The Healing Muse Cafe

New Year's Greetings

2012-01-13T09:14:00.000-08:00

by Deirdre Neilen. Happy 2012 from everyone here at The Healing Muse. We hope your holidays were filled with family and friends and good books and art. The snows have finally begun to fall here in Syracuse; skiers and showshoers are no doubt thrilled, and perhaps even the more housebound among us are seeing the cold weather as a good excuse to build a fire and grab a book.

We're making plans for some readings at area bookstores and theaters and will let you know when those dates fall into place. And we encourage all our artists and writers to talk to their local bookstores or galleries about hosting such gatherings too. The more we publicize The Muse, the more your work is seen and appreciated.

Speaking of our writers and their work, we remind those of you who have already appeared in the journal to keep us informed when you publish elsewhere or have shows at galleries. We love hearing about your success and are happy to pass the word along to our readers. Here in Syracuse, poet Elinor Cramer will be having a reading and book release party at the YMCA's Downtown Writer's Center Friday, January 20 at 7 pm. Her new book, She Is a Pupa, Soft and White, is published by Word Press.

Elinor Cramer

We are currently exploring the possibility of having the journal become an ebook so as to be available to people using kindles, nooks, and the like. One of our writers had mentioned the fact that readers with vision problems could access the journal much more easily that way. We'll keep you posted as to our progress. We are also going to have a student intern working with us this semester; she wants to get us on Facebook. Can Twitter be far behind?

Books for the Holidays

2011-11-28T12:50:00.000-08:00

by Deirdre Neilen. Happy post-Thanksgiving to all! As we head into the next round of holidays, what better time to feature some of our authors and the books they have just published? The gift of reading never stops giving so please consider the Muse and books from our authors when working on your holiday lists.

Dr. Howard Stein has just published his eighth book of poetry, In The Shadow of Asclepius: Poems from American Medicine. Stein brings his work as a medical, psychoanalytic, organizational, and applied anthropologist and psychohistorian to this volume, one which noted poet and physician Jack Coulehan calls "accessible, engaging, and, most of all, truthful." Stein has taught in the department of family and preventive medicine at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City since 1978.

His new volume evokes an old-fashioned physician, one who knows how to listen, how to "keep coming back and never stop Caring." He crafts pictures of patients and caregivers and shows how "poetry can not only enhance the doctor-patient relationship but also improve the diagnostic process." These are poems that will find an audience among both medical professionals and the people they wish to serve. You can order the book at: http://www.asclepiusbook.com/book.php

Dr. Stein has two pieces in the latest Muse as well. Those poems too attest to his warmth and ease with patients, his emphasis on beneficence.

Dr. Jenna Le, a radiologist, whose poetry appeared in issue 9 of the Muse, writes to tell us of the publication of her first book, Six Rivers, which is published by New York Quarterly books. Dr. Le begins by telling us that she has enjoyed the profiles of our other writers and artists on the blog. She goes on then to give us a bit of her own writing and medical history.

"I first began writing when I was quite young, about twelve years old, before I had any thought of becoming a doctor. For this reason, much of my writing bears no apparent connection to my present-day role as a physician. I don't believe this disconnect is a liability: the world we live in is vast and broad, and it is best viewed from a multiplicity of perspectives, not just from a physician's perspective. In my writing, I try to look at the world from many perspectives: a physician's perspective, a patient's perspective, a mentally imbalanced 19th-century aristocrat's perspective, a 1980s Saigon-based prostitute's perspective, etc.

When I said "about twelve years old," I was being coy: to be frank about it, I actually remember the exact date on which I wrote my first poem. It was August, 1997, and that first poem was an elegy to my summer vacation, which was sadly winding to a close at that time. It was a grandiose piece of free verse, though only eight lines long, and it used fancy words like "phantasma," "cobwebby," and "insectile." I was very proud of it. I showed it to my big sister, who told me that she doubted "insectile" was a real word. This bit of critical feedback pleased me immensely.

99% of my early poems were about unrequited love and loneliness. I grew up in a manicured Minnesotan suburb and therefore had little opportunity to develop the skills necessary to become a great nature poet. I stuck to writing about what I knew. For many years, the scope of what I knew was very narrow. I tried to supplement it by reading books: in my visits to the local library, I delved into Greek mythology, Buddhist orthodoxy, Victorian poetry (Christina Rossetti was an early favorite), early feminist theory, etc.

I first began publishing my poems while in medical school. In part, this was because my medical school's Dean of Admissions, a truly great and inspiring man who has since died, once looked me in the eye and said challengingly, "You say you're a writer, eh? Well, have you published anything?" Another source of motivation was my teeth-gritting desire to prove myself: I wanted to prove to the art world's gatekeepers that just because my degree was an M.D. rather than an M.F.A. didn't mean that I couldn't create things of beauty, too. Over time, unbeckoned, my experiences in the world of hospitals, especially my experiences witnessing and wrestling with death, have seeped into my writing."

Six Rivers is a meditation on love and life as reflected through the waters of six iconic rivers. Using a variety of poetic forms and characters, Le journeys through a multicultural USA and brings the reader "playful, serious poems that carry the reader to a new even when familiar place." (David McCann) You can find the press release for Six Rivers at http://nyqbooks.org/pressreleases/sixrivers_pr.pdf .

We congratulate our authors and look forward to sharing more such good news with our readers. When you buy these books and The Muse, you are buying "local" and buying "American," two more good reasons to support your fellow artists.

Muse 11 Launched!

2011-11-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

Back row: Sriharsha Gowtham, David Manfredi, Susan Behuniak, Linda Loomis, Joan Applebaum, Laurie Leonard,
Amy Friedman, Bruce Bennett
Front Row: Jenny Haust, Yolanda Tooley, Elinor Cramer, Barbara Nevaldine, Antara Mitra, Esperanza Tielbaard

by Deirdre Neilen. So much good news to relate since last we blogged; first, the latest issue of The Healing Muse is now available. Our launch last week was well attended, and we were fortunate to have several of our writers and artists there to present their work. This was our first time asking artists if they would like to talk about the photographs or paintings they had submitted, and the audience seemed to enjoy learning about their creative process as well. We chose for our cover a gorgeous photograph by local artist Yolanda Tooley, Fiume Arno. It captures beautifully this year's thematic tones of longing, place, and reflection. Yolanda told us about seeing the man sitting so high above the throngs of tourists and passers-by, seemingly oblivious to them as he read his book. The poem from our founding editor BA St. Andrews speaks as well of the distances that reflection and love can cross.

We think this year's issue is the best yet. In it, readers travel to India where love is discovered amid the personal ads, to a KMart intersection where reincarnation may occur, to the Bay of Rainbows on the moon where something akin to hope is waiting. Our writers will make you laugh as well as think. They are physicians and nurses; they are adult children whose parents now need their care; they are friends who are also family and who stand together to face diagnosis, treatment, and the changes they mean.

Muse 11 contains bulletins from orthopedics, from oncology, from nursing homes and playgrounds; the Muse seems able to inspire from the loftiest to the lowest places we find ourselves. It has been a real joy to bring this issue to light. We hope you'll spread the word as well.

We look forward to hearing our readers' reactions to these poems, stories, essays, and visual art. The Healing Muse is a great gift to send family and friends; at only $10, it's also an amazing value. Order yours by going on line or by calling 315-464-5404. Here are some photos from our launch, and we thank photographer Debbie Rexine for her fine work.


David Manfredi

Elinor Cramer


Bruce Bennett


Linda Loomis & Rachael Smoral

Lois Dorschel & Nancy Schreher

Cindy Wojtecki, Nancy Schreher, & Rebecca Garden

Deirdre Neilen, Melissa Freeman her daughter Eliana

Joan Applebaum

Sriharsha Gowtham

Yolanda Tooley

Here Comes August

2011-07-26T10:21:00.000-07:00

by Deirdre Neilen. We've been very proud that since the founding of The Healing Muse we have featured writing by nurses. Although nurses have always been at the forefront of patient care and healing, they have not traditionally been encouraged to put their thoughts about their profession and their prescriptions for how to improve and strengthen the health care system on paper. The public has long welcomed the thoughts of physicians; now they are equally interested and open to the nursing profession's ideas. Whether as researchers, creative writers, or poets, nurses are uniquely positioned to recount and celebrate the human experience.

While working on my syllabi for the fall, I was rereading Cortney Davis' wonderful book of essays The Heart's Truth. Into my email came a note from the author herself wondering if we'd like to include some of her thoughts in our writer's blog! We could not be happier to do so. I used her book last year with a group of nursing and medical students; the discussions we had about each profession's approach to patients and health care were lively and passionate. It was a revelation to both groups of students that nurses can reflect upon their practice through this kind of writing, and it delighted them to realize how much insight they could gain for their own practice when reading what another professional had crafted.

Cortney previously appeared in Muse 9 with two beautiful poems you can access at our website. Nursing educators especially will find the book valuable for themselves and their students although I also believe medical students and physicians will benefit greatly from her insights. Here she is now discussing her book of essays, The Heart's Truth.

"The Creation of a Book" by Cortney Davis, APRN, MA, FCP

I’m not a very prolific writer. If I write a few decent essays and a handful of good poems in the course of a year I consider myself lucky—although I know that success in writing has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with sitting in front of the blank page and simply writing, even when the muse is on vacation. That said, I must confess that my most recent non-fiction publication, The Hearth’s Truth: Essays on the Art of Nursing, came about not by slaving to produce new writing but by gathering what had already been written.

One day as I was in the endless process of organizing my files, I came across a folder titled “nursing essays.” Intrigued, having almost forgotten that for years I’d been stashing away completed and half-written essays about my work in nursing, I sat down and began to read. Some of the essays had been published; some had been presented as talks; some were not yet complete; and many were badly in need of revision. But there were a surprising number of essays, and they spanned my years in nursing from my days as an aide to my work as a nurse practitioner in women’s health.

Over the next several months I transferred the essays, finished or not, onto the computer in a somewhat chronological order. How wonderful it was to relive my early days in healthcare, my first experiences with the way we caregivers can touch the hearts of patients and patients can move and inform our hearts in return! As I revised and reconsidered the essays, I began to see that they formed a whole—that they might even become a book. And so I began to revise with that goal in mind. I tightened and sharpened the writing—looking back at earlier creative efforts is always humbling—and when I had the essays in what seemed the right order, I searched for a title, choosing The Heart’s Truth, a phrase from one of the essays. I thought that the essays indeed told the heart’s truth about my journey in nursing, both the good and bad moments, the times I was at my best and the times I wondered if I had failed. I hoped that readers, especially nurses or those who wanted to become nurses, would travel the journey with me, along the way remembering their own paths, struggles and joys. Once the essays were revised, typed up, printed out and bound in a black folder with a title page, I thought about finding a publisher.

I have a wonderful agent who sold an earlier non-fiction book, I Knew a Woman: the Experience of the Female Body (Random House, 2001), so of course I contacted her first. Although she liked the writing, she thought the book was too much about—well, nursing. If only I could change the focus and make it more suitable for a general audience, she said, then it might be sellable. But I wanted exactly that focus, the revelation of what it is like to be a nurse, to go through all the moments that make us real nurses: the awkward learning, the first death, the first mistake, the first time we realize that we are essential in the big scheme of healthcare, and that we honor our patients by remembering them—even by writing about them. I moved on to consider publishing houses that championed the nurse’s role in healthcare. Kent State University Press turned out to be the perfect publisher—and what a joy it was to work with them.

Happily, The Heart’s Truth: Essays about the Art of Nursing went on to win an American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Award and also a prestigious Independent Publisher’s Silver Medal in non-fiction, an award that reassured me that a nurse’s story does indeed matter, not only to other caregivers but also to anyone who might want to know what we nurses are thinking or feeling as we go about our holy work of healing.

(Photo by Carol Kaliff)

I’m proud of The Heart’s Truth. In many ways, the book seems separate from me—I’ve told my adventures in nursing and let them go. But in other ways, these stories will always be a part of me, held forever in my heart. I realize that what I’m most proud of is the nursing profession itself, the way women and men choose to dedicate themselves to helping others. That’s the real story I’ve told in this book—the story of how fortunate we nurses are to be able to touch the lives of our patients in such essential ways, and how blessed we are that they change our lives as well.

Summertime and the Reading Is Easy

2011-06-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

by Deirdre Neilen. Hello and happy Solstice to all. It's the season of sunshine and longer days, perfect for reading and writing. With that in mind, let's meet a few more Muse contributors.

From out west in Colorado, we catch up with writer and retired attorney Sandra Shwayder Sanchez who gave us a wonderful story in Muse 6. Since then, she's been working on a novel, The Road Home, which will soon appear under the Floricanto Press imprint. But Sandy is also excited to tell us about the Wessex Collective, an author's publishing collective she founded with Peter Burnham.
http://www.thewessexcollective.com/the_wessexcollective/thewessexcollective.html
In an unusual twist, the collective seeks to publish and draw attention to the work of older writers, people whose early work was praised in traditional venues like NYT, The New Yorker "back in the eighties," but who have been neglected since then even though they have continued to write. Sandy shares the following story which she thought Muse readers would particularly enjoy.

"Soon after we started the collective, we heard about Paul Johnson who was hoping to have his book The Marble Orchard published before he died; his doctors had not given him much time. Peter and I loved the book and worked hard to get it into print; Paul was so excited to see the book that he decided he needed to write another one! He wrote City of Kings, a sequel to his first novel Killing the Blues which had been reviewed favorably in the NYT in the mid eighties. When he finished City of Kings, he told his doctor he could stop treatment because he was ready to go, a 'happy, fulfilled man.' One can only be grateful to have been part of such a story."

Sandy's own output is equally impressive. She has published a short story collection, A Mile in These Shoes, a novella collection called Three Novellas, and a novel encompassing five generations, Stillbird. Sandy says her career as an attorney representing the indigent and juveniles gave her great opportunities for listening and learning. She gave voice to those who had not been heard, and in her fiction and in publishing choices, she continues to do so. As she says, "I write fiction because I feel the writer can get to those essential emotional truths while still respecting confidentiality. What mattered to me as an attorney and what matters to me today as a writer is making a positive difference in the lives of people I encounter." Visit the Wessex collective and choose a book or two for your beach or backyard pleasures.

Closer to home in Massachusetts, we hear from Dr. Larry Climo whose work also appeared in Muse 6. He sent us the following musings on his life: "From Listener to Book Author to Story-Teller

After several of my memoir pieces were accepted for publication in professional journals, I decided to write a book about my unorthodox psychiatric practice. An independent publisher read my manuscript detailing my five years as a post-retirement-age itinerant (locum tenens) healer, and took a chance and published it - Psychiatrist on the Road: Encounters in Healing and Healthcare (Bay Tree Publishing 2009). This was my first and remains my only book.

I’ve since retired. I occasionally accept invitations to talk about my experience on the road. People are curious why a doctor would leave a conventional practice to serve as a moveable patch in our leaky healthcare system, and why such a doctor would keep at it for the years I did. What’s the appeal when you’re an outsider and only going to be around a short while? What can there be worth writing about? It turns out there are advantages, advantages to the patient, having a doctor who is temporary, an itinerant. Who knew?

Now I’m a grandfather and answer to “Poppy”. I’ve become a birder. I still write. Having been a listener to stories all my professional years I find I now have stories to tell. I guess that makes me a story-teller. Some continue to be published in professional journals. Here’s one: telling a story - writing, talking, it doesn’t matter - maybe all creative art - entails listening, too. If no one else does, you, yourself, listen. At very least your voice is heard and we all know that healing energies mobilize when one feels heard - certainly heard and seen, and especially by another. You feel there, real, and connected. And, just as with distracting oneself, creating distance and control, or just “denial”, while this might not cure an illness, relieve a symptom, or resolve an issue, like the others it can go a long way towards helping a person hang in there when there’s a part that wants only to give up and let go. I repeat this story because I heard it a lot on the road."

I was asked to review Larry's book, and I found it both engaging and important. He insists that a good psychiatrist is truly present for the patient, no agenda, no hidden motive, simply and utterly there for the patient to talk to and work with. Again, a great summer read. http://www.baytreepublish.com/psych-rd-fr.html

Finally, let's catch up with Barbara Crooker, poet and essayist whose work will next appear in Muse 11. There is an interview with her in the most recent issue of Seminary Ridge Review in which she describes life for her and her husband and their 27 year old son Dave who has autism. Barbara first came to our attention with her poem "Autism Poem #20: The Knot Garden" (Muse 4), a gorgeously dense yet succinct depiction of a mother's hopes and fears for her differently-abled child. I still use that poem in my classes with medical students; we have such good discussions about how listening to patients and their primary caregivers can open up a real dialogue and greatly expand the parameters of a medical diagnosis. http://www.ltsg.edu/SRP/Seminary-Ridge-Review

Barbara's poems have been read on NPR's The Writer's Almanac eighteen times! She's appeared in literally dozens of journals and anthologies and been nominated for Pushcart Prizes twenty six times. Garrison Keillor includes her work in his latest book Good Poems American Places from Viking Press. She has written and published several books including her most recent More from C & R Press. A visit to her website attests to her creativity and passionate intellect; her words and poems insist that we honor and recognize the common threads that unite us all. As she says in her interview, "For me, the act of creation is its own kind of holiness. I'm looking for words to help me be a person of God in a secular world, words that will give me hope in a time of darkness, words that will fan the fires of faith that sometimes flicker dimly."

As always when I hear from our contributors, I'm inspired to do some writing myself. And I'm going shopping for new books.

Two More Muse-rs!

2011-05-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

by Deirdre Neilen. Welcome to another in our series of contributor profiles.

Today we say hello to longtime contributor, subscriber, and writer, poet Joan Cofrancesco. Because Joan lives and works in Central New York, we have had the opportunity to see her at readings and book signings. Joan has also entered local literary contests and often won prizes for her poetry, and we have come to appreciate and anticipate her sense of humor in addition to the power of her words!

Joan's love of poetry is lifelong; as a child of the 60s, she grew up listening to Dylan and Mitchell and reading Kerouac, Ferlinghetti, Corso, and Wakowski. She says her poems come from the tension of "who I am and who I would like to be." Her thinking has been shaped by her Catholic upbringing and her Buddhist inclinations, her Italian culture and her own dreams and attitudes. "My greatest joy comes from creation. Poetry is sublime mystery mixed with mythology." Joan works in the open heart unit at Upstate Hospital which has inspired her medical poetry, but she also derives inspiration from nature (cats in particular), travel, the occult, and of course love.

When you read her work, you are immersed in Greek and Roman mythology, musical genres that run from classical to jazz to rock'n'roll, and history and herstory. She can do imagistic poems that bring the reader right next to the horse in the field she's describing and she illuminate a speaker's rage or loneliness in more formalist sonnets, villanelles, and sestinas. She also can make you laugh--really hard.

Joan's work has appeared in numerous journals; to list just a few besides The Muse: Kalliope, Sinister Wisdom, The Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review, 13th Moon. She has published many books; her latest include Sheep from Authorhouse Press; Kerouac's Cat from Dog Ear Publishing; The Ashes Want to Be Flesh Again, iUniverse Press; The One Who Loves More from Authorhouse Press; and I Got A Mule, Wasteland Press.

You can order them on amazon. You'll also appreciate the work of Janine Bartolotti who illustrates her books. We are grateful for Joan's commitment to The Muse and for her poetry which affirms the humane and the sacred in everyday life.

From Scarsdale, NY we catch up again with poet John Thomas Clark who appeared in issue 8 of The Muse with a sonnet about his service dog Lex. John was a NYC elementary school teacher who had to retire early because of progressive spinal muscular atrophy. John didn't let the disease stop his love of academics; he pursued another master's degree, this time in creative writing and English.

His love of Irish poetry led him to research and write a book called The Chronicles of Saint Patrick. His love of challenge has led him to use the sonnet form in his poetry. "It's a challenge to get in there, do my thing, and get out in 14 lines. That's one of the reasons why I love it so much." His love for his Black Lab led him to create his latest book, The Joy of Lex: Life with a Service Dog. These 56 sonnets describe the many ways Lex has added to John's joy in life, family, and art.

John applied for a service dog to a program called Canine Companions for Independence. After he was accepted and got Lex, he discovered that author Dean Koontz is an honorary member of the board there. Koontz's dog Trixie wrote a book called Life Is Good, and Dean had written the introduction to it. John decided to send Trixie a fan letter from Lex along with a few of Lex's poems; Dean followed up with a call to John and thus was born a literary friendship. Koontz writes the introduction for The Joy of Lex.

John remains an inspiration both as a writer and as an activist helping others to explore the possibilities which service dogs can provide. Check out his website and see for yourself. http://www.blacklabbooks.com/home.html You can also read a recent interview with John at http://bronxville.patch.com/articles/a-dog-a-wheelchair-and-a-story-of-dedication-and-redemption We anticipate the next chapters in John and Lex's adventures.

Upcoming Event

2011-05-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

by Deirdre Neilen. We are happy to pass along the following information from one of our writers and photographers, Sarah Averill. Sarah began writing as a medical student here at Upstate; she graduated last year and will be heading to Iowa for further residency training in radiology this summer. We will miss her energy and creativity here, but this project she's been working on will be a lasting testament to her careful observational skills and her sincere interest in and empathy for people. Mark your calendar for May 19, 6:30-8:30 at 1600 Lodi St. in Syracuse, a unique exhibition that opens and closes the same night!

Join the Northside Community for an inspirational event presenting the photographs of Sarah Averill. Sarah is a medical resident at St. Joseph’s Hospital Center, a former urban planner and a photographer. She focuses on using photography as a vehicle to explore communities and engage residents in conversations about themselves and their experiences. The event will be held at the Lodi Street Laundromat, a place where everyone can feel comfortable and welcome. There will be food and refreshments prepared by families from Somali and Burma. To find out more information about Sarah's experiences and her photos, please visit her blog http://fearlesssky.blogspot.com/

Muse Writers Share Their Success

2011-04-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

by Deirdre Neilen. We're starting a new feature here on the blog where our writers and artists can not only describe their latest triumphs in the wider world but also share their thoughts on art, healing, or their own creative process. First up is Carol Scott-Conner, a short story writer whose new book of fiction A Few Small Moments has just been published by Rachel Lord Press. Carol is the author or co-author of nine other medical textbooks on the art of surgery. We have long admired her narrative skill and are happy to have her inaugurate this addition to our blog.

If you've appeared in The Muse and would like to submit a column about your recent publications, shows, or work, send it to me as an email, and we'll talk. Meanwhile, let's listen to Carol.

Surgery, Academic Medicine, and Writing by Carol Scott-Conner.

I write short stories from the perspective of a life as a female academic surgeon. I choose to write fiction rather than nonfiction because I feel that fiction allows me the freedom to express the essential emotional truths of that life while totally respecting confidentiality. These stories are composed of a bit of this, a bit of that, pulled together around a central theme.

My undergraduate major was engineering, and so I learned the craft of fiction writing from more than 12 years of attending workshops at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. Those workshops provided invaluable feedback and critique sessions from teachers and fellow attendees. To my delight, two of my stories have been published in The Healing Muse.

I have taken 18 of these stories and shaped them into a collection that I hope reflects the reality of my life as a woman in academic surgery. I wanted to get across the point that women are surgeons and that they face the same challenges and very great joys that men do. That collection, “A Few Small Moments,” is now in print – and it contains the two Muse stories. At the end of the book, there is a short section for students interested in pursuing a career in surgery.
http://www.amazon.com/Few-Small-Moments-Short-Stories/dp/0615454127/ref

I’m currently working on two textbook revisions, and some new short stories. My writing desk looks out over a prairie fire pink crabapple tree that is just poised to bloom, and a pond with two very territorial Canadian geese. We see wild turkeys, barred owls, red-tailed hawks, deer, chipmunks, and coyotes from our home. All of these critters find their way into many of my stories just as surely as my colleagues and patients do. I live in a rural part of Iowa City with my husband of 37 years, and I bike the 15 mile round trip to and from work nine months of the year.

I close with the website for this year's Iowa Summer writing festival in case any readers might be interested. The workshops were so important to my development as a writer.
http://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/iswfest/

**

Spring and The Muse

2011-03-31T06:49:00.000-07:00

by Deirdre Neilen. Clocks have moved forward, the calendar says new season, the 'super moon' rose as promised, and we are only needing some consistent sunshine and warmer temperatures to believe that yes indeed we made it through the winter. Here at The Muse, we're busy reading new manuscripts and planning the eleventh issue. I thought our readers might enjoy meeting some of the staff who make the journal's production possible.

First up is Lois Dorschel, our managing editor. Those two words do not in any way convey all that Lois does for The Healing Muse. Many of our contributors know her as the kindly voice responding to their emails or phone calls. She logs in each submission and then tracks its progress through selection, editing, and production. She is equally engaged in our visual art submissions and often explores the artists' websites for other images to discuss. At launch time, Lois is the one keeping track of everyone's copies: the three year subscriptions, the one time purchases, the contributors' copies. It's an intricate task and can be occasionally frustrating, but Lois remains optimistic and keeps the rest of us calm, assuring us that "it will all work out." And indeed it does.

Lois has been here at the Center for Bioethics and Humanities for 9 years. She's a Syracuse native who has always been interested in art, music, and crafts. She began sewing when she was 14; she and her two sisters took all the prescribed home ec courses in high school, and when she married, she was able to use her skills and save money for her expanding family: she created shirts for her three young sons cut from the shirts of her husband, Marty. She took courses in flower arranging and ceramics and drawing; the pure pleasure she derived from these complemented her desire to decorate her home. She has become quite an artisan. Each year we receive some of her artistic visions in the form of wonderful gifts.

I am attaching here the gorgeous quilt she made me this year to commemorate the tenth anniversary of The Muse. All ten issue covers are on the quilt; it's such a wonderful testament to both The Muse and to Lois's work on the journal. I love looking at it and remembering each year's talented contributors and the indefatigable managing editor who keeps us all so efficient and energized.

Lois and Marty bought 9 acres of wooded land 9 years ago; each year they add to the shell they initially raised on it. This year they hope to install solar panels and create their own electricity. Lois says the woods bring her total joy. Weekends from spring to fall find her and Marty and their lab Chloe at the cabin, working, hiking, and sometimes just reading.

When the children were little, Lois was a master garage-sales hunter, finding great bargains or things she could fix up and sell. Now that the children are grown, she's graduated to house sales and auctions. Marty knows when Lois says, "Guess what I saw advertised in the paper?" that he's about to join a quest that often results in a huge piece of furniture coming back with them to the garage where Lois will refinish it. As she says, "I love wood, all kinds of natural wood." I expect to see her some day on the PBS' Antiques Road Show learning that one of her deals is worth a fortune!

In the meantime, we are fortunate indeed to have her working on issue eleven of The Healing Muse. Her willingness to learn new apps and programs has meant so much to the journal and the staff. We are proud to call her colleague and friend. Thank you, Lois.

January News

2011-01-25T07:27:00.000-08:00

by Deirdre Neilen. Winter has settled in Syracuse, and there have been days when I finally understand the concept of hibernation as an attractive alternative to driving or walking in whiteouts! As of January 25 (Happy Birthday, Virginia Woolf!), we've had 111 inches of snow, and some are dreaming of surpassing the 1993 record of 193+ inches. The snows have their undeniable beauty. Syracusans are hardy souls, and we see each other on the snowshoe and ski trails, on the roads on bikes or running, on the hills sledding and on the ponds ice skating. But after all that activity, it feels good to come inside, brew coffee, tea, or hot chocolate and read or write, paint and sculpt. The Healing Muse 10 is selling well, and we hope our readers will continue to show it to friends, bring it to workplaces, and talk about it to hometown media.

We've had some wonderful publicity via interviews within the past month. Tish Pearlman's public radio show Out of Bounds interviewed me in December. She asks intriguing questions, and our conversation just rolled. Take a look or rather have a listen: http://www.prx.org/pieces/57189-deirdre-neilen Tish is also a fine poet, and her show reflects her thoughtful approach to topics such as healing, writing, and creativity. I have enjoyed becoming a regular listener of the show.

Our own Upstate sponsored radio show, health link, has a new moderator, Linda Cohen, and she invited me to talk about The Muse twice thus far. It's an informational show about current trends in health and medicine, and it's such a natural fit for The Muse which does give people the chance to reflect upon their own healing process or another's. Linda is easy to talk to and enjoys poetry. Check out the January 30 show which features Linda asking about The Muse's history and goals; I'll also read two of this issue's poems and we'll discuss them. http://www.upstate.edu/healthlinkonair/

Sunday January 30 is also the day the Trumansburg Library (Ulysses Philomathic on 74 E. Main Street) is featuring poets from The Healing Muse (Poets Respond to Illness and Healing) as part of their month long celebration of local poetry. Design and Graphics Editor Nancy Schreher and I will join Muse 10 poets Bruce Bennett, Joyce Holmes McAllister, and Katharyn Howd Machan at 2 pm for reading and discussion. Last year's reading was well attended with great audience participation during the discussion portion, and we're looking forward to that again.

Friday January 28 at 7 pm one of our poets Judith Harris, author of two books of poetry from LSU, Atonement and The Bad Secret and as well as the critical book Signifying Pain: Constructing and Healing the Self through Writing (SUNY Press) will read as part of the Syracuse YMCA Downtown Writer's Center. http://www.ymcaofgreatersyracuse.org/arts The reading is free and open to the public.

Managing Editor Lois Dorschel has installed excerpts from Muse 10 on our website as well as our featured artist Kathleen Gunton's work in the gallery. Kathleen is also a poet, and she talks about the connections between her two arts. http://www.upstate.edu/bioethics/thehealingmuse/artist_gunton.php

Speaking of art, a new gallery has opened in Syracuse, Szozda Gallery.http://www.szozdagallery.com/ I attended the opening of a new show there two weeks ago and was happy to also see some of our Muse artists represented as well: Yolanda Tooley, Karen Burns, and Joan Applebaum. Beautiful and worth a visit for those of you coming to town. Caroline Szozda has expanded the hours that the gallery is open, and she has many incredible items for sale, art for every budget.

We may be represented at the 5th Annual Buffalo Small Press Book Fair in Buffalo NY this coming March if Muse contributor Theresa Wyatt has her way. We really appreciate our writers and artists keeping an eye out for places where we can show off our journal. We'll post the notice about the Book Fair if we do get a table there. Any any Buffalo area contributors of ours, you are welcome to help us out there as well.

We're well underway with reading manuscripts for Muse 11. Our deadline is May 1 so be aware of that. Thanks to all who responded to our donation letter; your contributions keep us able to publish. Until the next time, stay warm and let us know any publishing triumphs you are having. We love to hear about your other successes as well.

Season's Greetings

2010-12-07T09:35:00.000-08:00

by Deirdre Neilen. Snow is falling steadily, and Syracuse is nicely wrapped in its winter coat, quite the change from the long and leisurely autumn we've been having. It's always fun to "hunker" down with good stories and poems and art, sip some tea or wine, and let the mind wander where it will. It's the perfect time to grab a copy of The Healing Muse 10.

We have more news from Muse 10's writers and we're happy to pass along their triumphs. Theresa Wyatt has some of her work featured in a new anthology, Beyond Bones, A Collection of Poetry Featuring Writers from Western New York, Vol. II. For more information contact Talking Leaves Books at 716-837-8554 or www.tleavesbooks.com Congratulations, Theresa.

Two of our writers from Georgia, Cheryl Stiles and KB Kincer, sent us youtube clips of themselves readings their poems. Check out our media page to hear and see them.
http://www.upstate.edu/bioethics/thehealingmuse/media.php

My own experience of the poetry deepens when I hear the poet herself interpreting her words and meter, setting up the rhythm. Thank you to them and to KB's husband for filming. This is a great idea for Muse writers and artists to continue.

Finally, we will be doing a reading at the Ulysses Philomathic Library in Trumansburg NY Sunday afternoon, 2-4 pm, January 30, 2011. We're looking for our area writers who might like to read for a bit that day to contact us. We had an enthusiastic crowd last year and hope for a similar reception. That's all for now. We wish you a happy holiday season and encourage you to spread the word about The Healing Muse: buy it, read it, share it.

Muse Launched, Poet Heard, and On the Road for Readings

2010-11-10T08:59:00.001-08:00

Deirdre Neilen and Rebecca Garden lead the applause for Lois Dorschel and Nancy Schreher

by Deirdre Neilen. We've had a wonderfully busy and productive month since our Muse 10 entered the world. The launch received good press in our local paper, and we had an energetic crowd at the reading. As always, we find ourselves entranced when listening to writers read their own words. First time readers included Dr. David C. Manfredi who entertained as well as enlightened in his poems, "Doctor Patient" and "Tumor." Dr. Gregory Eastwood also provided laughter as he engaged the audience in following his extended haiku sequence in "An Old Hip Fracture . . .". Susan Supley("Taking Care") came forward and revealed that she had been one of Bonnie St. Andrews' students; it was quite lovely that she would introduce her poem by reminding the audience of Bonnie's constant encouragement and empowering of her nursing students. Mona de Vestel read her powerful essay "The Cost of Life" and stopped at one point telling the audience they should buy the journal to discover the ending! We appreciated that extra incentive. Elijah Dut, a nursing student who had been featured in the newspaper article about this issue, read his poignant piece, "Why I Am Skinny." He asked the audience to remember that the choices we make in this world make us who we are. Bruce Bennett from Wells College read his poems, including "Something Real" and "The Going Away Party." Some of our talented artists were in the audience as well: Joan Applebaum, Karen Burns, Karen Kozicki, Yolanda Tooley. Their work was shown before the reading on the video screen, but we've decided that next year we will pause midway in our readings to highlight the art and ask the artists to talk about their work too. We adjourned for great cake and lots of conversation, everyone wishing for another ten years of continued good work.

The celebration continued Oct. 25 when poet Kay Ryan came to the Upstate Medical University campus, visited with medical student writers, and gave a reading that was open to the community. This was part of the tenth anniversary celebration of our Center for Bioethics and Humanities and was made possible by the BA St. Andrews Memorial Fund. Kay was generous in her time with the students and wonderfully funny and provocative in her reading. She began with work from her playful The Jam Jar Lifeboat and moved into her new book The Best of It. At the book signing afterwards, people were able to talk with her and enjoy refreshments. Her poetry reminds us of the power and the pleasure to be found in words.

A few days later we drove to Wells College in Aurora, NY where poet and professor of creative writing Bruce Bennett hosted a reading for Muse 10. We heard poets Joyce Holmes McAllister, Katy Giebenhain, Anna Feldman read their work, and we got to say hello to editorial intern Ana Giovinazzo and thank her again for finding us the cover art for this issue. The audience was large and enthusiastic; Wells is a great place for artists. Thanks to one and all who came and read and bought The Muse.

A reminder: we will be in Trumansburg NY Sunday afternoon January 30 at 2 pm for a reading at the library. We'd love to have our writers from that area come and read their work. Let us know if you are available that afternoon.

Healing Muse Launch

2010-10-12T05:21:00.000-07:00

by Deirdre Neilen.

We're 24 hours away from the launch of Muse 10! This morning's Post Standard carries a wonderful introduction to the new issue by Health editor Amber Smith. http://blog.syracuse.com/cny/2010/10/upstate_medical_nurse_writes_of_life_as_lost_boy_refugee_in_healing_muse_literary_journal.html We're all excited to meet Elijah Dut, the writer of this essay, as well as some of our other local writers. If you're in town Oct. 13, stop by the medical alumni auditorium and hear their words, share their stories, and of course join us for some cake! See you there.

Autumn Happenings

2010-09-30T07:17:00.000-07:00

Opening today's edition of the Syracuse Post Standard, we find in the Healthy Living section a column by our former research associate, Andrea Asprelli. http://blog.syracuse.com/cny/2010/09/healthy_end_note_by_andrea_asprelli.html It's a great column and provides us a wonderful lead-in to our upcoming events. First, the launch of the latest issue of The Healing Muse will be October 13 from 4-5 pm in the medical alumni auditorium, first floor of Weiskotten Hall, 766 Irving Ave. All are welcome to come and hear some of the issue's writers read; we have our usual combination of local and national writers and artists within its pages telling the stories of physicians, nurses, patients, therapists, caregivers--a true kaleidoscope of healing. Copies will be on sale for $10.

Second, we're sponsoring a poetry reading featuring poet laureate Kay Ryan, October 25, Monday from 4-5 with a question and answer period and book signing to follow. Again, this is free and open to the public. Don't miss this rare opportunity to hear one of America's finest poets.

Third, artist Karen Burns has another opening happening this week in Skaneateles NY at Imagine That, a gallery at 38 E. Genesee St. More information is available at: http://www.skaneatelessuites.com/category/skaneateles-reviews-news/

And finally poet V.P. Loggins who will appear in our new issue sends us the happy news that another of his poems "Learning to Fly" was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize in England. His book The Fourth Paradise is available through amazon and is an honest and rich look at inheritance and family.
http://www.mainstreetrag.com/VPLoggins.html

As you can see, The Muse and those associated with her are most happily engaged in the wider world. Keep us informed of your own successes.

News from Muse artists

2010-09-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

We are happy to note that Karen Burns is having a show at Sparkytown, 324 Burnet Ave in Syracuse. www.sparkytown.net The show, New Paintings, features landscapes and runs from Sept. 13- Oct. 16. The artist's reception is Sunday, Sept. 19 from 3-5. Stop in and be reminded of (and dazzled by) the beauty surrounding us in upstate New York.

And Joan Applebaum sends along the following good news about her painting, Frozen Winter. It won honorable mention in the Associated Artists Members' Show.joanapplebaumart.blogspot.com

2010-09-15T07:31:00.001-07:00

Muse artist and author Sarah Averill shows work in Syracuse

2010-09-03T08:45:00.000-07:00

Muse featured artist Sarah Averill is having a gallery show at Craft Chemistry opening September 16.

August News

2010-08-23T11:00:00.000-07:00

by Deirdre Neilen, Editor.

We're getting ready for final proofing of the tenth issue of The Muse; it's a busy but exhilarating time. We have great anticipation for October's two events: The Muse launch which will occur on October 13 and the B.A. St. Andrews Memorial Reading which will occur on October 25. We have invited poet Kay Ryan, poet laureate (2008-2010) to come and celebrate with us both Bonnie's legacy and The Muse's steady growth. To hear Kay Ryan read from her latest book, The Best of It, seems an apt and joyful way to mark our tenth year. You will be receiving more information about these events soon.

B.A. St. Andrews

I have heard from some of our readers and contributing artists that they would like to know more of Bonnie and how she started the journal. It's hard to capture her in a few sentences but let me try. She was a gifted poet in her own right; you can find many of her poems in a wide variety of journals such as The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Carolina Quarterly, Virginia Quarterly as well as JAMA, JGIM, JGC, and Pharos (medical journals representing the American Medical Association, General Internal Medicine, Genetic Counseling, and the Medical Honor Society, respectively). You can also read her book, Learning from Renoir published in 2004 by the Wells College Press. Bonnie was intensely involved in the life she discovered when she began teaching at SUNY Upstate Medical University. Through her work with medical, nursing, and health care students and clinicians, she gained access to procedures, diagnoses, and theories about care and caring. Of course her focus was always on the relationships engendered by that care.

She started The Healing Muse to encourage her students and those already in clinical practice to reflect upon their daily lives. As a poet, she found that such reflection in her own life created deeper awareness and deeper appreciation for the world as it is, not just as we would wish it to be. Cure may indeed be elusive or impossible, but care is always possible and often healing for both clinician and patient. Bonnie soon realized the journal could expand its initial focus and become a place where people caught up in a health care experience or crisis could write about the experience and perhaps gain some clarity and some control over it. And as others read about the experience, perhaps healing would occur a second time. http://www.upstate.edu/bioethics/thehealingmuse/08_muse/08_bsa_accidents.php

Bonnie was a healing experience all of her own; people felt generally better just for having seen her or talked with her. Her poetry conveys the same thoughtful pleasure; the poems can be playful, philosophical, and profound. They stay with you in a good way, provoking you to go a little further, talk a little more, perhaps be changed or energized in some way from the encounter with the words and images. Certainly people felt that energy from the encounters they had with her; when she died, we received so many notes from former students assuring us that the lessons she taught them remained in their memories and in their lives.

We began using her photo and including a poem of hers as the introduction to the issue as a means of handling our own grief after her death in 2003; we have continued to do so because such action reflects our purpose in publishing The Healing Muse. Our journal insists that memory matters, that relationships continue even after death, and that healing can occur even when we've lost what we hold most dear.

I think she would be quite pleased with how her journal has grown and matured and she would join me in thanking all of you who have contributed your expertise, your work, and your donations to The Healing Muse. We look forward to your comments after October's events.

The Healing Song: A Contemporary Jewish Prayer

2010-07-20T11:43:00.000-07:00

By Guest Contributor Lawrence M. Lesser

The Healing Muse is happy to welcome Guest Contributor and songwriter Lawrence M. Lesser.

In 2004, I attended a themed service focused on healing at the Congregation B’nai Zion, led by Cantor Marc Phillippe. The services inspired me to explore healing as a theme in music, and made me wonder as a songwriter what healing song might be inside of me.

Written from a meditative, contemplative place, my healing song felt channeled, emerging with a distilled essence, deeply faithful to the MiSheberach and the first part of the Viddui, both traditional Jewish prayers for the healing of body and soul. The way towards healing goes beyond words, as reflected in the chorus’ use of Chassidic niggun syllables, vocalizations that have no literal semantic meaning. I wrote openness and sparseness into the song, to give both singer and listener abundant space to make their own connections. I hope these connections reflect the healing process as something personal and communal, with striving and acceptance.

It was powerful to write the song and internalize some of its energy and intention for healing, but I had no specific plans to record it or share it with a larger audience. Three years later, I showed it to a university voice instructor, who included it on an album of songs grounded in Jewish spirituality. Around that time, the song was also adopted for periodic use by Temple Mount Sinai at services such as Yom Kippur and for the part of the service when a prayer is sung for all in need of healing. It was humbling to be in the congregation during these services and to hear the community’s voices and harmonies offering collective energies to those in need.

Click to play "Healing Song"

More background about “Healing Song”, links to related interviews, and links to streaming recordings of the song are available via Temple Mount Sinai.

Lawrence M. Lesser is nationally published as a songwriter, poet, textbook author, and academician.

Unpacking historical medical imagery

2010-07-09T06:42:00.000-07:00

By Associate Editor, Rebecca Garden

Our colleague Laurinda Dixon from Syracuse University's art history department has a new article, with wonderful images, in the online health humanities journal Hektoen International. She unpacks Bosch's painting The Stone Operation, exploring the embedded commentary and also the actual medicine on which the image was based. What fascinates me is the difficulty of untangling the allegory from the actual. Today, so much of what is supposedly strictly biomedical is nonetheless loaded with symbolism. Taking a medical historical perspective like this one helps us to see that.

Blend and Repair

2010-06-29T06:55:00.000-07:00

By 2009-2010 intern for The Healing Muse, Holly Kuman

We have been happy to have Holly Kuman join us on our staff for the past academic year as intern for The Healing Muse. Holly is a recent graduate of Syracuse University, where she completed her bachelors in English and French and worked as an EMT. We wish her the best of luck on her future endeavors.

It went something like this. A 45 year old male ejected 50 feet from a motor vehicle that has flipped over a guard rail twice. A DOA—dead on arrival. Another, an 18 year old male; conscious and alert, with superficial lacerations to his extremities and slight discoloration to his right side due to contusions from the impact. After taking the young man in the ambulance, the police showed up to the hospital saying the guy was on parole and had a loaded gun and 2 ounces of weed in his backpack. 20 minutes later, the rig is dispatched to a call for a femoral fracture due to a gunshot wound.

Anyone could shrug these off as textbook scenarios, designed for the sole purpose of teaching an EMT how to triage or the importance of scene safety and wearing latex gloves, or that the maintenance of a patent (open) airway is of the highest priority to their survival. But, a textbook would fail to mention that the DOA had mud slicked in-between his half-open eyes and that he had not been wearing his seatbelt. A textbook would not say that the young man with the bullet in his femur had been in a bar fight, was perfectly amiable and cussed like a sailor due to the amount of pain he felt.

The relationship between medicine and poetry is often difficult to explain to others. The science of medicine is fascinating but the eloquence in which a poet seems to capture the rawness of an adrenaline rush in witnessing a cardiac arrest is equally as intriguing. As a college student who studied language and literature, I am never without a notebook, scraps of paper or napkins in which to write. Friends often place me in my own category when I tell them that I am an EMT who works on an ambulance but am just as happy to recite Shakespearean sonnets or quote T.S. Eliot or Arthur Rimbaud.

I was drawn to The Healing Muse because for the first time I saw my two interests melded together. But, The Muse went a step further (reaffirming one of my own future goals) in promoting the artistic value in a medical setting as a healing remedy. It was an environment in which people were actively working for and promoting change.

I read poetry because I appreciate different perspectives. I write it in the hopes of capturing a feeling or an event in a certain way. I work as an EMT to help others, but also to solidify the human experience and render the connection—that we are all biologic yet artistic beings—that much more real.

Holly is currently working as an EMT running the sports camp division at a YMCA on Long Island. In the fall, she is headed to Amiens, in the northern region of France where she will assist in teaching English for an academic school year.

Thoughts on Art and Healing

2010-06-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

By Guest Contributor Joan Applebaum (The Healing Muse Vol. 1-6, 8-9)

The Healing Muse welcomes long-time friend and artist of The Muse, Joan Applebaum, to share her insight on art and healing, and introduce readers to her work currently showcased at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, NY.

The Healing Arts. The Art of Healing. It’s strange how often we see these words grouped together, but seldom consider Art as healing. And yet as artists we know instinctively how therapeutic it is to create. How good it feels to take pencil to paper, or to lay one color next to another, or to carve, mold and shape. To knead the clay, to smell the paint, to feel the weight of the brush in hand. Sometimes even a new box of crayons can make us giddy with delight. So we plunge headlong into our latest artistic endeavor, considering line, shape, space, color, composition, proportion and perspective. And as we work through these issues, the bigger issues of life, love, relationships, families, religion, and death, will at various times enter into the picture. Through the act of creating art, either resolution or acceptance is achieved.

I am pleased to be showing an sampling of my artwork at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, the only space I have ever exhibited in which is "Open All Night". Although it seems an odd place to exhibit artwork, the hospital has given over several spaces to showcasing the artwork of various professional artists and students. They are in fact promoting the connection between healing and the arts, and I applaud their effort in that direction.

Joan Applebaum is a professional artist, who has exhibited her work throughout New York State. She is also a local teaching artist and Visual Arts Coordinator and Instructor for youth, teens and adults at the East Area Family YMCA in Fayetteville, NY. More of her work can be found at: www.windyhillstudioarts.com

Pain and Memory, a new anthology

2010-06-03T05:31:00.000-07:00

By Guest Contributor: Gregory F. Tague (The Healing Muse, 2006)

The Healing Muse is happy to welcome guest contributor Gregory F. Tague, writer, professor, and book editor of the new anthology Pain and Memory: Reflections of the Strength of the Human Spirit. Tague published his work “Care to Give” in the 2006 volume of The Healing Muse.

When we sent out our call for submissions for a themed anthology, we expected submissions from medical practitioners on the broadly-conceived idea of medical humanities. We wanted to hear from doctors, nurses, and others who worked in the medical field and were expecting clinical material. However, we were surprisingly overwhelmed with the response we received from creative writers, and their works that focused on grief and the process of healing from someone’s death.

The first of many anthologies by Editions Bibliotekos focusing on enduring themes and big issues, both the publisher and I wanted a book that would stand up to multiple readings and that would make sense over the course of time. I had published some so-called medical humanities writing – pieces on pain, memory, suffering (in Mars Hill Review, The Midwest Quarterly, and The Healing Muse, Fall 2006) – so it was easy to spot submissions that were good: if the publisher and I responded viscerally, and then on a second reading responded intellectually, we knew there was enough to touch the human core of readers.

How many people have stories to tell about the death of a family member – but who among us has the ability to tell such a story well? We decided to publish the creative works and apply the title Pain and Memory: Reflections on the Strength of the Human Spirit. The anthology has twenty-five creative works by eighteen different writers. While there is a range in genre and style, the book holds together as a unit, and there is a cumulative effect so that the collection moves from realism in some pieces to others that are more intellectual or abstract.

Many of the stories focus on the loss of a parent, a grandparent, or a spouse. Some stories deal with marginalized people who suffer – a woman in a shelter, a hermit. The lead story, “Aisha” by Israeli writer Rivka Keren, which deals with the travails (physical, mental, social) of a Bedouin woman and her pregnancy, is exceptional. The story will be translated into Spanish, and we agreed to nominate Rivka’s story for a Pushcart Prize. Another superb story (also nominated for a Pushcart Prize), “Cartography,” is by New Zealand writer Tim Nees, masterfully told through the perspective of a practitioner, an older woman who attends to questionable moles on the body of a younger patient, and subsequently we learn how the narrator’s partner has died and about the painful memories she must confront. All of the writers draw persistently sympathetic characters.

Much of the writing in the volume is direct, authentic and has the ability to touch many readers by virtue of the subject matter (unexpected death of a family member); but the thematic elements of the book, the deeper strains of what it means to be human, to feel and to care, to experience loss on multiple levels emotionally, really come through exceptionally well.

Pain and Memory. (Editions Bibliotekos 2009). 186 pages; paperback; ISBN: 978-0982481929. Visit Editions Bibliotekos Catalogue for more information.

Gregory F. Tague is Professor of English at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York.

A Muse for all time?

2010-05-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

Recently, one of our writers suggested that we sell T-shirts advertising The Muse. Some of you long-time contributors or supporters may own one of our rare, vintage shirts which we sold in 2004. We like the idea of the shirts, but our problem has been that we change our Muse each issue. It's very exciting for us each year as we search out a new image to reflect The Healing Muse, but it also means that we don't have a consistent image that translates our journal's identity throughout the years. We've talked about this in the past, but Anne's comment has started the conversation again.

I'd like to ask our readers for their thoughts. Do you think T-shirts for The Muse are a good idea? Would you buy one? Do you think the design should be specific to the newest issue, or would it be better to have a single image or logo that can be used year after year? If the latter, do you have an image or an artist in mind? Send them to us. We're always eager to hear from you.

Trumansburg NY reading

2010-05-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

I want to thank Joan Ormandroyd and the Ulysses Philomathic Library of Trumansburg NY for the wonderful reading they hosted for us last month. We had an enthusiastic audience of 25 who listened to Healing Muse authors Barbara Crooker, Annette Corth, and Joyce Holmes McAllister read their poetry. Barb and Annette brought their latest books to sell as well. We had delicious refreshments and a spirited question and answer period. Trumansburg is a fun town for anyone visiting the Finger Lakes this summer; it has several cafes and restaurants and a picturesque main street for strolling. The library is very inviting as well, and Joan indicated that there are many groups who meet there for literary and artistic discussions.

It's fun to meet our authors in the flesh; we talked during the discussion about how a poem comes alive in a different way when its author reads it. I love to read poetry aloud, and when Barbara, Annette, and Joyce read their individual works, I definitely received these old familiar ones in a new way. We hope to return to Trumansburg next year. Thanks again, Joan.

Muse Musings

2010-04-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome from the Editor, new to blogging and happily reading submissions from around the country for our tenth issue. I want to remind readers that we close for submissions May 1 so finish your poems, stories, and essays and send them along. The website will remind you about length and formatting.

This blog allows us to hear from you in a different way, and we're all eager to see where it may lead us. The Muse wants to encourage dialogue about the difficult issues which can follow a diagnosis. The blog can further these conversations perhaps in more personal ways. Today's Health section in The Times, for example, has an extraordinary story of a young palliative care physician refusing to accept her own diagnosis and the lengths to which she pursues her own miracle.

I am thinking about what her physicians and nurses thought as they took care of her; I am realizing how deeply individual the choices we make at end of life are. Our stories may be unique, but each story adds to the image of what it means to be human, to be engaged in life, to be someone others need and love. This ability to memorialize, to remember even when people are changed by their illness or taken from us is why I love reading The Muse. Life teems within its pages.

Muse Artists and Authors at the Delavan Art Gallery

2010-04-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

We want to thank Bill Delavan and Caroline Szozda-McGowan for hosting The Healing Muse this past month at the Delavan Art Gallery in Syracuse, NY.

The Delavan has been dedicated to supporting area artists and the needs of their community since 2003. They operate in a great space situated in the Near Westside of Syracuse in a warehouse district dating back to the late 1800s. This area, known as the SALT district, targets writers, artists, musicians, and innovators in an effort to cultivate an epicenter of artistic and cultural development in Syracuse.

This event featured authors and artists that were published in the most recent issue of the journal, The Healing Muse Volume 9, released in October of 2009. Included in the program were Linda Tomol Pennisi, Yolanda Tooley, Mary Kathryn Jablonski, Linda Loomis, Sarah Averill, Kayleen Wilkinson, and Susannah Loiselle.

Sarah Averill presents her work on urban photography, community, and the practice of medicine. Her works have been published in The Healing Muse Volumes 8 and 9.

Kayleen Wilkinson, a graduating senior at Wells College, reads her memoir "Disappearing Act," a story of her experience with an eating disorder.

Yolanda Tooley discusses her work with tinted photography, her affinity for hands-on work in the digital age, and her search for a feminine voice in art.

Linda Loomis, a professor of journalism at SUNY Oswego, reads her work "Memory," a poem exploring aging and the relationship between parent and child.

Sarah Averill and Adam Philip Stern, both graduating medical students of SUNY Upstate Medical University, are contributing authors to current and past volumes of The Healing Muse.

Thank you again to all authors, artists, and supporters of The Healing Muse and Delavan Art Gallery who help to create a place to enjoy these works!

Welcome to The Healing Muse Cafe!

2010-04-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

The Healing Muse has been an educational and insightful resource for health care providers, scholars, educators, students, writers, artists, and people experiencing illness since the journal began in 2001. Focusing on themes of illness, medicine, and the body, The Healing Muse is an annual collection of short stories, poetry, and visual art from authors and artists across the country. In addition, The Healing Muse conducts readings and events at local art galleries, bookstores, and libraries to help build a community around these works, and to encourage communication and discussion about both the science and the art of medicine and healing.

To further promote this ongoing dialogue, we are happy to launch The Healing Muse Cafe as a place where writers, artists, and enthusiasts of The Healing Muse can help share their ideas, projects, and insights. We hope that this blog can help complement the Muse by offering a space for creativity, collaboration, and discussion.

What topics are covered?
The Healing Muse welcomes fiction, poetry, narratives, essays, memoirs, and visual art particularly, but not exclusively focusing on themes of medicine, illness, disability, and healing. As part of the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical University, we are committed to promoting health care which is patient-centered, compassionate, and just.

Who can post?
- Past writers and artists of The Healing Muse
- Scholars and educators in bioethics, the medical humanities, and narrative medicine
- Writers and artists who work with themes pertinent to The Healing Muse
- Health care professionals and students
- People experiencing illnesss, and their family, friends, and caregivers

What kind of posts will be published?
- Current work and/or works-in-progress by writers and artists
- Commentary on relevant current events
- Short articles on topics pertinent to The Healing Muse
- Listings and/or commentary of regional events that facilitate consideration and discussion of relevant issues

How should I submit my post?
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