Tuesday Poem explores the nexus of poetry and medicine with US poet John Stone
This weeks's Tuesday Poem is a stunning long poem called Gaudeamus Igitur by doctor-poet John Stone, and it's been selected by Auckland doctor- poet Renee Liang who says:
'John Stone understood the closeness of medicine to poetry. He uses poetry to express the world of the doctor – an uncertain human being, called to show certainty and strength to the sick. One of the hardest – and easiest -- things about becoming a doctor is learning to doubt yourself. Experienced clinicians will say that doubt is often what saves them. To the young, it’s the thing they most want to avoid.
This is where learning in the arts helps me. In the arts, I think, we often work by instinct – moving in a direction that feels right. Of course we take care to do our research and hone our technical skills – but how often have we found a solution by ‘feel’? '
If you read nothing else online today, read this: the poem and the write-up by Renee. For those with a little more time on their hands, there are 31 poets in the Tuesday Poem sidebar each with poems on display for Tuesday - ones they've written or selected. Worth every second...