PBS continued its Where Poetry Lives series with a feature on Rafael Campos’ writing workshop for medical students. From the transcript:
RAFAEL CAMPO: “Someone is dying alone in the night. The hospital hums like a consciousness. I see their faces where others see blight. The doctors make their rounds like satellites, impossible to fathom distances. Someone is dying alone under lights.”
Poetry is in every encounter with my patients. I think healing really in a very profound way is about poetry, And If we do anything when we’re with our patients, we’re really, I think, immersing ourselves in their stories, really hearing their voices in a profound way. And, certainly, that’s what a poem, I think, does.
JEFFREY BROWN: Campo worries that something important has been lost in medicine and medical education today, a humanity that he finds in poetry.
I love what the segment goes on to say about facts vs. truth and I imagine the difference between the two may be amplified in some areas of the medical profession. In any case, poetry and healing go hand in hand. This is a great combo.
I wonder what value other professions might find in holding poetry and writing workshops for their employees?
Here’s the segment:
