Artistic Statement

The poetry and subsequent analysis I wrote comes from a sense of reminiscence, much was focused on my state of mind during active addiction. Each poem focuses upon a different aspect of addiction; the external symptoms (Procrastination), the progression (Twelve Steps Downstairs), and a facet of recovery (Forgiveness from the Hateful). My motivation to write these poems comes from the observation that there is a significant lack of art about addiction that focuses upon recovery; yet recovery is the most important part of addiction.

The first poem I wrote — not for this assignment, I mean in my life — was less of an artistic work, and more of me putting information into a more restrictive format. At the time I was really into the lives of composers and their biographies. I would draw charts, read books about them, and write the 7 year old equivalent of essays. One of these works happened to be in the form of a Haiku, a form of poetry I liked because I didn’t think I had the vocabulary to find rhymes for it. The poem was called Cat Waltz, based upon the piece of the same name by Chopin.

• Chopin did concerts
• His compositions were good
• He made the Cat Waltz

Not bad for a preadolescent! I make note of this poem because it somewhat reflects my current thoughts on poetry. It's not just a means of expression, but also communication. I don’t believe that art need be relegated to the realm of the abstract, it's why my poems seem so blunt and literal at times. It is especially important to me to accurately portray this topic, both as addiction literature is often reductive and lazy, and recovery literature is scarce.