When Rafael Campo took over as poetry editor at The Journal of the American Medical Association a little over a year ago, he wasn’t expecting to field rather a lot of submissions. (Yes, in between case reports and medical trial results, JAMA publishes original poetry in every issue.) Some of the poems are captivating and poignant, like this excerpt from one in a current concern, about making it through quarantine with a loved one:
Even though a kiss brings more than we know
Even with this
Still will I want
Won’t you be mine,
My quarantine.
Others battle with more severe topics like a client passing away of cancer, or marvel at the magic of now-quotidien medical technologies like CT machines
In the beginning, Campo says, he got about 20 or 30 poems every week. Some are from patients or family caretakers. A lot of originate from doctors and nurses. As the pandemic got underway, more and more poems showed up. Now, his inbox is rupturing with over a hundred weekly submissions. “It is frustrating. I’ll be truthful. It’s also truly heartening,” he says.
Campo is uniquely suited to value such a job. In addition to being a primary care physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, he is also the author of nine books of poetry and director of composing and literature programs for the Arts and Liberal Arts Initiative at Harvard Medical School. WIRED sat down with Campo to talk about the role of poetry in medicine. This interview has actually been modified for length and clarity.
WIRED: Why do you believe poetry has become so important to so many doctors throughout the pandemic?
Rafael Campo: I believe physicians in particular are really searching for ways to offer voice to their experiences of this dreadful illness and what we’re all going through in confronting it.
It’s particularly poignant, I think, due to the fact that we’re so isolated by this infection. We’re all practicing physical distancing and social distancing, so I believe poetry ends up being a method of connecting with other people and having our story heard. I find it actually truly stimulating. It assists me feel less separated, less disconnected, as I review these poems.
WIRED: Is there something unique about poetry that makes that type of connection possible?
RC: We’re hardwired to hear the sort of rhythms that are present in poetry and the ways in which the rhythms of our bodies are expressed in meter, in the music of poetry. I believe particularly now, when we’re feeling in some methods estranged from our own bodies and disconnected, having that visceral experience of hearing the music and language is just compelling.
I believe other factors involve the brevity of poetry. In a manner, poetry fits into the fragmented areas that we have as doctors, as we’re running around trying to handle this crisis.
Then one o
