By the Noble Bards & Sages of Step Up on

The Wonderful World of King Royale By the Noble Bards & Sages of Step Up on

This book was written over an eight month period during a weekly poetry therapy workshop led by Certified Applied Poetry Facilitator, India Radfar. The workshop was held at an institution in Santa Monica, California serving people with chronic mental illness that often includes homelessness. King Royale, the fairytale's main character, is a member of AA, and he is always falling off the wagon and wanting to abdicate. In a humorous and knowing manner, a dozen or so members of the group carried through and wrote the story of his Kindgom. The tale is full of intentional anachronisms, playful episodes, extreme creativity and diversity of ideas, and the transformation of characters that led to actual, real changes in the lives of the authors. At times difficult, misogynistic and violent characters were turned into reformed and peace-loving ones. We benefitted greatly from our collaboration with The Creative Minds Project, which brought in UCLA students to work with us. All participants' work is listed in an index, but no separation has been made between the work of the students and the work of the members.