Jeffrey Wright and Veterans Using Poetry to Deal With PTSD

These veterans are using poetry to cope with their PTSD.

HBO’s documentary “We Are Not Done Yet” follows ten U.S. veterans as they use art to heal. Actor Jeffrey Wright produced the documentary and explained why it is important to listen to veterans’ voices.

“It was an incredible journey for me to be able to witness them blooming in that way, opening up, becoming vulnerable in a way that’s not necessarily encouraged in the military,” he explained. “We, as people who don’t serve, need to hear them, need to feel them, need to take on the burden of some of this trauma, because they served in the military but we were complicit in their deployment.”

Wright also discussed how the Trump administration can do better.

“The troops are used for political ends, but still the need for our veterans remains. We need to listen to these people. We need to stop listening to the nonsense that is only self-serving for the politicians. It’s dire,” he said. “It’s a real need and the manipulation for our troops, our vets. I find it to be abhorrent. Right now, in our time, in this country, when there’s such a cynicism about so many things, but particularly a cynicism about empathy, about compassion, about the things that are creative, about literacy, about performance. They shut the noise down with the power of their work.”