2018 Massachusetts Poetry Festival

Personal reflections on addiction and recovery are often written by people in the first few years of sobriety, sharing their escape from the fog and despair of drugs and alcohol. Early sobriety is fraught with internal shifts. The poems and memoirs from that time can help both writer and reader to understand this process. But what about the poets and writers who have done the hard work of staying sober long-term, what are their thoughts on recovery and how it shows up in their writing? Our panel includes poets at different ages and stages of life and writing who share the one commonality of being clean and sober for ten years or more. We will read from our work and reflect on the long view of recovery beyond the fireworks of early sobriety.