September 2014

Dear Friend of Poetic Medicine, 

I hope you are well and finding ways to make a difference
with poetry--in your life and in the lives of others. 

Simple Gesture, Big Difference

Recently I sent a poem to my friend Marianna Cacciatore as she embarks on a pilgrimage to write a book that is calling to be written. She has left her job of 16 years as Executive Director of Bread for the Journey and will be living with two friends: one in the Bay Area and another in Tucson, AZ for five months as she writes. 

If I may say so, it is a bold choice and step to take. During this time of risk and courage, her reason for being in Arizona for 2+ months is to bring greater support to her mother and father who are 88 and 91 years old.

The poem I sent to Marianna, Lift the Banner, begins this way:

Lift up the banner of your heart boldly

and commit your very next step

to what you love most dearly.

Marianna responded: "This will be the poem that carries me through the writing over the next several months. A sincere bow to you. I would love to know when you wrote this and the story surrounding it."

I'm happy to know this was helpful to her. There is the added benefit of being asked to share more about the origin of the poem. Because of poems, we learn about each other. 

This is an example of how, with just a small amount of effort, you can offer a gift to a friend--a poem written by another person or yourself. I want to guarantee you that by making a thoughtful, sensitive choice and sharing that you will make a difference. This kind of touching is rare: pass it on! 

Shoes Left at the Door

On Friday, September 5, I visited the Hospice of San Luis Obispo. It was my third visit in four years with those fine folks! 

The title of the workshop was Poetry Therapy and Mindfulness: A Pathway to Deepen Dialogue. Coming to the circle were volunteers, staff, hospice counselors and professionals from the area. 

As the morning unfolded, everyone gradually became willing, became even keenly interested, to experience ways poetry and poem-making help a person increase their sensitivity--and mindfulness--and discover that as a pathway to deeper sharing. 

From listening deeply to one self within a creative and safe space, a sensitivity is birthed and/or renewed. Listening mindfully to other human beings strengthens that sensitivity. This experiential process shows us how sensitivity and mindfulness can apply to those who enter hospice, or who, in one way or another, are coming close to the edge.

I'll speak more directly. If we did anything on that day, we got under the surface. 

Without breaking confidences, the most common "subject" of poems written that day and the sharing that followed, usually addressed something that was vulnerable and meaningful. 

Something breathing under the surface wanted to speak--or something vulnerable was revealed about the writer or about an experience personally close to the writer/poet--close to those dedicated professionals, volunteers, staff, etc. 

I had begun the training with a poem by Stephen Levine, There Are Words In Us, which begins: 

There are words in us

That don't know how

To get to the surface.

Words hidden in our marrow

Afraid to show themselves

Afraid the world will come apart

If they are spoken.

It isn't that people gave up professional identities. Those identities most assuredly were present. But I am saying this, in a metaphoric sense, professional shoes were left at the door. 

It's true I invited people to dedicate their day to listening more closely to themselves. The nature of their more personal expression could be a matter of folks taking me up on my invitation. It might be attributed to people using the time available for what matters because what matters insisted on getting attention. Ultimately, we might consider this as a wise decision/choice to deal with first things first. As David Whyte says:

Start close in, 

don't take the second step 

or the third, 

start with the first 

thing 

close in, 

the step you don't want to take.

(italics part of David's poem)

Whatever it was, I felt an expression of courage! There was a resonant compassion in the room. At the conclusion of the day I had a strong sense participants felt a level of satisfaction and value gained that proved more helpful and significant than a more typical "continuing education" class to increase professional competence and expand experience.  

John with Kris Kington-Barker, Executive Director Hospice of San Luis Obispo

"One of the primary and continuing challenges for all of us at Hospice of San Luis Obispo is "Being" as opposed to "Doing". Allowing ourselves to open our experiences with others, deepen our connections to ourselves and simultaneously lessen our expectations for a particular outcome. 

As part of our efforts to offer continuing education and growth opportunities to our staff, volunteers and others in the community who work with hospice patients, we invited John to join us to present a workshop. He suggested Poetry Therapy and Mindfulness: A Pathway to Deepen Dialogue.

When I first saw the title, I was pressed to imagine how a one-day workshop could venture close to fulfilling such a lofty title. Our participants ranged from licensed therapists seeking tools to use with their clients to individuals seeking self-awareness and nurturing. Could such a wide range of expectations be met in only 6 hours? The answer is unequivocally "yes". I highly recommend this workshop and look forward to offering it again."

Summer Travels - Thirty-Five Days Around the World 

with Poetic Medicine

This summer I enjoyed traveling to England, Ireland, Germany and Canada. It was a five-week journey! It has been nine years since I traveled "across the pond." After the deaths of my sisters Shelley and Holly (in June 2011 and May 2013) I felt freer to travel farther away. Before their passing, I could always hop on a plane and be in Cleveland in less than eight hours. I no longer held that concern or felt that responsibility.

What an enriching and positive time it was!

* * * * *

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom I was the guest of two organizations, LAPIDUS and Metanoia. LAPIDUS, a superb writing for well-being group, offers programs throughout the UK to marginalized people. Metanoia confers a wide range of degrees including in Gestalt, Psychotherapy and Transactional Analysis. They also have a superb degree in Creative Writing For Therapeutic Purposes that is guided by Claire Williamson and Nigel Gibbons. I was pleased to offer a lecture and workshop on Poetry Therapy and Mindfulness through these two fine groups.  

The positive outcome from this research protocol and pilot program was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Poetry Therapy. It was a delight to work with Robin and Pam on that project! In our recent meeting we envisioned a new collaboration--more on this along the way.

If you are interested in receiving a reprint of this research paper, please contact John at The Institute for Poetic Medicine, john@poeticmedicine.org. 

John at Avebury, Gloucestershire

John, Angie Spencer,   Pamela Thorne, Jay Ramsay

My return to Gloucestershire brought a happy opportunity to hike with Pam; the poet and psychotherapist, Jay Ramsay; as well as artist Angie Spencer. We all envision a planet that includes art-as-healer; a profoundly shared value worthy of our deep conversation as we walked together. I enjoyed exploring Avebury with Pam. I felt that the presence and arrangement of these mysterious stones dissolved time.  

 

This made me consider how those stones, delivered to that place by people from ancient times, and present poems, delivered to the open page, share a similar time-transcending capacity:

 

When I write I escape the world

Because it eases my mind.

To me it's a second world;

It has no time.

  

~ Bennie, 16 years old

   from Guilford Detention Facility in North Carolina

 

* * * * *

Ireland

The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting

for our senses to grow sharper.   

~ W. B. Yeats

John in Co. Donegal, Ireland

Since my middle teens I've felt connection with this country--the spirit of poetry that lives in Ireland. This "at home" feeling I also have at Canyon de Chelly, in northern Arizona. I am welcomed into that sacred space by friends Jon and Lupita McClanahan. Their indigenous roots remind me of the deepest expression of language that is healing.

In Ireland, upon arrival, a hearty welcome, soaked with laughter and warmth, is made by Carmel and Noel Walsh of Dublin, to myself and to long-time friend Annie Webster. Annie introduced me to the Walsh's and Ireland in about 2001. We had decided to return and make a Dublin walking tour. I had met Annie in spring of 2000 when doing a workshop at the Harvard Mind Body Medical Institute. She does truly beautiful work with resilience and people living with cancer. Annie serves on the Advisory Board of IPM.   

Annie Webster of the Benson-Henry Mind Body Medical Institute which is part of the  Massachusetts General Hospital. We are at a pub in Sandycove, near the Joyce Tower that appears  in the novel Ulysses.

This indigenous and magical connections that I discover and feel in Ireland, may be ignited in different places for you. I urge you to find that place of origin and nourish your connection with that. If you know it already, like me, seek renewal at that fountain. For this is like the place Pegasus stomped a hoof after flying down from Mount Helicon.     

~ Seamus Heaney

from Postscript  

* * * * *

Germany

You have not grown old, and it is not too late

To dive into your increasing depths

where life calmly gives out its own secret.

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

   from A Book for the Hours of Prayer

   translated by Robert Bly

In Germany, before my work began, I had the good fortune to visit a home built in 1907 by novelist and poet Herman Hesse. There he created the most beautiful garden. My host, Anne Hoefler, and I took a ferry from Meersburg across Lake Constance and traveled the short distance to Hesse's home in Gaienhofen.

We discovered home and garden, lovingly kept. It was raining lightly which felt perfect. Artfully made placards of Hesse's writing on trees, gardens and plants were inspiring. His reflections started me thinking about the next series of workshops/retreats. I decided these will be called Writing Our Relationship with Trees. Please read more about this in the schedule section of the PMJ. The first presentation is scheduled for early November in Portland, OR.

Sponsored by Anne Hoefler and her healing work, Open Hands, the Poetic Medicine retreat took place at Haus Zietlos, a meditation center in southern Germany. The retreat leaders at Haus Zietlos, Frank and Manuela, expressed the essence of warmth, hospitality and graciousness. I so enjoyed being in their presence. The three and a half-day retreat was built upon conversations Anne and I had about her healing and spiritual direction practice. The themes were:

The Heart of Longing                      

The Heart of Seeing

Prayer                                                    

Thankfulness

Questions                    

Listening

Patience   

Letting Go

Anne Hoefler, Samida Steurer-Petri, and John at Haus Zeitlos

Collaborations occurred in many ways: Anne and her friend Gisele translated (or found translations for) all the poems used during the retreat. I had the good fortune to work with a superb translator, Samida Steurer-Petri. Her translating, because it was so fluid and collaborative, helped me sink down into the writing people did.

Even though I didn't understand the language it was clear how each poem offers a vivid presence and life, shape and feeling. In one poem, at the center of that poem, a particular line caught my attention. I remembered and spoke the German to Samida. She told me the line translated as "...it takes my breath away."

In that circle, it was clear interactions between people, their laughter and tears, sacred silence and keen insights were in full blossom. I found this could be encouraged even while not speaking the language. Poetry is like that-- universal and permeable, expressing the daily and common ground of the human heart.

* * * * * 

British Columbia, Bowen Island, Rivendell Retreat Centre

The magnificence of trees! Retreat participants write in the presence of "Opa", a 1,000-year-old fir .

Once again, with the support of Ray McGinnis, of Write to the Heart, I returned to Bowen Island, British Columbia and Rivendell Retreat Centre. At the Bend in the River: Listening as a Catalyst for Creativity was a five-day retreat that allowed us to dive deep into the theme of rivers.

We touched upon all facets of rivers--people spoke about grief and tremendous losses associated with rivers, others shared a lasting affection for a specific river that brought great joy. It could be the same person who expressed both. Each participant wrote in rich ways about rivers, actual and metaphoric. We held this together in the circle.

Laura Paul, At The Bend in the River

Shall we dance? John invites Barbara Matiru to join him.

Applications of Poetic Medicine in the Autumn of 2014 

I'll travel to Dallas, Oklahoma City, Cleveland and Portland. Please know there are very new expressions of poetic medicine unfolding! I am excited to share these new possibilities with you. You can read in some detail about those events in the schedule posted below, but I'll touch on some of it here.

Poetry - A Useful Tool for Chaplains

"It is my privilege to commend to you poet and poetry therapist John Fox and his workshop on Poetry and Medicine. Over the course of three decades as a chaplain and pastoral educator, I have had the opportunity to be involved in countless seminars, workshops, and continuing education. What John Fox does is an example of the more memorable and transformative experiences I have had."

~ Mike Saxton

   Manager, Spiritual Care and Chaplaincy Services

   Indiana University Health, Methodist Hospital

   Indianapolis, Indiana

Witek Nowosiad, chaplain, CPE supervisor, Children's Hospital at Legacy, Caesar Rentie, Vice President of Pastoral Care, Methodist Health System, John Fox

This week, at the invitation of Witek Nowosiad, and through the welcome and hospitality of United Methodist Healthcare, I will reach students and chaplains involved in this remarkable spiritual care practice at the General Session of Dallas area CPE.

On October 10th in Oklahoma City I'll give the keynote address for the Southwest region of CPE. That region includes Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. This presentation is for all the CPE supervisors in those states. Earlier this year I gave a keynote address to the East Central region of CPE. That region includes Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky.  

Witek, one of my students in the PM training program, is a CPE Supervisor.  He is finding creative ways to introduce poetic medicine into the CPE training of the people he supervises.

Witek will offer a workshop at the regional meeting in Oklahoma City to demonstrate and encourage this integration of poetry-as-healer into the greater CPE community. Witek's presentation is called Supervisory Approach in Practice Through a Case Study: Using Poetry and Poem-Making or Living the Seasons of CPE, The Artistry of Supervision.

Poetic Medicine & The Charter for Compassion 

"Compassion is the principled determination to put our selves in the shoes of the other, and lies at the heart of all religious and ethical systems."

~ from The Charter for Compassion

Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell

Kathie's introduction began a conversation between Joan and myself about the possibilities of raising awareness about the Charter for Compassion in Cleveland and bringing compassion to life through the process of poetry and poem-making. I have been composing a gathering of poems and statements linked to the Charter and from elsewhere that are intended to evoke reflections on compassion for writing and sharing.

Joan worked closely with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bishop Desmond Tutu. She served as Executive Director of the US office of the World Council of Churches and as General Secretary of the National Council of Churches. She is the Director Emeritus of Religion at the historic Chautauqua Institution. She currently serves as Chair of the Charter for Compassion International. 

I appreciate Joan for her non-sectarian, inclusive spirituality that is particularly concerned with peace, justice and equality.  Something she said moves me very much:

"We live in a world that is hungry, hurting, and so weary of war, a world fragmented and broken-hearted, yet yearning to be free and whole. It is a world that calls us to make the choices set before us that are life-giving. One thing is certain: each of will have choices set before us that define our lives. But because all creation forms and intricate web, our choices are never ours alone. They are part of a fabric of life, and they are woven from many strands and many choices."  

~ Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell

What an opportunity to lift up the voice of compassion. This is deeply aligned with the mission statement of the Institute for Poetic Medicine: "to awaken soulfulness in the human voice." Please read more about the public program in the schedule section.

I feel such privilege and possibility to work with this elder wise woman!

Continuing my friendship and collaborations with long-time facilitators of Parker Palmer's Courage & Renewal work, Elaine Sullivan and Sue Jones of Dallas, TX, and Sally Hare of Surfside Beach, SC, I was guest presenter at the retreat in Dallas the weekend of October 3 - 5. My theme was based on "Poetry's Call: An Exploration of Let and Letting," the chapter I wrote for the book Sally helped to gather and edit, Letting the Beauty We Love Be What We Do: Stories of Living Divided No More. 

letting that choice unfold midst all that was unknown.

This letting then, asked for something other than courage--a willingness to stay with myself during challenging and painful times. My sense is that it was here, in this place, that I began to hear a response to my willingness to let--I began to hear my calling.

"Here is where I feel something beyond what I know. That something is different than my capacity to let--something meets me in the act of letting and welcomes my willingness. Like the invisible current in a river, poetry as healer has a pull larger than myself. I feel this work comes as a calling, and that call is far beyond my doing. That current and that call only asks this of me: that I pay attention."

~ John Fox

   "Poetry's Call: An Exploration of Let and Letting"

What's New in Portland, Oregon!

Writing Our Relationship with Trees...

Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach, undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life.

~ Herman Hesse

I mentioned earlier I was profoundly moved by my experience at a garden surrounding the home of Herman Hesse, in Gaienhofen, Germany. That experience, along with the long-standing inspiration that came from a project IPM funded some years ago led by Brian Sunset, has brought me to wanting to focus this coming winter and throughout the new year on Trees. 

Click here to view a presentation of Hesse's writing on Trees.

...& The Stones of Memory

~ Gillian Clarke

Last fall I joined with Birch Dwyer, Peg Edera and Marna Hauk in a day-long program called Poetry's Healing Harvest. There is nothing I like better than to come together with others to share our varied gifts--and that's how Poetry's Healing Harvest was and those people who participated in the day.

This November, it's time to return! Marna, Peg and I will be giving a day called The Stones of Memory. An elder guide for this retreat will be drawn from the work of Joanna Macy.

"Wintertime--and stones--can support and honor our deeper contemplations and in the slowing down natural to this season, begin to show us an inner stillness that revives our connection with the timeless."

~ from the brochure for The Stones of Memory

Both Writing Our Relationship with Trees and The Stones of Memory are co-sponsored by The Institute for Earth Regenerative Studies, the inspiring work of Marna Hauk.

To learn more about The Institute, click here.

Closing Thoughts for Now

It's impossible to communicate the breadth and depth that I see and experience poetry-as-healer offers. You are a very real part of that breadth and depth. I don't know how all of you reading this PMJ are connected with poetry as healer but what matters is that you will read this journal in part because you find meaning in poetry-as-healer.

There are so many passionate people in this country and around the world doing this healing and transformational work! It is very reassuring to me to know I am not alone in this writing to heal work but share it with so many. 

I remember Aaron Zimmerman and the NYC Writer's Coalition. I remember Robyn Steele and Write Around Portland in Oregon and Catherine O'Neill Thorn of Art from the Ashes in Denver, CO. I remember SoYoung Choi at the Korean Institute for Poetry Therapy. I remember Juaraté Sucylaite doing deep pioneering work in Lithuania. I remember Bahareh Amidi in United Arab Emirates. I remember Dr. Haifa Al-Sanousi in Kuwait. There is Claire Williamson and Nigel Gibbons in the UK and Asimina Chasandra in Greece. Ray McGinnis in Canada (and the US!) invites people to write Psalms of the Here & Now. There is Asa Bostrom who does exquisite work joining art and poetry-as-healer in Sweden.

Karen Morris uses her poetry to explore and express the underworld of the human mind and heart, specifically the horrific and wide-spread human slavery and sex-trafficking throughout the world. Her new book Cataclysm and Other Arrangements will be available soon.

Dr. Bruce Kelly at the VA Hospital in Asheville, NC, is working with dedication to reach Vets at the VA Hospital where he works but he has a greater dream of reaching veterans nation-wide. He is pulling together an amazing team for a conference to acts as catalyst for all of this in May of 2015. I have such admiration for large dreamers like Bruce.

The Institute for Poetic Medicine will fund new poetry partners in 2015.

I dip my hand into the healing waters I am aware of and I realize that all of us are part of the great ocean of poetry's healing power. I may be thinking too small! Not only an ocean; there are oceans! I am also talking about small and vibrant communities of writers planet-wide. I am talking about sending one poem to support a friend, as I did, to Marianna.

John Fox

The Institute for Poetic Medicine

Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-Making

Grand Rounds at Cleveland Clinic Hospital

Invitation to the New Cohort

Poetic Medicine Training

Beginning Early Summer 2015

A Call to Determine Interest in Poetic Medicine Training

Dear Friend of Poetic Medicine,

I am delighted to announce applications are being accepted at The Institute for Poetic Medicine for the second group for the distance-learning program in the practice of poetry as healer.

Teaching staff and 1st Cohort Students; John Fox at right. Start: June 2012. Students participating in Phase 2, February of 2013.

Course syllabus and training modules were developed by myself, IPM Board members, other practitioners and by members of the first cohort in the field of poetry therapy. Everything about the course is tested, exciting and effective!   We all have learned and will continue to do so. Each student brings not only their intentions and heart to this program but also a wide range of life experience and specific skills

What is ripe and deeply rooted as an organic power is 30 years of experience I bring to the work as a poetry therapist. This poetic medicine training presents what I have learned about poetry's capacity to inform, salve, heal and serve as a generative and transformational force to empower people. At the end of this announcement, I invite you to read a personal narrative that will give a sense for those deeper roots in my life from which this course springs. 

We believe inclusion, collaboration and community are the watchwords of our day, especially as they relate to affirming and building an integrated and open learning process.

We are making this training accessible to people in a wide-range of helping professions who desire to bring it to those they serve, as well as to individuals keenly interested in how they can make use of this healing art of poetic medicine for themselves. Many applicants are poets, private or public, who are drawn to a path of healing and service. Yet others come because they are drawn to discover more of the poetic voice within themselves. In all our work together, I am committed to encouraging a practice of "beginner's mind." 

If you believe that training to become a practitioner Certified in Poetic Medicine will benefit you and others personally and/or professionally, think of applying. People certified by IPM will have completed Phase 2 and at least a significant portion of Phase 3. At the end of Phase 1, with its emphasis on personal exploration and individual skill building, students will be given a certificate of completion.

We will choose and shape this cohort of learners with care and thoughtfulness.  We are planning on a course registration of nine to fifteen participants. This is, for us, a cohort: A collaborative educational model wherein a small number of students share the same core classes throughout the program and build a supportive learning community.

Who Can Apply?

This training will deepen and enhance the professional practice of any healing and helping profession. Individuals who are aware of the healing power of poetry will find in the course a way to help others awaken to that experience.  John has worked closely with people working in education, pastoral care, hospice, medicine, cancer support, the arts, social action and psychology. The most recent cohort included students from a very wide-range of backgrounds.   A thoughtful Certification Committee of Janet Childs, Geoff Oelsner and John Fox review applications.

How Will We Learn Together?

This training happens in three phases. The first two phases are each seven to eight months in duration. The third phase is focused upon working with a mentor and taking the first two phases of training into applied work of poetry as a therapeutic/healing modality within the community or a particular professional field of practice.

Our means of study and interaction include an online learning community environment, classroom time online, and individual mentoring with me. There will be more details in the next Poetic Medicine Journal; a special issue devoted entirely to the curriculum, the application form, and a detailed description of each of the three phases with student comments about what they found to be of value. You may, however, send in a request for an application any time. We will begin to review them after the first of the year.

We have chosen three words to describe each phase:

Create ...   Connect ...   Community ...

At IPM we recognize that this dynamic process of creating, connecting and joining in community truly takes a village. Those who are not called to embark on this training program may choose to support and strengthen the entire circle and committed individual students with their financial gifts to help defray student expenses. 

I look forward to hearing from those of you who may feel a sense of readiness to join me on this exciting new endeavor. Your questions are welcome.

Some Facts: A Three-Phase Training Program

Phase 1 of the Poetic Medicine Facilitator Training Program will focus on the intensive reading and use of my book Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-Making. That is combined with extensive class material written by John with input from the first cohort. Central to Phase 1 are 11 on-line sessions based on chapters from Poetic Medicine. Students work closely with one another in small groups between sessions. 

Phase 2 is focused on learning and integrating optimum ways to practice and apply poetry as healer. Each of the 14 online sessions explores a particular theme related to the practice of poetic medicine. Phase 2 includes a wider range of study material including Biblio/Poetry Therapy: the Interactive Process by Arleen McCarty Hynes and Mary Hynes-Berry. The special issue of PMJ will include the class themes of Phase 1 and Phase 2.

Phase 3 focuses on more in-depth learning from and contact with people who bring poetic medicine/poetry as healer to a wide range of people and circumstances. Phase 3 will include writing papers for self-reflection, thematic explorations and research. Phase 3 is where students bring poetry-as-healer into practice.

The faculty and mentors come from various helping fields and professions--all skilled and practiced in the applications of poetry-as-healer to their field of practice.

The Costs of the Poetic Medicine Training

Phase 1: $3300;   Phase 2: $3600;   Phase 3: $3100

Some partial scholarships are available. 

Contact Us

Beginning January 1, 2015, The Institute for Poetic Medicine will start to review applications for the training set to begin in June. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and all determinations will be made by April 15. 

Please let IPM know if you are interested, have questions, and/or would like to receive an application. You can write for more information or request an application at john@poeticmedicine.org.

A more complete description of the program will be published and available as soon as we can complete it. 

Sincerely Yours,

John Fox and The Institute for Poetic Medicine

"From the moment I opened the application to the program offered by The Institute for Poetic Medicine, I felt myself in an apprenticeship with a Master. Each question, every response to our efforts, the structure, timing, and process attended to with such care for what truly matters in this vital work. With John Fox's guidance, our cohort becomes a beloved community, where we safely practice and witness coming into our own mastery of this complex, life-giving, healing art. I cannot envision a richer formation program for the aspiring poetry facilitator."

~ Cathey Capers, M.Ed.   

   Training/Facilitation 

   Poetic Medicine Cohort 2012  

"Since I was accepted to IPM cohort, I was empowered to write poems. Through John's outstanding mentoring and teaching, I was surprised and happy to discover that poems are there waiting for me to be written. And then, as I write them and share them they bring healing to me and to others. As a novice in writing poetry, I'm amazed at John's skill, spirit and mastery to create an environment/cohort in which your own poetry can be written, nurtured, shared and celebrated."

~ Witek Nowosiad  

___________________________________

Here are poems by two of the six-featured poets:

My Life in My Country

I remember my life in Oromiya,

The day when I sat with my grandpa

Telling me his stories about the history of my ancestors,

I wish I could see Oromiya and my grandpa,

With his white blanket the color of silvery snow

And his long walking stick that stretched to the sky.

~ Obsa Seid, from Ethiopia

Memories of Home

Remembering the storm of war in Burma

Darkness in every village,

Villagers' tears falling like water falls.

And remembering Kyeihthiyo Pagoda

From the top of the mountain looking down

And fruit from my grandfather's garden,

Scents of mangos and pineapples,

Sweet, the juice of God's glorious gifts,

And life giving.

~ Van Ro Ceu, from Burma

Lisa DeVuono

The excellent guidebook is based on work done by Lisa at the Wellspring Clubhouse in Sellersville, PA and the Welcome Clubhouse in Upper Darby, PA. Lisa wrote a strength-based guide that distills how poetry-as-healer can be effectively used in the lives of people with mental health challenges.

This guidebook has received stunning testimonials!

"Coming to the poetry workshop has helped
me resolve conflicts in more creative, positive ways and I've seen it help others in the same way."

~ B. L., Welcome House Clubhouse member

"Although this protocol is based on a Clubhouse model of interacting with people with severe psychiatric histories, it is clear that the exercises, poetry, quotes, themes, discussion points and eight lesson plans can easily be applied to a work in many other contexts. This booklet is a treasure--written with care and compassion, skill and sensitivity--and will be an inspiration to anyone interested in the use of poetry and poem-making for healing."

~ Laury Rappaport, PhD, MFT, REAT, ATR-BC, Integrative Psychotherapist    Institute for Health & Healing, Sutter Health

Lisa (and IPM!) mailed copies of PATFR to 200 Clubhouses throughout the United States and Canada. We reached Clubhouses in St. Louis, MO; Greensboro & Chapel Hill, NC; Mechanic Falls, ME; San Diego, CA; Salt Lake City, UT; New Bedford, MA; San Antonio & Austin, TX; Cleveland, OH; Grand Rapids, MI; Sanford, FL; Seattle, WA...to name just twelve!

If you want to learn more about the Clubhouse model of mental health,  

While our focus is on the use of this guidebook within Clubhouses, we recognize its application need not be limited to Clubhouses. During my recent visit to the United Kingdom, working with writing-to-heal practitioners in Bristol (more about that soon!), there was an enthusiastic response to the sample copy of PATFR. IPM will think of further ways to share this excellent resource. Your input is welcome!

IPM is grateful to Lisa and to the people at Wellspring Clubhouse she worked with for creating this amazing book!

This invitation from editor Rachel Elkin to submit to Stethos happened within the same timeframe as receiving an invitation from Rev. Amy Greene, Director of Spiritual Care at Cleveland Clinic to present there this month. I'm aware of spirals in life. I will be glad to return with this healing art.

New IPM Web Site Launch Coming Soon!

The new web site for The Institute for Poetic Medicine will very likely "go live" by mid January of 2015! We will have more to share about the Poetry Partners Program, Poetic Medicine in Action and the Community of Poets, A Great Resource Section, among many other features.

What an honor and privilege it is to work with John in re-creating the website for IPM. My passion is to co-create with people who are making a positive difference in the world through my love of web design. The work that IPM does is amazing so when the IPM Board accepted my proposal of a new site for IPM, it was a dream come true. 

We are about one-third complete and I look forward to the day when the site will be uploaded for all of you to experience. 

~ Billie Sommerfeld

  Unique Web Design

  www.uniquewebdesignandprinting.com

We want to offer to friends of Poetic Medicine news of a retreat led by our friend and IPM Advisory Board Member, Ray McGinnis

POETRY on the BIG ISLAND

With Ray McGinnis and Write to the Heart

Monday, April 6 (supper)

Saturday, April 11, 2015 (lunch)

Everyone is creative and has something important to express. Come play with words and encounter poetry as a pathway connecting your heart and soul. At this retreat you'll encounter the landscape of the Big Island of Hawaii as a prompt for your writing. You'll experience the power of lava to shape the land. You'll visit ocean shores and tide pools with their splendid sea creatures, flora and fauna. You'll ponder the trail of ancient volcanic eruptions and walk on some of the newest land on earth. You'll listen to the sounds of nature, enjoy lush tropical vegetation and write down what the Big Island teaches you, as it offers similes and metaphors for life. Each day you'll have adventures in nature, breathe in the experience and breathe out poetry. Adventures will include trips to the Waipi'o Valley and Volcanoes National Park.

 This retreat is for anyone who is curious to explore and express themselves through poem-making. You do not need to be "a writer" or have any previous writing experience. Easy to moderate nature adventures will be taken at an relaxed pace to encompass a range of fitness levels. Each day will include poetry sessions, nature adventures and free time. Kalani offers an extensive range of options, including yoga and massage sessions, for you to pamper yourself with during free time. Relax, let go and feel the healing, loving spirit of Hawaii and the Big Island. For more information about this poetry retreat, please click here.          

Included in this 6~day/5~night big island retreat are: daily poetry sessions, five nature adventure excursions, 3 delicious buffet daily meals and use of Kalani's facilities including Olympic-size pool, sauna and two hot tubs. Registration requires $100 non-refundable deposit. 

Ray McGinnis is a poet and workshop facilitator. He is author of Writing the Sacred: A Psalm-inspired Path to Appreciating and Writing Sacred Poetry. Since 1999 he has hosted over a dozen poetry workshops for John Fox on the west coast of British Columbia. Ray enjoys creating community and a spacious setting for people to encounter the thin spaces where being in nature is a catalyst for writing. Ray lives in Vancouver, Canada.