Mark Chartier developed symptoms of Tourette’s syndrome when he was 7 years old and demonstrated significant behaviors throughout school. He persevered thanks to positive relationships with school staff. He moved to Colorado Springs in 1991 after growing up on Long Island, N.Y. He earned a BA in English at Colorado State University-Pueblo, and two master’s degrees at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs despite suffering from newly diagnosed disabilities including a brain injury and a significant stutter. He now teaches special education in southern Colorado and gives motivational speeches. His first collection of poetry, “Fingerprints,” was published in 2018. Learn more at www.teacherwithtourettes.com.
SunLit: Tell us this book’s backstory – what’s it about and what inspired you to write it?
Mark Chartier: After publishing my first book of poetry, “Fingerprints,” I came across a poem that was very special and important to me that I wished had been included. Because of this, I found a renewed zest for writing poetry that had gone to the wayside during the year or two I was putting my first book together.
Similar to my first book, I continued to delve deep into my life as a person with disabilities, who grew up in a motherless home and whose father was abusive. In conjunction with this, my teaching experiences as a special education teacher, having students that identify with me in a unique way, further pushed my writing. This was especially true in the poems that chronicled teaching during the pandemic and the arduous choices I had to make during that time.
UNDERWRITTEN BY
Each week, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book feature an excerpt from a Colorado book and an interview with the author. Explore the SunLit archives at coloradosun.com/sunlit.
This book was not just a collection of poems, but a splitting of my soul, and, conversely, its long road back to healing — as a person, a special education teacher, and the child that often suffered afflictions of the heart, mind, and soul.
SunLit: Place the excerpt you selected in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole and why did you select it?
Chartier: I selected this excerpt because I believe it captures the essence of my book best. In it, there are two poems that I believe are two of my most emotive poems from my teaching experiences that I have ever composed. These poems reveal the very best of my world while reconciling the challenges I went through during these times.
The other two poems are about episodes of trauma I experienced as a child that severely impacted my life. However, even with these challenges, I prove that I have overcome them, not by virtue of having forgotten about them or them not affecting my life still, but by the mere action of still existing in this life; by a composite of achieving my goals, both personally and professionally and still using my talents to channel and build up future generations to not be bitter, but to be better.
SunLit: What influences and/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write?
Chartier: The influences and experiences that inspired this project the most were the overwhelming power of perseverance and the unstoppable force of the human spirit. Not just mine, but of my students. I always say that teaching special education is the love of my life, and that writing poetry is the second love of my life….when I am able to mesh the two is when I am at my best. I have been incredibly fortunate to have been in the position to work with so many exceptionally special kiddos that have become my real-life superheroes.
“Tell Me Something Good”
Where to find it:
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SunLit present new excerpts from some of the best Colorado authors that not only spin engaging narratives but also illuminate who we are as a community. Read more.
SunLit: What did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of your craft and/or the subject matter?
Chartier: The process of writing this book helped me cultivate and expand on my use of language in diverse and unorthodox ways. I believe that, as poets, we have a creative license and are charged with the task of saying old things in new and refreshing ways. This often comes in the form of tailoring the language to meet your subject matter while maintaining a rapport with the reader and keeping them engaged.
As far as the subject matter, as a teacher of students with disabilities, writing this book permitted me introspection and retrospection into the choices I made, right and wrong, that affected not only myself, but those around me. While these choices were never easy, they served as lessons for the future, should any of these circumstances cross my path again. Inside these poems are angles that changed my trajectory mightily that could have gone better, but also could have caused far more catastrophic effects.
SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?
Chartier: The greatest challenge in writing this book was going back in time, in some instances to nightmares I had, that accounted for great distress and trauma in my life. Borrowing from these experiences, especially when I was already secluded at home during the pandemic, made for a lot of emotional turmoil, but I remained steadfast that someone, somewhere might reap some benefit, courage, and determination from the power of relationships and perseverance encapsulated in this collection.
SunLit: What do you want readers to take from this book?
Chartier: That relationships, determination, and a positive attitude, even when you have every reason in the world to not have them, matter. That we are all different and all have heavy burdens we carry with us on a daily basis, but that the fight and grit of the human will can always be greater than the pains from years ago.
Lastly, the mantra I use in my classroom as well as at conferences I keynote: Always believe you can make a difference, but never let your differences keep you from what you believe. I pursue these words every day of my life.
SunLit: How has your life growing up with disabilities impact your work?
Chartier: I developed symptoms of Tourette’s syndrome when I was 7 years old after my schizophrenic mother took me on a mental health rampage. It was a very difficult few weeks with her because she and my father had just decided to divorce and the situation was getting very ugly.
That was when I developed the first Tourette’s symptom that I remember. I took a spiral notebook and strummed it across my lips until they bled. I couldn’t make sense of the chaos around me, so that was when, I suppose, my Tourette’s first “sprouted.” There is a poem toward the end of the book that explains this experience in great detail, and it is one of my favorite poems and also the hardest to read.
I believe that when I write about my experiences with disabilities, whether it’s Tourette’s or my brain injury or my visual impairment, that there is a sense of unapologetic rawness to what I am writing and transmitting to the reader.
This, at least, is my goal, always. Writing poetry has given me a platform to deliver my perspectives on the largest marginalized population, one that offers hope and faith in the potential contributions that people with disabilities can provide.
SunLit: Tell us about your next project.
Chartier: After a brief hiatus, I am back writing, writing, writing. Life continues to inspire me in myriad ways, and as long as I teach and love others around me, I will always have an abundance of inspiration to channel into the echoing triumphs of the challenged.
A few more quick items:
Currently on your nightstand for recreational reading: “I Would Leave Me If I Could” by Halsey. I recently saw her in concert, and she is an otherworldly talent.
First book you remember really making an impression on you as a kid: The first book that made a big impression on me was a book I read in college, “A Moveable Feast” by Ernest Hemingway.
Best writing advice you’ve ever received: Poetry is about saying the unsayable.
Favorite fictional literary character: Astrid Magnussen from Janet Fitch’s “White Oleander”
Literary guilty pleasure (title or genre): Self-help books or books about love and relationships
Digital, print or audio – favorite medium to consume literature: Print. I like to write and take notes in my books.
One book you’ve read multiple times: “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz
Other than writing utensils, one thing you must have within reach when you write: Music — Tori Amos, Halsey, Alanis Morissette or anything slow and thought-provoking
Best antidote for writer’s block: Love. Always, love.
Most valuable beta reader: My mentor/friend/former professor, David Keplinger