The Doctor Prescribes …Poetry

On March 10, 2022, Tanya Ward Goodman published an article in The Washington Post on using poetry to navigate a loved one’s dementia. In my own experience, poetry provides a compass to navigate many other difficult life circumstances and suffering. It is not an immediate fix — it’s not as simple as an effective antidote — but it does seem to have restorative properties over time. A quote or two from Ms. Goodman’s article illustrate this:

”Poetry, with its reliance on metaphor and imagery, asks the reader to exist in a state of ambiguity that will be familiar to those who have [similar] experiences.”

And quoting from Norman Rosenthal, a psychiatric researcher and clinician who finds poetry offers fresh perspective in times of emotional upheaval, “Poetry has always resonated with me on a deep level. [I encourage you] to be intrigued by what you don’t immediately understand.” Rosenthal suggests that question left unanswered by poets might linger in the brain and spawn new ideas or deeper contemplation.

This, too, is my experience on a personal level.

In part, poetry helps me explore inner feelings I don’t quite understand — sometimes about inner conflicts, sometimes about familial complexities, sometimes about geopolitical tensions. Poetry helps me evolve. It helps me pray. To me, poetry is often that — prayer.

So when I find myself confronted by a situation over which I have no control — like, say, the stories and images of suffering in Ukraine that I see now in the newspapers and on TV — the doctor’s prescription for me is often . . . Poetry.

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(Dr. Rosenthal’s 2021 book is entitled Poetry Rx: How 50 Inspiring Poems Can Heal and Bring Joy to Your Life. I’ve just ordered it today.)