Poetry and Medicine

Pain has many expressions. The wounded deer yelps, the burnt child cries, those silent- shed tears and poets, bleed ink on paper (or type away in agony). Words, like that veritable blade of scalpel can both wound and heal. Lay them out in rhythm, they can uplift the battered souls of battling soldiers- as march songs; alleviate the boredom of homesick sailors, as sea shanties; or lull a baby to sleep, as lullabies.

Healing power of words

It is then only natural that poetry find its way into medicine, a field that finds its existence in pain, which is defined as a ‘psychosomatic experience’. You immediately notice the diminishing effect that the clinical definition of pain as a mere psychosomatic experience, exerts, especially for the individual that suffers from it on a daily basis, for years. There comes a point in medicine, more frequently than is desired, when evidence based data fails to provide answers or absolution of any kind to long term suffering. The cumulative burdens in such cases, are borne by the sufferer as well as the care giver.

The human mind is wired to question the environment, both within and without, till it reaches an explanation. When medical textbooks fail to offer any, words offering care, companionship or even trace of clarity serve to alleviate the severity of the situation.

The efficacies of a well worded verse, recited in mellifluous tones or simply read in silence could only be validated by that individual who couldn’t find the pill for his maladies, or even the hapless doctor who needed a closure for the case he couldn’t quite treat. Because in art even broken is beautiful. Like poet Anne M Carson beautifully put-

If I was ceramic I’d be kintsukuroi,
Pottery which has been knocked,
Dropped, broken into shards then
Mended with gold or silver lacquer,
A delicate meander of liquid gold
Flowing into the breach …

Art of Science and science of the art

Famous poet, John Keats, of the Romantic era devoted seven years of his short life as a medical assistant being trained to become a surgeon before he found his true calling in poetry. It is said he experienced the extraordinary sonic power of Edmund Spenser’s poetic language, particularly in the verses of The Faerie Queen, as a source of physical energy, vitality, and wellbeing.

His poetic language evolved as he progressed through his training and later, having contracted the then deadly disease of tuberculosis, the experience of his own deteriorating health found expression in his verses.

“thou would wish thine own heart dry of blood,

So in my veins red life might stream again”.

A poet, he believed, was a ‘physician to all’ and spoke through his sublime verses of a light breeze that could ‘creep through half closed lattices to cure / The languid sick [and] cool their fever’d sleep,’ even as his own lungs closed, strangling his young life of twenty-five years.

His literary genius aside, it is astonishing to note that this man of science was very vocal about his objection to science and had criticized Newton for “unweaving the rainbow” and reducing it to a prism!

Years later biologist Richard Dawkins took this very phrase of his to contradict this view and assert that ‘science actually supplies a kind of poetry, that it lets us better appreciate the wonders of the world,’ in his book ‘Unweaving the rainbow.’

Indeed, both science and art can be said to be two different means of attaining the same objective- making sense.

While all things earthbound

May look too familiar at first,

Do not forget that you and I

Are recycled stardust.

©Sai2021

The Literary Power of a Poem

The age old arguments to prose vs poetry and which is superior could probably never reach a conclusion. But there is no denying the impact offered by a well worded poem capitalizing on the usage of literary devices within the confines of economically used words. This super distilled form of expression, expounded with on-point metaphors and detailed imagery, has the power to drive a point home in the most memorable manner. The rhymes we heard as babies stick within our aging memories for this very reason.

The rhythmic verses of Vedas, Upanishads or ancient epic poems like Valmiki’s Ramayana, and Vyasa’s Mahabharata carry a sense of divinity in their structure because of the poetic format. The metaphors in Dohas by Kabir and Surdas of sixth century, Abhangas recited by thirteenth century saints in Maharashtra, or the ancient Tamil verses of Tirukkural, similarly impart wisdom through lyrical couplets. Shakespearean sonnets, Romantic poetry, centre on the nature within and without, and immortalise the emotional aspect of human experience. Robert Frost, W. H. Auden brought breathtaking simplicity to poetry. The millennials find solace in the moving verses of Neruda, Rumi, Sylvia Plath, Maya Angelou and more recently Lang Leave.

Poems are conveniently just abstract enough to allow the readers some space to be filled by their own interpretation, thereby allowing relatability. They aren’t always encumbered by the strict grammatical syntax or the specifics of plotlines, affording greater freedom of expression within a few words. A super busy medico with his/her time constraints easily can afford time for, say a witty little limerick to lighten the day.

The genre: Poetry in Medicine

The field of Medicine is full of intense emotional moments, right from the dissection table as a fresh entrant to the medical fraternity, to the last surgical case a senior surgeon sutures up before retiring.

Unsurprisingly, Poetry in Medicine is now a niche genre with anthologies, PubMed journals, monthly newsletter columns (including our very own The Checkup), devoting space to poetic contributions.

The Los Angeles Times reported the work of Dr. John Patrik Murray an intensivist at the University of Chicago Medical Center, who often uses poetry to comfort frightened ICU patients. As observed in the report, medical journals are increasingly the top choice for doctors who believe poetry is the best way to capture the fragility, tenacity and universality of the human experience.

We find a regular Humanities feature showcasing poetry and medicine in the issues of JAMA network, the widely read medical journal, where patients and doctors alike share their tryst with illness. As Dr. Rafael Campo the poetry editor for JAMA who worked in University of California during the peak of HIV AIDS crisis, observes, ‘there’s power in narrative and poetry that actually can heal in a concrete way.’

Likewise the University of Oxford has undertaken the project- The Poetry of Medicine led by Sophie Ratcliffe, an Oxford academic in the Faculty of English and Andrew Schuman, a General Practitioner and Oxford Medical Tutor- discussing the role of words in an uncertain field of medicine that is increasingly being dominated by numbers. The project provides a discussion website with blog space for the doctors of NHS, undertakes series of workshops in narrative haling and promotes reading and reflection of poetry.

We also find books like Poetry in Medicine – An Anthology of Poems About Doctors, Patients, Illness and Healing, an exhaustive collection by Michael Salcman and Michael Collier, published in 2015, among Google books and on e–shelves of online shopping sites.

Back home, role of poetry as a tool to teach, cultivate and enhance empathy among medical students and health care professionals, is being researched in various branches, specially those concerned with management of chronic debilitating conditions.

The Journal of Poetry Therapy (JPT), sponsored by the National Association for Poetry Therapy, is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal publishing original articles deliberating on the use of the language arts in therapeutic, educational, and community-building capacities.

Prithwish Banerjee (Consultant cardiologist, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire) discusses the facets of Medical Poetry and declares, it is time the medical world woke up to the power of poetry.

Pocket Poetry

The recent pandemic and the restrictions it imposed brought out many verses as people were forced to work remotely. Social media saw its own share of poetry showcasing works of young and old alike, amateurs and professionals, that are conveniently available in our palms.

Indeed, the resurgence of poetry during the pandemic years was inevitable and noticeable. Remix-poetry, found poetry, or poetry collage (as the trending hash tags denote) rephrased the classic poetry phrases, imparting a fresh perspective or a contemporary context. Online forums were flooded with content ranging from, free forms to strict syllable-measured formats. Pandemic not only inspired poets to write about the situations around them but also offered first poetry books to many. The constraints, uncertainty and despair imposed by the pandemic found a release through poetry.

It takes

Effort to hope,

To keep moving forward,

Even as world crashes around,

You cope.

It takes

Tough skulls, thick skin,

To ward off poisons,

Safeguard reason, lest those thoughts turn

Insane.

It takes

Nerve to cheer them.

To take in all the truths,

Then look them right in the eye and

To lie.

It takes

Forever more

For scars to fade away,

To filter each memory and

Forget.

It takes

Nothing short of

Extraordinary

Strength, to let in a whiff of air,

To breathe.

This World Poetry Day, while medicines heal your body, let poetry soothe your soul. Like the prescription, doctor-writer-poet Danielle Ofri offers: Take two sonnets and call me in the morning.