1368: Do You Consider Writing to be Therapeutic? by Andrew Grace - The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

Summary3 min read

Episode Overview

Podcast: The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily
Host: Maggie Smith
Episode: 1368 — "Do You Consider Writing to be Therapeutic?" by Andrew Grace
Date: October 7, 2025

In this evocative episode, host Maggie Smith contemplates a frequent question: Is writing therapeutic? Sharing both personal insights and a poignant poem by Andrew Grace, Smith considers the difference between art as expression and therapy as healing. The episode explores grief, coping mechanisms, and the role of poetry in confronting—rather than soothing—painful realities.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Writing vs. Therapy: Maggie Smith’s Perspective

Common Question: Maggie reflects that people often ask if writing about difficult experiences is healing ("Is writing like therapy for me?").
Reason for the Question: She recognizes the impulse behind the question—most people are dealing with substantial life challenges and seek effective coping strategies.
- “No wonder we want to know what coping strategies work... by asking if writing is therapy. For me, I think what people are really asking is, will this help me?” — Maggie Smith [01:36]
Clear Differentiation:
- Writing is not therapy for Smith; for her, therapy is therapy.
- Writing actually “wakes [her] up” and doesn’t calm her mind like meditation or walks might.
Articulation Over Healing:
- Writing helps her enter and examine experiences more fully—not necessarily in a healing or therapeutic way.
- “When I write, my goal isn’t to heal from an experience, it’s to articulate it... Sometimes that feels like the opposite of healing. It’s an opening, or a reopening.” — Maggie Smith [02:52]
Intention to Share:
- Unlike journaling, her writing is meant to be shared, which adds another layer to the experience—it is her “work and her life.”

The Role of Poetry in Processing Grief — Introduced Poem

Maggie transitions from her own story to Andrew Grace’s poem, suggesting that the poem answers the titular question about writing as therapy with “succinct, heartbreaking beauty.” [04:38]

Featured Poem: “Do You Consider Writing to be Therapeutic?”

By Andrew Grace
Read beginning at [04:41]

After the loss of his father, Grace intimately details struggling to process grief:

Turning to Poetry and Alcohol: He admits to trying to “solve my grief with alcohol and poems.”
Enduring Trauma: He is honest about the persistent return of traumatic memory—finding his father dead.
Limits of Poetry:
- “Poetry is not talking. This is just art and therefore could never cover my ears when I suddenly am back in the shed and I learn again that my father has died every day since.” — Andrew Grace (as read by Maggie Smith) [05:10]
Conclusion: The poem underscores how poetry, while a potent form of expression, can’t shield from pain—sometimes it even reopens it.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Maggie Smith on Artistic Purpose:
- “Writing opens me up to the stuff of life. It’s a way of being as fully alive and aware as possible.” [03:45]
On Therapeutic Writing:
- “I don’t have a writing practice for my eyes only. When I write, my intention is to make something I’ll eventually share with others. That’s another reason it’s not therapy, it’s my work and my life.” — Maggie Smith [04:15]
On the Power & Limits of Poetry (from the poem):
- “Poetry is not talking. This is just art and therefore could never cover my ears when I suddenly am back in the shed and I learn again that my father has died every day since.” — Andrew Grace [05:10]

Essential Timestamps

Main Theme Introduction: [00:52] — Maggie Smith introduces the episode and question of the day.
Personal Reflections on Writing & Therapy: [00:52–04:38]
Andrew Grace’s Poem: [04:41–05:35]
Closing Reflection: [05:36]

Summary & Tone

The tone throughout is contemplative and honest. Maggie Smith gently but firmly draws a boundary between writing and therapy, offering empathy for listeners seeking solace, but also urging a deeper appreciation for what poetry truly offers: not balm, but clarity and a fuller engagement with life’s hardest moments. Andrew Grace’s poem poignantly illustrates the difference—not as resolution, but as witness.

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Transcript7 lines

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[00:53]
Maggie Smith
I'm Maggie Smith and this is the Slowdown People ask me sometimes if writing is like therapy for me. They want to know if writing about the most difficult times of my life was therapeutic. They want to know if it healed me or at least helped me feel better. I think I understand why this line of questioning is so common, or there's an impulse behind it that I think I've come to understand. Many of my dearest friends are grappling with big things right now. The end of a long term relationship or the declining health of someone they love, or a diagnosis that caught them off guard. Everyone I know is grappling with something big. Honestly, they're all trying to find ways to cope. No wonder we want to know what coping strategies work for other people by asking if writing is therapy. For me, I think what people are really asking is will this help me? I'm pretty frank with people when I answer this question. No, I don't think of writing as therapy. For me, therapy is therapy. And when I'm not actively in therapy, I have other ways to calm my mind. Meditation. Walks in the woods. Running. Listening to music. Writing doesn't calm my mind. It does the opposite. It wakes me up. Writing about an experience helps me enter it more fully and think more deeply into it. And neither feels particularly therapeutic. When I write, my goal isn't to heal from an experience, it's to articulate it to myself first and then to others. Articulating an experience helps me see it more clearly, helps me understand it. Sometimes that feels like the opposite of healing. It's an opening or a reopening. Writing opens me up to the stuff of life. It's a way of being as fully alive and aware as possible. I think that's why I do it. I know some people journal daily to process their thoughts, but I don't. I don't have a writing practice for my eyes only. When I write, my intention is to make something I'll eventually share with others. That's another reason it's not therapy, it's my work and my life. The next time I'm asked if writing is therapy, I may just respond by reading today's poem. I think it answers the question with succinct, heartbreaking beauty. Do you consider writing to be therapeutic? By Andrew Grace after my father died, I should have gone to therapy. I tried instead to solve my grief with alcohol and poems. Now I am almost 40 and all I can tell you about grief is that when I found my father on the floor of the machine shed, the radio was on and wind pushed against corrugated metal. Of course I still hear it. I should have talked to someone before now and not you. Poetry is not talking. This is just art and therefore could never cover my ears when I suddenly am back in the shed and I learn again that my father has died every day since he d the Slowdown is a production of American Public Media in partnership with the Poetry Foundation. To get a poem delivered to you daily, go to slowdownshow.org and sign up for our newsletter and find us on Instagram @downdownshow and blueskylowdownshow.org hello, slow down listeners. Poetry Magazine has a special offer just for you. Subscribe to one year of Poetry Magazine today and receive their limited edition tote bag for $39. That's the cost of one Loboo. You'll receive 10 beautifully curated print magazines of contemporary poetry. Unlimited digital access via the Poetry Magazine app and a tote bag to carry it all. Subscribe today@poetrymagazine.org Slowdown25 to receive this special offer.