Verses for Vets workshops use poetry to help heal
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Healing from post-traumatic stress disorder can take many forms. Arizona State University offers a suite of wellness programs to aid in that endeavor, including those that employ music, counseling, plays, iron cast workshops and retreats.
Yet poetry, it seems, is one of the most potent antidotes to the disorder.
“Despite having used poetry as a means to recover from my own complex PTSD, I was a little surprised to find a study in the Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health that spoke to both the qualitative and quantitative benefits of reading poetic texts about service,” said Rosemarie Dombrowski, the inaugural poet laureate of the city of Phoenix who also serves as a nonprofit director and a teaching professor at ASU's College of Integrative Sciences and Arts.
“In other words, veterans don’t have to write poetry in order to benefit from it, but when they choose to take that next step and express themselves on the page, they might find the benefits to be even greater, some might even say healing.”
As a longtime practitioner of and advocate for “poetic medicine,” Dombrowski runs a program at ASU called Verses for Vets, an online workshop that encourages veterans to read and discuss poems about service, as well as engage in expressive writing.
She works with students at ASU and the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix, as well as community members, exploring the efficacy of poetry as a therapeutic tool, an augmentative medical treatment for the body, mind and spirit.
Sponsored by ASU’s Office for Veteran and Military Academic Engagement (OVMAE), Verses for Vets is one of many academic offerings to help increase understanding and knowledge about service members, veterans and families.
Verses for Vets held its final workshop of the year on Oct. 25 and has plans to host more in 2025. Dombrowski will also host a Salute to Service storytelling event on Nov. 7 at Songbird Coffee and Tea House in Phoenix. The event, which runs from 5 to 7 p.m., honors the voices of the military community by giving veterans the platform to tell their unique stories. To register, visit the listing on ASU Events.
“The Office for Veteran and Military Academic Engagement is proud to host this transformative event each semester to support our military-affiliated students,” said Wanda Wright, OVMAE director and an assistant teaching professor in the School of Applied Sciences and Arts. “The poetry workshop supports the work our office accomplishes in finding the right resources for our students for whatever they might need.”
Dombrowski, a self-described “military brat,” said Verses for Vets is appealing because it provides a safe space where veterans can connect with each other and share their innermost thoughts.
“We don’t come at this from a medicalized perspective, but rather a very humanistic approach,” said Dombrowski, who is also the founding editor of ISSUED: Stories of Service, a military-affiliated journal of poetry, prose and interviews by and for active-duty military members and veterans. “All of our participants start to have relationships by the end of the session, which is pretty magical.”
She starts off each session by reading a poem authored by a veteran and encouraging participants to share their emotional reaction to a word, phrase or image. She also shares some of the studies to highlight the medicinal benefits of the poetry they’re exploring. Near the end of the hour, after reading and discussing poems together, the participants craft an original poem of their own.
“Though sharing is always optional, more than half of the participants eagerly volunteer to share, and that act of vulnerability is the most impactful way to end any session,” Dombrowski said.
Garrit Dalman, a 19-year Air Force veteran and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Space Force, said he signed up for a Sept. 26 workshop because he’s in a transitional phase of his life.
“I’ve recently been paying more attention to what post-service will look in my life while also trying to figure out how to connect with the creative aspects of myself that I didn’t have time to practice while in uniform,” Dalman said. “It (the workshop) sounded like a neat, safe place to dabble and flex those creative muscles.”
Verses for Vets is a combination of many things that Air Force veteran Tonya Suther holds dear to her heart.
“Being in the military, the fact I’m a lifelong learner and my love of poetry, this was all right up my alley,” said Suther, whose father and spouse are retired from the Air Force as well. Her son is also an active-duty service member. “So I thought I’d check it out.”
She’s glad she did.
“Dr. Dombrowski is very welcoming, passionate and inspiring,” said Suther. “I got a lot out of our discussions, especially the craft of poetry.”
Army veteran Michael Merkel was invited to join the Sept. 26 workshop when one of his poems — about a meal with his fellow soldiers after they completed a peacekeeping mission in Indonesia — was published in ISSUED: Stories of Service. He said Verses for Vets helped him on many levels.
“I love connecting with other veterans because not everybody in a university setting has a similar experience, but most vets can relate to each other,” said Merkel, who is a second-year emergency management major in the Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions. “It’s wonderful to hear the voices of people who normally hide their voices. It’s therapeutic without it being labeled as ‘therapy.’”
Dombrowski said that the healing power of poetry is that it offers the reader a strong sense of agency.
“Poetry allows us to express exactly what we want to say,” Dombrowski said. “And that can offer the greatest sense of ownership and change how you tell your story from that day forward.”
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