Burroughs. He loved to shoot guns and target practice. He killed his wife trying to shoot an apple off her head.”
I was stunned and muttered something profanely stupid, like, “That must be hard to live with.” He, again, was gracious and didn’t bat an eye at my uncanny ability to state the obvious.
The tragic killing of Burrough’s wife happened in 1951 during a drunken game of William Tell at a party. He is known to have said that this pivotal event was the catalyst for his writing career.
“I am forced to the appalling conclusion that I would have never become a writer but for Joan’s death … I live with the constant threat of possession, for control. So the death of Joan brought me in contact with the invader (sic), the Ugly Spirit, and maneuvered me into a life long struggle, in which I have had no choice except to write my way out.”
I sat in a comfortable chair in Kooser’s office recently to talk to him about writing and how it can be used to treat cancer, in the same way that any creative outlet can be used in the treatment of an illness.
Kooser said the creative process, any creative process, can be therapeutic in that the process can help someone gain control over something, anything, during a chaotic time of their life.
“If a patient has come to a particularly chaotic time, they can find some creative means of establishing order: poems, pottery, painting, they can restore the feeling of some order in the world. I just happen to choose poetry.”
I suppose Burroughs would agree and found that his writing gave him a sense of control in his out-of-control world.
