SheSpeaks Podcast | Jacqueline Suskin

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Jacqueline Suskin

Podcast
Episode 118

Cultivating a Poetic Mindset with Poet & Educator Jacqueline Suskin

by SheSpeaksTeam Feb 15, 2023

We’re taking something tangible in the real world that we can look at that maybe we can then assign our feeling to and that bridge of assignment is what allows us to understand ourselves more… A poet's job is to refine language and connect to the abstract in a really micro exact way.

We’ve heard that journaling/writing is a good practice for all of us, and when we stop to think about how language affects us and that words can mean something different to each of us we can better understand ourselves and others. Join Aliza as she sits down with Jacqueline Suskin, a poet and educator who has been teaching workshops, writing books, and hosting retreats for over a decade. In this episode, Aliza and Jacqueline talk about the role of a poet, what it was like writing 40,000 poems for strangers, and how you may find that you are a poet but you simply didn’t know it.

Episode Highlights

8:00 - Poetry gives us a toolkit for connecting ourselves to the world and how we feel
13:06 - The Poem Store, 40,000 poems over 12 years
24:41 - We have the power to assign meaning to our lives

What we talk about in this episode:

Poetry gives us a toolkit for self-reflection by helping us assign thoughts and ideas about ourselves
How writing allows us insight into what we’re really thinking
The Poem Store - Jacqeuline wrote 40,000 custom poems on a typewriter for donation
Mental benefits of writing poetry

More about Jacqueline

Aside from being a poet, Jacqueline Suskin is also an educator who works with groups and individuals to help them cultivate and nurture their creative output. Jacqueline has also lectured at events for iamOther and MTV and has given talks at universities such as Laguna College of Art + Design, Ball State University, and Cal Lutheran. Jacqueline is also a Turnaround Artist and works with public schools in Milwaukee, bringing poetry into the classroom. She speaks of her unique career path as a poet, the nature of spontaneous creativity, and ways to exercise poetic mentality in everyday life. [Source: jacquelinesuskin.com]