When I was six years old, at sleepaway camp, I wrote my first poem and sent it to my parents in a letter. I was extremely homesick, so writing those words helped me express and release those feelings. The form of my poem was different from those I would read years later during elementary school.

Narrative Poetry

It was informal and formless, and in today’s literary terms it would probably be called a narrative poem. Narrative poems tell a story in the narrator’s voice and are often written in metered verse. Often, they originate from a poignant emotion or image.

For most of my writing life, I’ve written narrative poetry either from a place of darkness or pain or a place of extreme joy. Typically, my poems are inspired by something relating to what is happening in my life at any given time.

Based on Emotion or Life Events

As a child, I wrote poems about my grandmother, who’d committed suicide. During adolescence, I moved on to poems about being misunderstood by my parents and all the restrictions they put on my life.

As a rebellious teenager, most of my poems were in the form of rants, except when writing love poems about and to my boyfriends. When pregnant with my first daughter, I was ordered to bed rest, so I wrote poetry as a way to help me cope during those lonely months.

I again turned to poetry as a young mother, in an effort to let my voice be heard while focusing on the trials and tribulations of parenthood.

Poetry for Healing

Using poetry as a way to be heard or to heal is quite common. An icon in the field of writing for healing is John Fox, a poetry therapist and lecturer. He teaches in the California Poets in the Schools Program.

Fox’s book, Finding What You Didn’t Lose, helps readers get in touch with their poetic voice and its ability to heal. Fox teaches about metaphor, image, sound, and rhythm while helping readers tap into their inner psyche.

He also poses questions that could serve as good prompts or seeds for poems, such as: “What scares you? What saddens you? What delights you? What intrigues you?” and “What do you appreciate about the person you are?”

Poetry in Medicine

Using these questions as prompts for a poem can help us tap into our emotional selves. Poets and those in the helping professions tend to be in touch with their deepest emotions. In my years as a practicing nurse, I learned that the most gifted physicians were those who are able to tap into the deepest parts of their psyche, as they had the innate ability to connect emotionally with themselves and their patients.

Over the course of history, there have been a number of physicians who were also poets. William Carlos Williams comes to mind as someone who wrote poems in between seeing patients in order to put into words the agony and ecstasy of his work. He wrote on the prescription pads he kept in his pocket. Other physician-poets include John Keats, Anton Chekhov, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

It is heartening that poetry has been incorporated into a number of modern medical-school programs, including Yale and Harvard Schools of Medicine. A few years ago, in an article in the New York Times titled “The Doctor as Poet” (December 1, 2011), Dr. Pauline Chen explained how poetry (both writing it and reading it) can help physicians empathize with their patients.

Dr. Rafael Campo of Harvard Medical School, who’s also an award-winning poet, talks about poet Marilyn Hacker’s “Cancer Winter,” which helps her colleagues understand a patient receiving a cancer diagnosis.

Expressing Pain in Poetry

In his poignant book, The Call of Stories, writer/physician Robert Coles discusses how over the centuries, poets who became ill were also inspired to share their experiences through poetry. He says, “It prompted them to look not only inward but also backward and forward – to ask the most important and searching questions about life’s meaning.”

Coles is an advocate of all narratives, and in his book he notes how much he admires poets and the merging of poetry and medicine. “Like patients,” he says, “poets are probably holding on for dear life to some words.” And for writers like myself, the use of language sustains us, as we have a deep-seated love for language and stringing words together.

In 1966, the Academy of American poets designated April as National Poetry Month, resulting in celebrations around the country.

According to the Academy, the purpose of National Poetry Month is to highlight the legacy of poets, introduce Americans to the joy of poetry, bring poets and poetry together as a form of community, incorporate poetry into school curriculums, and encourage the distribution of poetry books. It is a testament to the poetic form that such a celebration has been in existence for nearly 40 years.

Have you ever written a poem? What was it about? Was it prompted by a life event or deep emotion? Do you have a favorite poetry book? Please share with the community!

Kristin Cavallari’s White Cardigan on Instagram

Kristin Cavallari Instagram Fashion 2021

According to Instagram Kristin Cavallari recently paid a visit with her daughter to Uncommon James HQ where she sported a super cute (and still in stock fyi!) white button cardigan. And whether you decide to pair it with a skirt and booties like she did or jeans and sneakers, I think it’s safe to say that this piece is definitely bound to become the new CEO of spring. 

Fashionably,

Faryn

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Originally posted at: Kristin Cavallari’s White Cardigan

Since the early 2000s, J.Lo has played around with shades of bronde hair—that’s brown and blonde together. But now, Jennifer Lopez’s blonde hair is out and in full effect in her new Coach “Coach It Forward” spring campaign photographed by Renell Medrano. It’s brighter than ever and looks great on her paired with these new sunnies and optical frames.

According to Coach, this campaign tells a story of the “power of positivity, collective action, and the everyday recognition” for the people in our lives. Her makeup is low-key and natural to allow the sunnies to do the talking. Her hair is pulled back with bright pieces hanging down around her face. We’re going to say she’s team side part because she looks so good.

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

Coach.

Lopez is seen rocking her frames in a phone booth, as is basketball star Jeremy Lin. Look, I don’t know anything about sports or athletes but I know he looks hot.

Coach.

If you’re in the market for new sunglasses since summer is right around the corner, now might be a great time. Not to mention, Mother’s Day is coming. These Old Hollywood-style sunglasses would look amazing on any face shape and the purple shade is so unique. Lopez is wearing the Sculpted Signature Hexagon Sunglasses inspired by Coach’s iconic Signature pattern. They also come in Dark Tortoise and Black.

Coach.

Lin is wearing the Hangtag Square Sunglasses, a vintage-inspired tortoiseshell frame with a hangtag detail that references the leather Coach tag.

Coach.

Coach is bringing it right now and we continue to be compressed with the new offerings. And these two can #bless us with gorgeous new photos anytime.