Dina Kupfer

Poetry in the
Medicine Cabinet
Writing to save your life
Some will turn to Lunesta when having difficulty sleeping, if prescribed by a physician. Others will attempt a more
natural alternative, like rubbing drops of sesame oil on their eyelids or placing a blue-colored lamp at their bedside. Yet
what about alleviating that insomnia with a soothing dose of William Wordsworth’s short poem “To Sleep”?
Poetry has a unique way of resonating deeply in the heart and mind, giving expression to elusive or even seemingly
incommunicable thoughts and feelings. Using metaphor, imagery, rhythm, and other poetic devices, poems gracefully
articulate questions, answers, and prayers. Most intriguing, however, they also have medicinal powers. In the 1960s and ’70s,
poetry therapy became a recognized medium for individual healing and growth. In 1981, a membership organization called
The National Association for Poetry Therapy was founded for persons from all walks of life who recognize the therapeutic
value of reading and writing.

D r. Sherry Reiter explains in a

Binah phone interview that
there are countless poems used to
treat a range of mental illnesses, most
commonly anxiety and depression.
The key is for a poetry therapist to
carefully select the right poem that
will echo within the troubled patient.
Perek 23,
beginning
for example, famously
with “Hashem is my
shepherd, I shall lack nothing,” can be
something akin to one’s own
predicaments confirm that the reader
is not alone in a struggle. Depending
on the objective, a therapist can find
used to help cope with depression. the “prescription poem,” helping the
Aside for inspiring and rousing, the patient realize he or she is part of the
lilting words of a poem describing community of humanity.

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 Another aspect of poetry therapy is
when the patient himself pens the
poems. By externalizing the words, the
patient-turned-poet gains a fresh
perspective, a sense of mastery with
the realization that he or she is larger
than the problem.
Poetry therapy comes under the
umbrella titles of bibliotherapy or
transformative writing, which highlight
the curative use of words. In her book,
Dr. Reiter illustrates the healing
powers of bibliotherapy by compiling
stories from patients, students, and
colleagues.
“Writing is a multi-dimensional
tool, serving each person in a unique
way,” describes Dr. Reiter in the book’s
introduction to the collection of varied
real-life stories. Linda is married to an
alcoholic. Preston is recovering from
trauma as a war veteran. Joel suffered
through a challenging childhood.
Rich’s mother is slipping away with
Alzheimer’s. Nancy suffers from
multiple sclerosis. They each write
their way through pain, using it to
vent, to heal.
While perusing the powerful book, I
was particularly touched by the story
of Alysa, a middle-aged woman
diagnosed with breast cancer who
turns to journaling and poetry as her
coping mechanisms. She titles her
writing "Greetings from CancerLand"
and calls the lurking tumor Boris. Her
writing keeps her sane, words being
the only thing she is able to control in
a new world filled with surgeries,
chemotherapy, and radiation.
“Writing is a multi-dimensional
tool, serving each person in a
unique way,” describes Dr. Reiter.
Her effervescent narrative includes
snippets of her journal and poetry
entries, all so poignant. They expose
raw feelings of terror, uncertainty, fury,
grief, and hope as Alysa travels from
diagnosis to recovery. “I fantasized
that I could somehow use my
computer to craft a story with an
upbeat next chapter. Or a fairy-tale,
happily-ever-after ending, even,” she
rationalizes. “Looking back, that’s the
only explanation I can come up with,
why I felt so compelled to create a
record of my day-to-day experiences
as a cancer patient.”
Alysa remarks that she sometimes
wrote her journal entries in first
person and other times using the royal
we, but she admits that most
agreeable was writing in third person
— describing her frighteningly altered
self as a faraway she. Dr. Reiter’s
empathetic words preface Alysa’s
story and serve to explain this
soothing she: “On a psychological level,
knowing that something toxic is
growing wildly out of control inside of
you, that your own body has betrayed
you, that a tumor could in fact kill you,
is the stuff of nightmares.”
Once exhausted with medical
literature on breast cancer, Alysa
began reading “sick lit.” She found
memoirs written by cancer survivors
and immediately identified with
them. She was most stirred by Alicia
Ostriker’s poems and works from
other “pink-ribbon poets.” Inspired,
Alysa began penning her own original
poems to effectively encapsulate her
emotions and experiences as a cancer
patient. She had found her own way to
poetry therapy.
Dr. Reiter asserts that bibliotherapy
is “as serious as any therapy can get.”
Once, she was called to treat an 86-
year-old woman who was severely
depressed and refused to leave her
home since her husband’s death four
years prior. Dr. Reiter packed up ten
powerful poems and made a house
call to the elderly Judith* who
immediately declared, however, that
she did not enjoy poetry.
Unruffled, Dr. Reiter got Judith to
open up and share her stories. While
listening intently, Dr. Reiter patiently
recorded Judith’s narratives, typing
them up after each successful visit.
She then handed Judith her own
stories in typed form.
For the elderly woman, it was a
poignant process of self-affirmation
and validation, while having her
thoughts finally externalized. “She
wrote it. I just typed it,” Dr. Reiter says
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simply. “During her work with me, she
was able to express herself and
experience some resolution
A sample poem of Alysa’s:
regarding her emotional issues.” Diagnosis
Although the elderly woman did His call comes at work; I punch hold and slam the door shut.
not react to poetry per se, Dr. Reiter “I have bad news. It’s cancer.”
found an alternative mode of verbal One hand that looks vaguely like mine holds the
expression that helped the woman phone to my ear. Another takes notes on
communicate powerfully with yellow lined paper. Cancer. I write this
herself. “A therapist goes to where word with care, put it in a box; such a
the client is,” she declares, big idea ( little Miss Straight-A student )
demonstrating the flexibility of I underline it twice; flash on my need
bibliotherapy. for a yellow highlighter pen; hear a
Journaling comes from the voice I think I know beg instead: Give me
French root of journée, related to something; get me through this day. “Treatable,”
both “day” and “journey.” Setting he says. I press the word into my chest.
aside time to record a day’s events “what you’ve got is treatable,” sweet lifeline,
gives the journal writer an I hold on tight: I twist, I spin, I swing.
opportunity to travel back and
introspect, an opportunity to
discover an inner voice that is not
muted by the hectic humdrum of Poems are gracefully malleable
and journal entries are
life. It also becomes a haven in an
increasingly intrusive world, away
from the critical eye of even friends
and family. Dr. Reiter coined the masterfully personal.
term creative righting to emphasize
the benefits of writing and reading a journal entry or poem is not all –––––––––––––––––––––––––
for psychological and emotional that tells of our inner story — so Dr. Sherry Reiter is a psychotherapist in
well-being. It is an inexpensive does what we do not scribble. Brooklyn and Manhattan. She is Director
therapist accessible at home, at all “Omissions speak volumes,” notes of The Creative “Righting” Center,
hours of the day. Dr. Reiter in conclusion. providing regional and long-distance
As we experience life, we all have So bring your self-consciousness training for poetry therapists. Dr. Reiter is
stories simmering within us. to a loftier level and let poetry pluck also a professor at Machon L'Parnasa of
Bibliotherapy challenges us to at your heart, giving voice to Touro College and may be e-mailed at
access those inner stories by putting powerful emotions inside. Poems are sherryreiter@yahoo.com.
pen to paper and discovering a gracefully malleable and journal
reflection of our deeper selves. entries are masterfully personal. Let *Name has been changed to protect
Interestingly, what we scribble in them work their magic. B confidentiality.