Kevin / Joy

Raft Race photos: Bob Egan

Kevin with daughter Catherine

Kevin Ward talks to Joy Horowitz about how he overcame a severe head injury by reclaiming the poetry that he loved and lost. 

After a cataclysmic bicycling accident in 2015, Kevin Ward couldn't tell his right foot from his left. But he could walk. And then, he began to heal his traumatic brain injury by re-memorizing poems he’d lost in the accident—including a favorite one called “Forgetfulness,” by Billy Collins.

For those of us having trouble keeping track of our phones and glasses these days, here’s a reminder of the power of resilience in the face of loss.

Kevin, who created the infamous Adams House Raft Race in 1973, discusses how his great love of poetry pulled him through a tough time. And, he tells fellow Adams Housemate and pal Joy Horowitz why the raft race became the stuff of legend—“our Burning Man on water.”

Kevin also wants you to know he is "founder of the Aspen Science Center, Harvard Teaching Fellow for Robert Coles's Gen Ed 109, the late Hunter Thompson’s confidant and steadfast Woody Creek Tavern acolyte, proud father of amazing daughters Kyra and Catherine, lifelong friends of Joy and Brock (even though they never visit and never write), expert Hollandaise-from-scratch creator."