Roberta Schultz, author of Asking Price and Underscore, is a maker of songs, poems and drum circles. She writes some of her songs on a mountain in North Carolina, and is co-founder of the Poet & Song Series with her trio, Raison D’Etre. Learn more.
What past event do you often reflect upon, and how did that event change you?
I was evacuated from the 2022 Appalachian Writers Workshop at the Hindman Settlement School during the devastating regional flood. What I saw and heard during the evacuation itself and on my circuitous drive out of eastern Kentucky –– detached porch steps and a bed in the center of the fragmented highway –– left me painfully aware of how fragile all life has become on this planet, our only home. While I am grateful that the Hindman staff worked to get us out quickly so others could be rescued and housed, so many suffer still.
How does your work add to the quality of your life?
I sing and play guitar for venues that serve elders, both as a solo act and with my trio, Raison D’Etre. I also lead drum circles for those facilities. Nothing makes me feel better than to hear a chorus of some song I play echo back to me. Or to witness someone who is becoming more and more isolated because of dementia suddenly jump up to join the dancers when I hit on a song he remembers from his high school days. I’m enriched from these group connections. And when I need quiet and mindfulness, poetry helps me process the grief and joy of living.
Tell us a story you would like to share with the world.
Creative Connections is one of the most innovative programs I have the honor to serve. While caregivers attend a support group led by skilled counselors, their loved ones with dementia are gathered to do some kind of movement and music activity with someone like me and a yoga teacher. When one of the caregivers came to claim her usually silent husband, we told her that he was so involved with the movement and music that he “shook his lemons.” Her face paled. I quickly grabbed the lemon-shaped shakers and rattled them at her. “These lemons, I mean.” We all had a good laugh.
Author photo: Courtesy of author
Side bar image: Pixabay/Edar
