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Healing Words: Poetry and Medicine on PBS

John Fox, a San Francisco Bay area Poet and Poetry Therapist, is actively working to see Arts-in-Medicine programs introduced at hospitals nationwide. These programs are intended to provide patients with the opportunity to utilize the expressive arts as part of their medical treatment and healing journey.

John is a talented and sensitive poet and author of books of which Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-Making is among. He has led numerous people on personal quests to put their pain, grief, suffering, woundedness, etc. into poetic form. That form is not bound by rhyme, meter or number of syllables per line. It is a free form that encourages the writer (regardless of skill level) to emote through soulfully-selected words that create a unified work. I know this from the experience of having attended a workshop. His books showcase the rich work of many of his workshop participants.

Healing Words is a program that has been filmed at Shands Hospital in Florida showing John working with patients on the poetry component of the Arts-in-Medicine Program. To see a brief clip of the show, please click on the following link:

http://www.pbs.org/healingwords/

In the Bay area, this program will be airing on KQED (Channel 9) August 24 at 6:00p.m.

If you're interested in learning more about John or the Institute of Poetic Medicine, please visit:

http://www.poeticmedicine.org/index.html


Note:  Neither of the two weblinks are still active.

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