This July, 2008: PBS National Broadcast of HEALING WORDS: POETRY & MEDICINE
With John Fox at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, Florida
On July 1st, HEALING WORDS: POETRY AND
MEDICINE, a film produced by David
Watts, will be fed by satellite to PBS
stations across the country.
To View a Trailer of the
Film:
Click
here!
(Best Viewed with Safari or
Firefox)
Or Go To:
http://poeticmedicine.org/healingwords.html
HOW YOU CAN
HELP:
Each station chooses to broadcast the
documentary on July 1 or tape it for
presentation later. There is,
however, no guarantee that they will do
either - unless they hear from YOU!
Please call and write your local PBS
Affiliate Programming Director to highly
recommend this breakthrough film and ask them
to broadcast Healing Words from this
satellite feed or include it on their
schedule for a later date.
Ask them to give HEALING WORDS: POETRY
AND MEDICINE a good time slot!
To Locate your TV
Stations that Air PBS:
Click
here!
Or Go To:
http://www.pbs.org/tvschedules
If there is more than one station, please
consider contacting each station. The
Institute for Poetic Medicine and the
filmmakers are grateful for your joining with
us to bring soul back to medicine.
Your Call Will Make a
Difference!
Please Feel Free To Share This
Announcement With Friends, Family and
Colleagues!
Here is the
Documentary Description
From the Producers, HEALING WORDS
PRODUCTIONS:
HEALING WORDS: POETRY & MEDICINE is a
poignant and powerful documentary about the
uses of poetry and the other expressive arts
at a large teaching hospital in Florida.
These days when Americans have grown cynical
about health care costs, impersonal
treatment, and the intrusion of corporate
self-interest in the doctor-patient
relationship, Healing Words reminds us
of the best medicine can offer: a doctor at
the bedside, really listening to a patient.
Dr. John Graham-Pole and poetry therapist
John Fox enter hospital rooms and help
patients write poems as part of their healing
process. Viewers will be touched by the ways
in which poetry builds compassion between
doctor and patient. In answer to the
question, Can Poetry Heal? This
documentary gives a resounding YES!
Producers: Joan Baranow, James
Cavenaugh, Victoria Chaban, David Watts, MD;
Narration: Peter Coyote;
Directors: James Cavenaugh, David
Drewry; Original Music Score: Noa
Winter Lazerus; Running Time:
56:46.
CONTACT: Joan Baranow
Healing Words Productions
73 Hillside Avenue
Mill Valley, CA 94941
(415) 318-8641
Stephen Levine on the Healing Spirit of Poetry - A New Book of Poems & YouTube Series
I want to urge Institute friends to check out
Breaking the Drought: Visions of
Grace, a
new book of poetry by Stephen Levine,
published by Larson Publications.
Click
here!
Stephen, friend and teacher, encouraged me in the
early 80's to pursue this calling of poetic
medicine. After so many years of working
with the
poetry of the heart, I am so glad to see his
return to the making of poems.
I urge anyone involved in a spiritual quest,
in healing or medical practice, who cares for
others, anyone who is keen for insight and
does not take spiritual practice too
seriously, who is a teacher, a hospice
volunteer, anyone who loves poetry
(especially poems that ask us to listen),
loves the natural world, who wants a gift for
a lover, for a friend, anyone who wants
surprise and levity in their life, who knows
sooner or later they'll die, who grieves for
and celebrates a loved one, who are thirsty
for words that feed the heart and soul. . . I
hope you will pick up this book.
Rooted in the questions that act as a spark
to awakened consciousness: Who am I? What
am I here for? These poems grow out of deep
love for the Beloved, the Friend and
stewardship of the Earth.
As the poet Kabir said:
"His poems amount to one soul meeting
another.
These songs
are about forgetting dying and loss.
They
rise above both the coming and the going
out."
SPECIAL OFFER FOR INSTITUTE OF POETIC
MEDICINE FRIENDS:
$16/book
includes US/Canada
shipping (NY residents please add $0.96 sales
tax per book); elsewhere - please email or
call for shipping information
ORDER DIRECT FROM THE PUBLISHER
WITH
MC/Visa:
1-800-828-2197, 9-5 Eastern
time. Or by check / money order to Larson
Publications 4936 Route 414, Burdett, NY 14818.
For More Information:
Click
here!
Ecoversity Features Stephen in YouTube Presentations
In addition to the publication of
Breaking the Drought: Visions of
Grace, you can listen to Stephen
explore the possibilities of poetry to heal
and transform consciousness in a recent
series of inspiring presentations on YouTube
offered by Ecoversity in Santa Fe, NM.
Stephen
describes this series:
"Ecoversity is
a group in Santa Fe that is
working/teaching/learning about sustainable
lifestyles for the individual, the group, the
planet. Beside water conservation and organic
gardening techniques, and a number of other
ecologically aware practices, they believe
that poetry is a necessity for balancing the
mind with the heart.
They believe
that poetry
is one of our most precious renewable
resources available to heal and sustain the
world. The reading a few months back was the
first I had done in 40 years, having devoted
most of my time during this hiatus to working
with the poetry of the heart in the process
of dying and the grief that follows like a
weeping beast. It was an absolute
delight."
To View Stephen on YouTube and Learn More
About Ecoversity:
Click
here!
(Best Accessed With Firefox or
Safari)
Or Go To:
http://www.ecoversity.org/Stephen_Levine.html
Arts & Healing Network Podcast Interview of John Fox, CPT
I first heard about the Arts & Healing
Network (AHN) the year it was founded in
1997. It was the same year as the
publication of Poetic Medicine!
I've always felt an affinity with this fine
organization. Their website descibes their
mission:
"Arts and Healing Network honors and supports
the emergence of healing artists and
recognizes them as essential catalysts for
positive change." (Marion Weber,
Founder)
"Arts and Healing Network is an on-line
resource celebrating the connection between
art and healing. Our web site serves as an
international resource for anyone interested
in the healing potential of art, especially
environmentalists, social activists, artists,
art professionals, health care practitioners
and those challenged by illness. Our hope is
that the information presented here will
educate and inspire." (From the Arts &
Healing web
site)
Mary Daniel Hobson ("Danny") is the visionary
Executive Director of AHN. With grace and
persistence, she has done so much to raise
awareness about the healing spirit of the
arts. Last year Danny asked me if AHN could
interview me for their podcast series. I
gladly agreed. Britt Bravo, of Big Vision
and Career
Consulting, conducted the interview. The
interview is a wide range sharing about my
journey with poetry and healing, the practice
of poetry therapy, and the vision I hold for
the Institute for Poetic Medicine.
You Can Hear the Podcast Here:
Click
here!
(Best Accessed With Firefox or
Safari)
Or Go To:
http://artheals.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=273898
To Learn More About the Arts & Healing
Network:
Click
here!
YouTube Presentation Filmed at Ashland Community Hospital in March, 2007
In March of 2007, Cynthia Meilicke, Director
of Volunteers at the Ashland Community
Hospital Hospice in Ashland, Oregon, invited
me to give a public presentation as well as
an inservice to the Ashland hospice care
team.
In preparation for those programs, Debi
Smith, a reporter, freelance writer and
videographer working for the Ashland
Daily Tidings contacted me. Debi
asked to interview me before the public
program and film the entire evening. That
evening we received permission from all
participants to do so.
My talk, very moving poems written and read
by participants, portions of the soon to be
released PBS documentary Healing Words:
Poetry & the Art of
Medicine (mentioned earlier in this
announcement) -- you can see all of this on
YouTube!
Check Out the Article in Ashland Daily
Tidings ("Grief Brought to Numbers",
3/29/07):
Click
here!
To View the YouTube Video:
Click
Here!
(Best Accessed With Firefox or
Safari)
Or Go To:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxEyNuvHQx8&feature=related
5th (Almost Annual!) Conference - "Writing the Medical Experience" - Sponsored by David Watts, M.D., Sarah Lawrence College and the Center for Humanities in Medicine
This intensive weeklong program in the
literature of illness and recovery will take
place from July 27th - August 2nd at Sarah
Lawrence College, just north of New York
City.
The medical experience can lead to some of
life's deepest moments and is thus a rich
source of subject matter for literature but
it is often difficult to write about.
Bringing together individuals with a shared
interest in a literature of the body, along
with our diverse ways of handling the body's
challenges will better equip us for writing
the medical experience.
The program will consist of two
concentrations: Poetry and
Prose. The conference will
feature lectures, workshops, panels, readings
and informal gatherings on Sarah Lawrence's
beautiful wooded campus.
Featured Keynote Speakers: Donald
Hall, U.S. Poet Laureate and Richard Selzer,
esteemed surgeon and writer.
Core faculty:
Cortney Davis, Marie Howe, Sayantani
DasGupta, Dave King, and Penny Wolfson.
The Workshops:
Poetry workshops will meet from
9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. daily. Workshop members
and leaders change daily to give a variety of
styles and voices to participants and
faculty.
Prose workshops meet from 9:30
a.m. to 12 p.m. daily. Participants will meet
with a new leader each day. Two to three
manuscripts will be treated at each
session.
Afternoon and Evening
Events:
There will be daily talks and panel
discussion on craft, editing, publishing,
ethics, and other subjects that address the
particular concerns of writers. Faculty
readings, participant readings, and social
gatherings will take place during the
evenings.
Writing the Medical Experience
is presented by The Center for Continuing
Education's Writing Institute, and The
Masters Program in Health Advocacy at Sarah
Lawrence College in cooperation with The
Foundation for Humanities in Medicine.
APPLICATION GUIDELINES:
Applications for the program will be
considered in two categories: poetry and
prose. Acceptance into the program is based
on the quality of the application sample.
To View a Sample Daily Schedule, Review
Speaker and Faculty Bio's and To Apply:
Click
here!
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