Illness, and poetry, can transform us

Illness, and poetry, can transform us
JAMA; by Rafael Campo; 1/25
... just as illness may alter our bodies and minds in unknowable ways, so can poetry subject us to the unexpected—through metaphor, imagery, and form—and thus can be indispensable as a guide to those in medicine seeking to provide empathetic care. Poetry becomes transformational, the shape-shifting text itself embodying the seemingly incomprehensible, making the father’s dementia and the speaker’s sense of grief, anger, and loss ultimately palpably human. Though perhaps readers can’t fully grasp the experience of Alzheimer disease, or losing one’s parent to its ravages, through poetry we can feel restored and heartened by its transformative power, “saying yes yes/we could live anywhere.”