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On Friday, October 20, Dartmouth
Medical School's (DMS)
Department of Medicine will host an unusual medical Grand Rounds
conference. The speakers, U.S. Poet Laureate Donald
Hall and Patrick
Clary, founder and owner of The Palliative Care Service, will present
"Love and Death," a presentation on the intersection of illness,
caregiving, grief, and poetry.
Donald Hall (Photo by Steven Ratiner)
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The event was organized by Ira Byock, director of palliative medicine at
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) and a long-time friend and colleague
of Clary. Clary, also a published poet, introduced Hall and Byock. Shortly
after Hall was named the U.S. Poet Laureate in June 2006, Byock approached him
about the possibility of presenting Grand Rounds. According to Byock, the poet
responded, "I have no idea what Grand Rounds are, but if it's coming from
you, I'd be delighted to present them."
Hall, who lives in New Hampshire, is the author of numerous books of poetry,
including White Apples and the Taste of Stone: Selected Poems (2006),
The Painted Bed (2002), and Without: Poems (1998). He may be
best known for his elegiac works, specifically his writings about the illness
and death of his wife, the poet Jane Kenyon.Clary, whose book of poetry,
Dying for Beginners is due out this month from Lost Borders Press, is
also a physician who has made it his mission to focus on the quality of life of
those with advanced, complex, or terminal illnesses. Like Hall, who has been a
mentor, Clary's writing deals with issues of mortality, grief, and loss, both
personal and as aspects of his professional life.
Grand Rounds, explains Byock, is a weekly forum in which physicians and
researchers are invited to present their work. The presentations are a teaching
tool and usually focus on a scientific or clinical topic. Clary says the
teaching goals for "Love and Death" are to reintroduce medical
professionals to "poetry as an art form that may most directly access
experiences of grief and loss," and to explore the need for empathy among
medical providers.
Byock hopes that the medical professionals and students who attend the
lecture will take something profound away from it. "Good poetry allows us
to perceive things we might miss," he says. "It stops us and holds
our attention and illuminates something real. Donald Hall and Patrick Clary
allow us to see, and more importantly, feel how illness, caregiving, and grief
both tear at and expand our ability to live deeply."
"Love and Death" is open to the public and will take place from 8
to 9 a.m. in Auditorium G on Level 4 of DHMC.
By GENEVIEVE HAAS
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