Is art worth it? One-act plays explore what poets reveal about their personal lives

Nora Ephron’s adage, “Everything is copy,” might be worth considering while enjoying the pair of one-act plays that make up “Poetic Justice,” a show at the Marsh San Francisco in January. Both plays by Lynne Kaufman look at what happens when famous writers use revealing, private moments and interactions with others to create transcendent literature.

In the first one-act, “You Must Change Your Life,” the Austrian poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke begins a correspondence with a young military school cadet, Franz Kappus, who’s struggling with whether to pursue a career in the army or dedicate his life to poetry. In a series of letters, which formed the basis of one of Rilke’s most acclaimed works, “Letters to a Young Poet,” he offered inspiring advice on how a poet should feel, love, experience the word and engage in art.

The literary world’s reaction wasn’t so glowing when Robert Lowell incorporated private letters from his ex-wife, Elizabeth Hardwick, into poems for his Pulitizer Prize-winning 1973 book, “The Dolphin.” Adrienne Rich publicly blasted Lowell for cruelty – he had left Hardwick for another woman – while his other poet pal, Elizabeth Bishop, privately wrote him, “One can use one’s life as material — one does anyway — but these letters — aren’t you violating a trust?” “Divine Madness,” Kaufman’s second one-act of the show, dramatizes Lowell’s attempts to reconcile with Hardwick following this betrayal, as he also struggles with bipolar disorder.

Details: Jan. 7-29 at the Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia St. Tickets are $25-$35, themarsh.org.