Why do some doctors write poems? I asked this once in a BMJ book review of poetry by doctors. 12 years on, gamekeeper-turned-poacher, it’s still Miroslav Holub’s answer I like best: “a poem arises when there’s nothing else to be done, as a last attempt at order when one can’t stand disorder any longer.” (1) […]
Tag: poetry
Richard Smith: Can poetry define health?
Reflecting on the challenge by Alex Jadad and Laura O’Grady to define health, I begin to conclude that it can’t be captured in a few words. Disease is a simple concept compared with health, and diseases can be defined — but with all the paraphernalia of pathophysiology, epidemiology, symptomatology, and the like. Defining health will […]