Where our bodies are concerned, when we are ill or something is different from normal, there is often a growing sense of alienation. Leaving people with a mass of internal questioning. Many begin to question their lifestyles: eating habits, exercise, religion, personal relationships, and finances, while juggling the stress of their health concern. Writing helps to depict the hopelessness, tragedy, and horror of these experiences. It is not always easy to talk to family and friends about an illness. Without going through the same thing, they can only try to understand. Writing helps this understanding to come across. It helps the writers not only to express things to others but also to reali

The reflection that comes with poetry has long made it a sacred respected method of prayer, health, and therapy. Since the times of Ancient Egypt, medicine and poetry have been hand in hand. In their ancient rituals sacred poetic words were spoken to promote healing. Traditional native American medicine stems from the spoken word as well, while Ancient Greeks left poems in their holy shrines in remembrance of times when they were ill, to embrace the healing process.

To better bring this point across I focused predominantly on poetry. Health and medicine is a poetic springboard. Poetry being the shortest and hardest form of literary expression allows the balance of raw emotion and governed writing structure. Without the strict composition that is required in prose, it is a simple way to say to the reader, “I have lived through this and so can you.” In the poems I chose the writers express their needs, feelings, and personalities often in a therapeutic attempt to relieve stress, allowing their emotions to become words. This contributes to the writer’s overall well-being as well as that of the readers.

Some topics in this essay:
Poetics Prose, Diane Croft, Ancient Greeks, Jack Coulehan, Ancient Egypt, Parkinson’s Cancer, John Keats, Doctor Beyond, Gwendolyn Brooks, health medicine, writing helps, shed light, writers express, writers try,