Suzanne Edison, MA, MFA

Poet • Educator

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Ekphrastic Writing and Hospital Settings

Crossing Paths--Dinh Q. Lê, 1997
Crossing Paths–Dinh Q. Lê, 1997

For many, the word ‘ekphrastic’ is hard to find in a dictionary let alone hear its usage in daily speech. Ekphrasis, a Greek word, is a form of writing about art, defined by The Oxford Classical Dictionary as “the rhetorical description of a work of art.”

Edward Hirsch, in his book, The Poet’s Glossary, goes on to say that “The prototype of all ekphrastic poetry is Homer’s description of the shield that Hephaestus is making for Achilles in the Iliad.”(p.195)

Many, many poets and writers from Homer, to W.H. Auden, to William Carlos Williams to Marianne Moore, Anne Sexton, and Ted Hughes have chosen to write about works of visual art housed in museums and galleries. There are various approaches to ekphrastic forms and many points of view, well articulated in Twentieth Century Poetry and The Visual Arts by Loizeaux. But, no one that I know of has written a treatise about viewing art in hospital settings.  This the area I have chosen to write from and about.

Anyone who has followed my writing life knows I am very interested in the intersection of art and healing, and in continuing this passion, I began an ekphrastic writing project last January at Swedish Hospital in Seattle (though their new campus in Issaquah also houses a collection), then moved on to Harborview and the University of Washington Medical Center’s art collections. All of these facilities are blessed with wide-ranging forms of visual art from paintings, to sculpture to glass, mixed media and fiber arts. Most of the artists are from the Pacific NW region though there are a few from outside it.

I spent 5 months touring these hospitals, taking pictures and writing poems and essays about various pieces of art, and my reflections on viewing art within a hospital setting. In the coming months I hope to share a few of these pieces with you.  In the meantime, here is the philosophy that the U of WA Medical Center states about art and healing:

Art is everywhere in our world and art is essential. Viewing and creating art, as well as listening to music, play an important role in mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health. A growing body of evidence indicates that the presence of artwork, artists and art experiences in the patient-­‐care environment benefits patients and their loved ones. Art provides a positive diversion, inspires hope, and contributes to an atmosphere of healing and restoration. In the hospital setting, art addresses the health of the human body and spirit, reminding us of the human connections, life experiences and memories that can support and comfort us as we confront illness.

I encourage you to find your way to one of these locations (not as a patient, hopefully) and take a look for yourself. You are free to wander the halls and clinic waiting rooms where you will find an abundance of pieces. If people ask if they can help you (which is a common question) tell them you are there to view the art. The more they hear this, the better for the life of the collections..

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Writing, Chronic Illness and (sometimes) Making Art

A friend of mine, Kim Poston Miller, is the mother of two boys who both live with forms of Juvenile Arthritis. This is a similar, but somewhat different disease than Juvenile Myositis, but many of the same medications are used in treatment, steroids and methotrexate to name two. What is even more common are the sort of experiences we go through as parents of children with an inflammatory, autoimmune disease.  Kim’s way of coping with her circumstances led her to write a book for parents called Living With Juvenile Arthritis: A Parent’s Guide and to maintain a blog.

She graciously asked me to write a short section for her book and has now included me in her blog. This recent blog post describes how I came to write and publish my newest chapbook, The Moth Eaten World, due out in May, by Finishing Line Press..

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The Art of Losing

I highly recommend a book of poetry edited by Kevin Young called The Art of Losing: Poems of Grief and Healing.
The title is from Elizabeth Bishop’s poem One Art. I got a hardback version at a book closeouts website through Amazon (forgive me independent bookstore lovers) for about $8 + shipping.

I want to quote Kevin’s opening lines in his introduction as a way to bring you into wanting to also get the book.
“I have begun to believe in, and even preach, a poetry of necessity. This is a recognition not just of the necessity of poetry to our lives, but also the fact that necessity is what drives most of the poetry that matters, or the way that it matters.” And, “a poem must be willing to be unwilled, beckoned by need.”

And this book is filled with poems driven by need: elegies, remembrances, dedications, words that attempt to point towards the things that are often unspeakable, or seemingly feel that way.  I love the way I am drawn to think about other forms of art, painting and music, as I read different poems. I thought about Ad Reinhart and his seemingly monochromatic paintings in all black and all red. They beg us to be absorbed into them, by them. They seem to hover around those “almost unspeakable realities” and yet, we keep trying to find the words and images, sounds and visuals to express our ineffable lives.

The Art of Losing is a remarkable compilation of poets living and dead, from W.H. Auden, Emily Dickinson, Anne Sexton to Dean Young, Robert Hass, Lucille Clifton, Adam Zagajewski, just to name a few. And there are so many, many more.  For what greater mysteries are there than death, love and living.

As William Faulkner is quoted in the opening section called Reckoning:

Between grief and nothing, I will take grief.

Theodore Roethke says in the section, Recovery:

I learn by going where I have to go.

And finally, Philip Larkin opens the last section, Redemption with:

What will survive of us is love..