A Powerpoint presentation by Dr. Dean Gianakos of Lynchburg Family Medicine Residency on the ways in which poetry can be a vital source of knowledge for doctors. It was presented at Sweet Briar College on Nov. 10, 2010 to Professors John Gregory Brown and David Griffith's English 104 students.
6. It is difficult to get the news from poems yet men die miserably every day for lack of what is found there.
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12. “ That is why as a writer I have never felt that medicine interfered with me but rather that it made it possible for me to write. Was I not interested in man? There the thing was, right in front of me. I could touch it, smell it. It was myself, naked just as it was, without a lie telling itself to me in its own terms.”
27. I was a late bloomer. But anyone who blooms at all, ever, is very lucky. Sharon Olds
28. Art is a lie that makes us realize truth. Picasso
29. Poem: "Philosophy" by Daniel Hoffman In sophomore year the great philosopher, Then ninety, out of retirement came, to pass His wisdom on to one more generation. Reading his last lecture to our class, That afternoon the mote-filled sunlight leaned Attentively with purpose through the tall Windows in amber buttresses that seemed To gird the heavens so they wouldn't fall. The blaze of his white mane, his hooded eyes, The voice that plumbed us from reflection's skies So far above temptation or reward— The scene has never left my mind. I wrote His lecture down, but, in an old trunk, my notes Have crumbled, and I can't recall a word.
Hinweis der Redaktion
Original plan: making connections between the two. Will do that, and more. Look at poems, and look at patients. Idea of analysis and experience. Not a poet though I’ve dabbled in it. Original plan: Making connections between the two.
To put it another way
Who wrote it? News about what can help us. Truth, beauty, meaning. Anothers feelings that somehow help us feel less alone, more hopeful…Not the latest vitamin or medicine that can cure us, relieve our anxiety or depression, or ED…
1883, Rutherford, NJ Mom lover of art and nature “Absolute value in things” 1902 U Penn med French Hospital, NYC children’s diseases, ob, and family practice scribbled lines of poetry on prescription pads in between patients
Industrial city Passaic River
What news?
Ray Carver 1938, Clatskanie, OR taught univ iowa, married a poet Tess Gallagher. Alcoholic. Short stories blue collar folks down on their luck. Poverty, alcoholism. Resolve Clear concise language died of lung cancer
Look at words, understand them, to get at meaning of poem. Then, use your imagination I thought about residents, having graduated, in middle of night, on their own, and can’t remember a thing from this lecture or any other faculty member’s- and have to make a decision. We’re on our own, especially family docs.
