Settling Into Poetry's Sacred Space
Elizabeth Lahti, Director of Narrative Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University
Jennifer Richter, Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing, Oregon State University

This narrative medicine workshop will create a sacred space to pause, to process, and to ponder. We'll look at several contemporary poems--from the Pacific Northwest and beyond--by writers who speak from their experiences as physicians, patients and caregivers; we'll explore the worries and setbacks, hopes and triumphs they have in common as well as those unique to their perspectives. Writing prompts sparked by these poems will encourage you to consider the identities and beliefs that frame your own viewpoint; you'll have opportunities to share your writing with the group; you'll leave with both a deeper understanding of yourself and a heightened sense of empathy for others. All are welcome--no creative writing experience is necessary.