Poet, essayist, and novelist Dale Kushner introduces her new poetry collection, M, at Mystery to Me! In conversation with writer and Buddhist teacher, Mare Chapman.

Dale Kushner’s collection of poetry M testifies to the heroic dimensions of women’s lives. The urgent voices in these poems, including Mary Magdalene, Eve, the Virgin Mary, and women experiencing violence across centuries and continents, are bearers of the sacred into the profane world of history—of men and war. The speakers in a series of dramatic monologues explore both radical and tender moments that break through the myths perpetuated in the name of the feminine. The poems are an enduring map of how resilience is forged from suffering and how desire, loss, and struggle are the spiritual path to transformation.

Dale M. Kushner is a poet, essayist, and novelist and a long time investigator of the intersection between the collective value of literature, archetypal psychology, and spirituality. In addition, she writes a monthly blog for the Psychology Today website, “Transcending thePast.” The Conditions of Love, her debut novel, was published by Grand Central in 2013. Her essay, “InExtremis: Jung’s Descent into the Language of Self,” is included in Jung’s Red Book For Our Time: Searching forSoul Under Postmodern Conditions, Vol. 4. Dale lives with her husband Burt in Madison, Wisconsin. She has just completed her second novel, The Lie of Forgetting, which explores how the unspoken intergenerational traumas of the past shape our lives.

Mare Chapman, M.A., is a mindfulness-based feminist therapist, mindfulness teacher, consultant, and author.  Building on forty years of clinical experience and thirty years of studying and practicing mindfulness, she is devoted to understanding how cultural conditioning trains women to disconnect from their authenticity, thereby losing their voice and power, and how mindfulness can be applied to transform these habits so women can live fully empowered, vibrant, and healthy lives. Her recently published book, "Unshakeable Confidence, the Freedom to be Our Authentic Selves: Mindfulness for Women", is based on the class she’s been teaching to women in Madison, Wisconsin for over 20 years. Her audio podcasts and guided meditations are available at her website:  www.marechapman.com

Livestream: Dale Kushner with Mare Chapman