Poetry (Writing) & Healing
Exhibit of art work and poetry by Greensboro's older adults.
“A distinction must be made between that writing which enables us to hold on to life even as we are clinging to old hurts and wounds and that writing which offers to us a space where we are able to confront reality in such a way that we live more fully. Such writing is not an anchor that we mistakenly cling to so as not to drown. It is writing that truly rescues, that enables us to reach the shore, to recover.” - bell hooks, writer & philosopher
"A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom." – Robert Frost, poet
"One of the best-kept secrets in this technically oriented culture is that simply speaking truth heals." - Rachel Remen, MD
"To write poetry is to be alive."- Rainer Maria Rilke, poet
"Medicines and surgery may cure, but only reading and writing poetry can heal." – J. Arroyo, author
"When a poem doesn't work, the first question to ask yourself is, 'Am I telling the truth?'" - Wendy Cope
"Modern poetry is based on voice, and must be passed through the ear. This is where the sense is made." - Robert Carroll, MD
"Poetry brings unconscious forces into consciousness to make them understandable…it provides an outlet for emotions." – Owen Heninger
"Poetic language honors our polarities. We use the language of poetry to provide the many levels of feeling, facets of knowing, simultaneously, so we can examine them and move forward." – Peggy Osna Heller, CPT
"It’s ironic that poets use words to convey what lies beyond words, that poetry becomes most powerful where simple language fails, allowing one to bridge the conscious and unconscious." – Diane Ackerman, author and poet
"In writing poetry, all one’s attention is focused on some inner voice." – Li-Yong Lee, poet
"The poem becomes a map, a note left on a tree, a rock formation at a fork in the path, a cry in the distance saying ‘this way’." – unknown
"Poetry is a conversation with the world, poetry is a conversation with the words on the page in which you allow those words to speak back to you, and poetry is a conversation with yourself." – Naomi Shihab Nye, poet
In the Journal of Poetry Therapy, S. Silvermarie (1988), states in his study that he found that oral poetry composition by frail elderly residents in a nursing home helped increase friendship formation and reduced institutional loneliness and isolation.
"Poetry can assist the elderly in transcending loss and maintaining a vital connection to the life process and can provide a significant contribution toward interpersonal and intergenerational linkages."--Nicholas Mazza, Ph.D., RPT
"Thoughts and feelings, or cognitive processing and emotions related to cancer, are key writing elements associated with health benefits." – Nancy P. Morgan, director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Arts and Humanities Program, Washington, DC
"Poetry springs directly from our primal need and capacity for communication…[Poetry] mobilizes such a concentration of devices, such an intensification of language via rhythm, syntax, image and metaphor. Reading it—the best of it—can create another, very different kind of perpetual present, an awareness that can be as ongoing in the soul as the stop-time of trauma." – Sven Birkerts, writing professor, Mt. Holyoke College
Joshua Smyth, State University of NY at Stony Brook, Journal of the American Medical Association, presents evidence that writing that has emotional content decreases symptoms associated with asthma and rheumatoid arthritis.
James Pennebaker, researcher, University of Texas at Austin, shows in his study, “Writing to Heal: A Guided Journal for Recovering from Trauma and Emotional Upheaval,” that writing with deep feeling improves immune system function, decreases stress, lowers blood pressure, and increases positive short and long term mood changes.
"A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom." – Robert Frost, poet
"One of the best-kept secrets in this technically oriented culture is that simply speaking truth heals." - Rachel Remen, MD
"To write poetry is to be alive."- Rainer Maria Rilke, poet
"Medicines and surgery may cure, but only reading and writing poetry can heal." – J. Arroyo, author
"When a poem doesn't work, the first question to ask yourself is, 'Am I telling the truth?'" - Wendy Cope
"Modern poetry is based on voice, and must be passed through the ear. This is where the sense is made." - Robert Carroll, MD
"Poetry brings unconscious forces into consciousness to make them understandable…it provides an outlet for emotions." – Owen Heninger
"Poetic language honors our polarities. We use the language of poetry to provide the many levels of feeling, facets of knowing, simultaneously, so we can examine them and move forward." – Peggy Osna Heller, CPT
"It’s ironic that poets use words to convey what lies beyond words, that poetry becomes most powerful where simple language fails, allowing one to bridge the conscious and unconscious." – Diane Ackerman, author and poet
"In writing poetry, all one’s attention is focused on some inner voice." – Li-Yong Lee, poet
"The poem becomes a map, a note left on a tree, a rock formation at a fork in the path, a cry in the distance saying ‘this way’." – unknown
"Poetry is a conversation with the world, poetry is a conversation with the words on the page in which you allow those words to speak back to you, and poetry is a conversation with yourself." – Naomi Shihab Nye, poet
In the Journal of Poetry Therapy, S. Silvermarie (1988), states in his study that he found that oral poetry composition by frail elderly residents in a nursing home helped increase friendship formation and reduced institutional loneliness and isolation.
"Poetry can assist the elderly in transcending loss and maintaining a vital connection to the life process and can provide a significant contribution toward interpersonal and intergenerational linkages."--Nicholas Mazza, Ph.D., RPT
"Thoughts and feelings, or cognitive processing and emotions related to cancer, are key writing elements associated with health benefits." – Nancy P. Morgan, director of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Arts and Humanities Program, Washington, DC
"Poetry springs directly from our primal need and capacity for communication…[Poetry] mobilizes such a concentration of devices, such an intensification of language via rhythm, syntax, image and metaphor. Reading it—the best of it—can create another, very different kind of perpetual present, an awareness that can be as ongoing in the soul as the stop-time of trauma." – Sven Birkerts, writing professor, Mt. Holyoke College
Joshua Smyth, State University of NY at Stony Brook, Journal of the American Medical Association, presents evidence that writing that has emotional content decreases symptoms associated with asthma and rheumatoid arthritis.
James Pennebaker, researcher, University of Texas at Austin, shows in his study, “Writing to Heal: A Guided Journal for Recovering from Trauma and Emotional Upheaval,” that writing with deep feeling improves immune system function, decreases stress, lowers blood pressure, and increases positive short and long term mood changes.