Poetry as Spiritual Practice: An Interview with Alicen Grey | Mickey Z.

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Photo credit: Mickey Z.

Mickey Z. -- World News Trust

March 30, 2014

“Once upon a time,

I was the goddess named She.”

- Alicen Grey, from “the funeral”

According to the Sufi mystic and poet, Rumi: “Poetry can be dangerous, especially beautiful poetry, because it gives the illusion of having had the experience without actually going through it.”

To which one might add: Some experiences are better experienced vicariously.

Alicen Grey is the author of Wolves and Other Nightmares, a provocative, lyrical, and just-released collection of her poems and prose from Hologram Press. In the age of memes and irony, she chooses verse and metaphor as her avenues of expression. Chronicling her spiritual journey, Grey lays bare the trauma, the insights, the lessons, and the redemption. This is the “beautiful poetry” Rumi warns us about -- but you best check your illusions at the door.

I recently had a conversation with poet Alicen Grey and it went a little something like this:

MZ: While so many today willingly choose to limit their expression -- 140-character tweets, text acronyms, etc. -- why do you choose the vastness of poetry?

AG: It is easy to think of tweets and brief status updates as cheapened versions of communication, but I try not to look at our short-and-sweet expressions as "limited." Haiku is a respected art form, yet haiku poems tend to be under 140 characters. There is something exciting about challenging yourself to condense an abstract idea or complex emotion into a small frame of text.

MZ: Do you feel there's still a receptive audience for verse and prose in 2014?

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