<p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">At a time when our whole world seems to be in need of healing, this remarkable episode</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">of Words For The People features Kentucky Poet Laureate Crystal Wilkinson discussing the</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">restorative power of bringing our words into the light with Ada Limón and Silas House.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">“I think healing is central to what I want out of writing,” U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón says. “If</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">it helps others, then more power to the work!” Crystal and Ada discuss how writing is</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">like finding a container that can uniquely hold a range of emotions we may need to experience</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">and lay down.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">Many times when these stories are excavated and released into the world, they can be a</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">powerful mirror that echoes our common humanity and helps us understand each other in a</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">new way. That empathy, Crystal notes, is central to our own healing.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">Ada also shares some of her award-winning poems, how Kentucky has been good for her</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">writing, and what her time as the 24th U.S. Poet Laureate might look like. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">Next Crystal talks with nationally bestselling Kentucky author Silas House, who shares his own</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">experience with the healing capacity of words. “The only way I’ve ever gotten through anything</span></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">– survived any hardship – is through writing,” Silas says.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">Silas talks about the importance of finding the trouble when writing and reads excerpts from his new book, “Lark Ascending.”</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">This episode also includes submissions from emerging Kentucky writers Carolyn Martin, John E. Campbell and </span><a href="https://www.averymguess.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">Avery Guess</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">.</span></p>