April 2021

liriostigre:

The Doubling of Self: An Interview with Richard Siken by Peter Mishler

[text ID: My father died while I was writing this book, but the book isn’t about him. There’s a condescending tone I hear when people say “Writing is so therapeutic! How wonderful that you could take your pain and make something out of it!” But writing isn’t therapy. Painting isn’t therapy. Music isn’t therapy. Living well is therapy. We’ve taken the arts out of living, and now we only leak them back when people tell us we’re sick. It’s almost impossible to convince anyone that you can make something when you’re healthy, or just because you want to./end ID]