Of Note: Become Poems

Letters From Max: A Book of Friendship by Sarah Ruhl and Max Ritvo
Milkweed Editions, September 18, 2018

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There is every type of school under the sun, but the heart that makes them all beat is the relationship between students and their teachers. Playwright and Yale professor Sarah Ruhl's Letters from Max: A Book of Friendship tells the universal story of that relationship and how it can transcend a classroom, spur reflective and creative work, and last beyond death. The book also shares the unique story of one teacher's relationship with one terminally ill student and poet named Max. In a series of letters, narratives, poems, and excerpts from plays, Ruhl paints a beautiful picture of Max, who passed away from Ewing's Sarcoma in 2016, as well as the power of shared words to bind learners to one another. From hospital bed and waiting room, Max sends his poetry, hopes, fears, and dreams in letters to Sarah, and in return, Sarah sends letters with her own poems and reflections on her productions, teaching, and family life. What emerges in these pages is a touching portrait of a friendship between two people who live to connect through writing, performing, teaching, and learning. As Sarah says to Max in a poem written just for him, "Max is a poet./ Max is a poem./ We all become poems/ in the end."