A Poem of Thanks: A Reflection by Poet/Physician Dianne Silvestri

I wanted my note to sound grateful, but the words couldn’t mask my sorrow over my alienation from any familiar or valuable path. I had lived through transplantation of a stranger’s stem cells into me. The mandatory one year of donor anonymity had passed. Surely I must send thanks to the donor whose cells were keeping me alive. But three years swept me back and forth from the hospital, trying to survive infections and graft-vs-host attacks. I saw my husband’s head shake “no” to each next draft I attempted.

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Art as a Body’s Blessing: A Reflection by physician-poet Sarah Piper

Even with the astonishing knowledge of medicine, the anatomy of an illness cannot fully be known from the outside. It takes an act of tender and careful acquaintance. And the only one who can truly map the illness of a living being is the occupant of an ill body. The geography of sickness is mysterious: its borders begin vague, its peaks conceal its valleys, its oceans rove and deepen and rearrange patterns of flood and firm ground.

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Being More Than Just a White Coat

A visual artist explores the trusting relationship she shares with her psychiatrist—and how that fiduciary manifests itself through her photodrawings and studio art.

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