Articulations: The Body and Illness in Poetry

Abstract

Jon Mukand, a physician and poet, has combined the perseverance of a rehabilitation specialist with the scholarship of a PhD candidate in English literature and compiled an important and unique anthology of wonderful, accessible poetry,Articulations: Body and Illness in Poetry. Why assemble an anthology of poetry with medical themes written by physicians and by many of our most important contemporary poets? Who will read poems about the human body, patients' views of illness and caregivers, mental illness, disability, social issues, and women in health care settings? Jon Mukand declares his purpose and audience in the introduction: I hope that these poetic articulations will help patients to cope with illness, friends and family members to understand the patient's condition, and health care professionals in their challenging work. American College of Physicians recently prepared an annotated bibliography, The Internist's Reading: Selections from Classic and Contemporary Literature. A companion series