135. Eve Joseph – In the Slender Margin: The Intimate Strangeness of Dying

One of the questions I always ask guests is, “What does it mean to live a good life?”  For the first time, however, a guest has left me thinking about changing that question to, “What does it mean to die a good death?”  This guest is Eve Joseph, an award-winning poet, incredible storyteller, and the author of a book about death and dying (which also happens to be her memoir) entitled In the Slender Margin: The Intimate Strangeness of Death and Dying.  The book flows out of Eve’s lessons and insights from working with and serving people at the end of their lives as a hospice care provider and represents the two central themes of the conversation: death and writing.  Eve’s life has been marked by distinct seasons.  She fell in love with writing in fifth grade, but for about thirty years stopped writing.  In that intervening period, Eve got married, had children and became a social worker within the hospice care system of her native Canada.  Profound family events shaped her cessation from writing and later resumption of the practice, and the writing of her later years is shaped by the cumulative impact of her decades of remarkable experience.  She has experienced indigenous culture, faced illness and tragedy, and spent herself in service to others. Eve is an insightful and creative person committed to drawing as much as she can out of both life and death. I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with her.  In this conversation, Eve and I talk about our society’s relation to and (limited) understanding of death, what it means to have a good death, lessons in metaphor, the creative process and the role of solitude in it, what Eve learned from having a stroke, and what is common in different cultures’ understandings of death.       “Poetry knows more than I do.” – Eve Joseph This week on The School for Good Living Podcast: Why Eve doesn’t have an answer to the question of what life is aboutWhat sets her memoir apart from her previous booksWhen Eve started writing, why she stopped, and what she did while not writingThe intersection between the drive to be creative and the drive to be helpfulThe family events that have shaped Eve and her writingHow all factors of life come to bear in writing and in being with a dying personCan you be a poet and not write?  What does it mean to be a poet?Eve’s sense of self and authenticity is related to poetryHow society denies and is frightened by deathWhat the significance is of death kits and not dying at homeWhy a too-firm concept of a good death is problematic, and how Eve wants to dieWhat Eve has seen different cultures share in their approaches to deathWhy Eve named her book as she didWhat Eve has to say about outsourcing, community, rituals, and even gardeningLiving poetically and why young writers should follow what they loveEve’s thoughts on metaphor and how her stroke shaped herA wild ride, living generously, avoiding slogans, the value of books, and care for othersGive money away and it comes backWhy Eve values solitude as a writer, but doesn’t call herself a writerEve’s perspective on technology and audience as a writerWhy Eve suggests writers start with a passion, send their work out, and try different formsResources Mentioned: In the Slender Margin: The Intimate Strangeness of Death and Dying, by Eve JosephMan’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor FranklThe Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan DidionFive stages of grief (from On Death and Dying, by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross)“Gravy,” by Raymond CarverKiva.orgConnect with Eve Joseph: To connect with Eve Joseph and learn more about her and her work visit her websiteSubscribe, Rate & Share!  Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of the School for Good Living Podcast, with your host, Brilliant Miller. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe and leave us a rating and review.  Don’t forget to visit our website, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. And be sure to share your favorite episodes with your friends and colleagues on social media to inspire others to improve their lives and reach their full potential. The post 135. Eve Joseph – In the Slender Margin: The Intimate Strangeness of Dying first appeared on School for Good Living Podcasts.