A case for poetry

Why do we turn to poetry in our darkest moments? How come poems help us find the switch that turns up the light? What is the role of poetry in healing our bodies and souls? It is in response to these questions that this poem was developed, since perhaps one possible explanation lies in the power of poetry - facts inform, but poetry comforts. Poetry is not just a song of rhymes or a dance of words. Rather, it is the pleasure, the glory, and the grace of seeing and being seen; it is the fire, the light, and the solace of knowing ourselves and where we belong. Much of our society is built on facts; the medical community is no exception. After all, diagnoses, doses, and mortality rates must be built upon facts. Yet facts can seldom capture the essence of our existence, not least amid unknowns such as the complexity of the human brain, the variability of our emotions, and phenomena like the placebo and nocebo effects. This poem aims to advance the case for poetry as a vital resource for health and well-being, particularly in contexts of pain, fear, and grief - where factual approaches alone often prove insufficient. Rather than a supplementary practice, the poem presents poetry as a vital form of arts-based care that responds to the lived realities of vulnerability and uncertainty, offering companionship, support, purpose, and resilience at moments when we need to recover our strength the most.